nik
spending too much on rocks
Member since May 2019
Posts: 315
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Post by nik on Apr 26, 2020 7:20:21 GMT -5
Hello again everybody. So after 25ish years of living within the confines of a 6" trim saw, I'm finally stepping up to something a bit bigger. I found an old Highland Park E-5 10 inch, and an eBay seller willing to ship to Guam.
The new saw is set up for gravity feed, but I have only ever used my old Loretone either freehand or with the hand fed vise. If anybody out there could give me some pointers regarding a starting point for roughly how much weight to hang off the feed cable, or just general pointers for using the saw, I would be in your debt.
If it makes a difference, it will be driven by a 1/3 HP motor at somewhere around 1150 rpm, and the blade that is on it is a Raytech blue blazer, probably somewhere around 0.040" thick. However the thickness is just a guess, it will be a week or two before I get to see the saw in the flesh.
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Post by Peruano on Apr 26, 2020 7:32:46 GMT -5
Using water in a bottle for weight allows you to adjust weights for different cutting situations. Having experience with hand feed and pushing a vice will serve you well in adapting your own protocol but it should be slower than you are used to. Power feeds are in the range of 1" taking 5 - 7 (sometimes 10 min). The idea is slow and steady. I'd play with soft rocks and disposable ones (coral?) until you have a feel for it. The weight has to be enough to offset the friction of the vice on the saw table and its worth pointing out that the HP saws sometimes are used with a bronze welding rod lying under the vice to reduce that friction. I'd be interested in what you find to work best.
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nik
spending too much on rocks
Member since May 2019
Posts: 315
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Post by nik on May 1, 2020 8:13:19 GMT -5
This might seem like an odd question. Aside from driving up the electric bill, is there any real disadvantage to using a much more powerful motor than is really needed? Locally sourcing a 1/3 to 1/2 hp motor of the correct rpm and voltage has proven quite difficult at the moment, and ordering online is prohibitively expensive with shipping. But I have a 110v 1725 rpm 1.5 hp motor sitting on a shelf, just waiting for a project. I know that it is overkill to an obscene, cartoonish degree, and will look silly sitting behind a 10" saw, but the price is right.
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Post by joshuamcduffie on May 1, 2020 8:16:32 GMT -5
This might seem like an odd question. Aside from driving up the electric bill, is there any real disadvantage to using a much more powerful motor than is really needed? Locally sourcing a 1/3 to 1/2 hp motor of the correct rpm and voltage has proven quite difficult at the moment, and ordering online is prohibitively expensive with shipping. But I have a 110v 1725 rpm 1.5 hp motor sitting on a shelf, just waiting for a project. I know that it is overkill to an obscene, cartoonish degree, and will look silly sitting behind a 10" saw, but the price is right. I've been looking for an answer to this exact question!
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Post by knave on May 1, 2020 8:31:44 GMT -5
EricD has a large motor on a 10” trim saw.
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Post by Rockoonz on May 1, 2020 9:50:51 GMT -5
Just don't set the belt tension so tight that it won't slip if things get jammed and you're set. Motor RPM is more important than HP.
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nik
spending too much on rocks
Member since May 2019
Posts: 315
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Post by nik on May 1, 2020 17:13:05 GMT -5
The lower belt tension makes sense, I'd rather replace a belt than a blade or arbor shaft, or a finger for that matter.
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Post by stardiamond on May 1, 2020 19:02:39 GMT -5
I picked up a small gravity feed slab saw that was suppose to be 10 probably an 8 and I installed a nine inch blade. I had some extra larger motors and used one. Maybe I needed a better blade, but the gravity feed wasn't very good. The rock barely moved through the blade even though I tried different weights. It wasn't binding, it wasn't cutting and I wasn't interested in pushing the rock through.
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Post by Rockoonz on May 2, 2020 10:35:25 GMT -5
I have never been happy with the slabbing performance with the trim/slab saws no matter what kind of feed they have. Most of them have the vice carriage that swings up out of the way for trimming, and as soon as they get a little extra force on the feed it swings up and binds the blade.
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nik
spending too much on rocks
Member since May 2019
Posts: 315
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Post by nik on May 2, 2020 18:28:48 GMT -5
I have never been happy with the slabbing performance with the trim/slab saws no matter what kind of feed they have. Most of them have the vice carriage that swings up out of the way for trimming, and as soon as they get a little extra force on the feed it swings up and binds the blade. I can see how that could be a problem, but my options are extremely limited on Guam. I don't expect this old saw to perform in the same way a bigger dedicated slab saw would. Mostly I'm just excited to be able to work with some of the stones that I have been carting around for years or decades that are just too big for my 6". If the design of the vise is such that it causes problems while auto feeding, I'll either hand feed or modify it to work better.
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zarguy
fully equipped rock polisher
Cedar City, Utah - rockhound heaven!
Member since December 2005
Posts: 1,791
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Post by zarguy on May 2, 2020 18:34:59 GMT -5
I picked up a small gravity feed slab saw that was suppose to be 10 probably an 8 and I installed a nine inch blade. I had some extra larger motors and used one. Maybe I needed a better blade, but the gravity feed wasn't very good. The rock barely moved through the blade even though I tried different weights. It wasn't binding, it wasn't cutting and I wasn't interested in pushing the rock through. 8 & 9" blades are typically for trim saws. Perhaps with a different (thicker?) blade, it would cut better. Lynn
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Post by stardiamond on May 2, 2020 20:05:57 GMT -5
I used my 8 inch Genie trim saw attachment to slab small rough for 15 years, including the last 5 years I had my Covington 16 inch combo set up. I use an MK303 .032 blade and hand feed. I do an okay job with it and the narrower kerf has an advantage. What I don't like is that using it to slab accelerates the wear on the blade.
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Post by pauls on May 3, 2020 16:57:47 GMT -5
A couple of things. A saw blade is sort of like a big disk brake, it can take a surprising amount of HP to keep it moving when loaded. There's only one way to find out if a third HP is adequate is to find out if the motor gets hot or slows down. Weight. I am a fan of weight feed. It cuts at just the right speed for the rock, a small rock or a bit of soft marble zips through in no time, a tough old Agate or Jade will just wear its way through in its own good time.
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stillrockinpdx
starting to shine!
Hey!! I got a Star! - Find me on Instagram under stillrockinpdx - I collect other things too.
Member since April 2017
Posts: 45
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Post by stillrockinpdx on Mar 23, 2022 4:25:38 GMT -5
A couple of things. A saw blade is sort of like a big disk brake, it can take a surprising amount of HP to keep it moving when loaded. There's only one way to find out if a third HP is adequate is to find out if the motor gets hot or slows down. Weight. I am a fan of weight feed. It cuts at just the right speed for the rock, a small rock or a bit of soft marble zips through in no time, a tough old Agate or Jade will just wear its way through in its own good time. - I have 14” Covington gravity fed slab saw that I cannot seem to use. I Must be doing something wrong with the amount of weight I use.
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