Mark K
Cave Dweller
Member since April 2012
Posts: 2,581
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Post by Mark K on May 12, 2023 19:34:50 GMT -5
First thing first, I spend an eternity talking to some woman who clearly has English as a second language. She has it pretty good though but not good enough to be selling machines like this. She basically interviews me to see what machines I have and what I will have to do. So far, so good. I have been treated pretty well by them on my past purchases.
The machine comes. I can not use it on my machine the way it came. I can see that there are 2 parts at least that I need but do not have in the boxes. I call them, they have to have a conference on what to do. She calls me back and informs me that the unit does not come with those parts and I will have to sit on this machine and wait until the parts come AFTER I purchase the parts I didn't know I needed in the first place. Remember the interview?
I am now pissed off, chew ass like I rarely ever do*, and tell them to shove the machine up their ass and to send me return slips.
* AKA tell us that we need extra stuff, put it in the instructions, put it on the website, get rid of the stupid ass shit with "someone in bumeff Egypt bought a 6 inch saw blade", No one gives a shit.
She wants to tell me that she will review the return policy. BULLSHIT! There is a reason I use Paypal for stuff like this.
A few days later I get an email telling me that she is going to send the parts free since there was no way I could have known that I needed them. FIIIIINE.
Everything came today and I installed it. I just got done. It is 7:20 pm. I started around 4.
What a pain in the ass.
I get the main unit mounted finally after an eternity of jockeying the heavy unit fractions of MM this way and that. Then I drill the hole for the pump. Didn't realize the motor is in the way. Fixed that BS and made it work and look rather pretty if I say so myself.
Then I go to put the blade back on. I forgot to measure clearance for the blade above the pick up. I'M GOOD!
I get everything in place and let her rip. The god-damned thing is actually running! It is working correctly too.
Then I go to close the lid.
eff!!!
THE HINGE BOLT DOES NOT CLEAR THE LID OF THE UNIT.
It is OK. I can push it aside until I get a shorter bolt and put it in.
It is currently running with the blade spinning, throwing oil all over the inside of the saw. It is cleaning the oil and I am guessing that in a few hours I will have a much cleaner saw until the unit breaks down.
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Post by Rockoonz on May 12, 2023 23:53:01 GMT -5
You reminded me to contact my friend in Nevada about the original guy who made a centrifuge oil separator for lapidary, see if he still has any parts and if he would share the drawings since the rip off chinese ones drove him out of business. He only made the stand alone style that had it's own tank, and also a 1 gallon standard paint pail instead of the half gallon one you can't just get at any paint store.
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Mark K
Cave Dweller
Member since April 2012
Posts: 2,581
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Post by Mark K on May 13, 2023 17:52:04 GMT -5
The amount of crap that it is getting out of the oil is staggering. Granted, I began with a rather dirty saw, but it sure is packing it in. I have cleaned the can twice already. Had to stop it and stir the left over sludge in the can because it was off balance, but that was pretty easy.
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Post by realrockhound on May 13, 2023 20:30:25 GMT -5
What you pay for the thing? I might want to try to make one if too costly.
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Mark K
Cave Dweller
Member since April 2012
Posts: 2,581
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Post by Mark K on May 13, 2023 21:22:52 GMT -5
1300
Now, there are extra parts they do not include if you have an older saw. Their new saws come ready for the system so they assume that everyone has their crap.
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Mark K
Cave Dweller
Member since April 2012
Posts: 2,581
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Post by Mark K on May 16, 2023 17:46:39 GMT -5
I left it run all night and in the morning the can was completely full. It was easier to clean out the full can than it was to clean out the partial can that was only around 3/4 full. Maybe it is because I am getting practice cleaning it out.
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herb
spending too much on rocks
Member since November 2011
Posts: 444
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Post by herb on May 17, 2023 9:03:16 GMT -5
I left it run all night and in the morning the can was completely full. It was easier to clean out the full can than it was to clean out the partial can that was only around 3/4 full. Maybe it is because I am getting practice cleaning it out. I'm curious how "dry" the sludge in the can is? When using the paper bag method to clean oil, if I let it sit long enough (about a year!) Enough oil has dripped out that the sludge is pretty solid. I'm guessing your sludge is pretty well wrung out from the centrifical force?
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chris1956
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since July 2022
Posts: 1,227
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Post by chris1956 on May 17, 2023 13:23:30 GMT -5
I left it run all night and in the morning the can was completely full. It was easier to clean out the full can than it was to clean out the partial can that was only around 3/4 full. Maybe it is because I am getting practice cleaning it out. I'm curious how "dry" the sludge in the can is? When using the paper bag method to clean oil, if I let it sit long enough (about a year!) Enough oil has dripped out that the sludge is pretty solid. I'm guessing your sludge is pretty well wrung out from the centrifical force? OK, I probably have a dumb question. I have only been using saws for a little more than a year now. I have always used oil. It is a mess to clean so I kind of like the idea of a cleaning system although they are pretty expensive for how much I use the saws. You mentioned using the paper bag method. I have seen several other posts talking about this. My question is why should you use a paper bag to get every little particle out of the oil when, after a couple minutes of cutting a rock, there will be little particles all though the oil? I am guessing you could recover a bit more of the old oil by doing the paper bag on mostly solids, but I just keep letting it set and decanting the clear(er) oil off the top through a series of decanters. After a few weeks, the solids are pretty much solid, or so it seems. Am I missing something or underestimating how much oil can be recovered?
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Post by HankRocks on May 17, 2023 14:49:06 GMT -5
In my opinion, some particles left in the oil is not a big deal as I assume most(some) of us use our saw until they oil is pretty sludgey(is that a word) which is way past some particles. If this oil was for lubrication then cleaning out everything and keeping it clean would be important. The issue with very sludgey oil is the mess it makes in the saw which adds to cleanup time.
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Mark K
Cave Dweller
Member since April 2012
Posts: 2,581
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Post by Mark K on May 17, 2023 15:04:05 GMT -5
I do both. I ran the oil from before I installed the cleaning system through a paper bag in a aluminum bucket full of holes, set on a couple bricks in a large bucket and I have gotten, from what I can tell, about an 80% recovery from it. The oil came out way faster than I have ever seen before and was almost crystal clear. There is a small amount of super fine sludge that went through the bag somehow. That goes right back in the saw with whatever filters out as time goes on. I take the cleanings from the everclean and scrape it out into that bag and I am getting a small amount of oil coming still. Granted I was dumping the oil from the can in with the sludge so that contributes to the total.
The sludge is the texture of cold peanut butter. Most of the time it looks like Nutella. Probably would not taste any different either.
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Mark K
Cave Dweller
Member since April 2012
Posts: 2,581
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Post by Mark K on May 17, 2023 16:04:18 GMT -5
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chris1956
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since July 2022
Posts: 1,227
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Post by chris1956 on May 17, 2023 16:15:09 GMT -5
Thanks for the video. I will have to try the bag.
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lapidarycentral
starting to spend too much on rocks
(Brian Rhode) LapidaryCentral.com - Fueling your Lapidary Addiction.
Member since August 2021
Posts: 209
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Post by lapidarycentral on May 17, 2023 17:41:14 GMT -5
I've thought about investing in the tank and centrifuge and using it for our saws, but I heard with multiple saws running it is too much of a hassle and I'd be constantly cleaning the can. That these are more so intended for just one saw and light use.
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Mark K
Cave Dweller
Member since April 2012
Posts: 2,581
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Post by Mark K on May 17, 2023 18:30:04 GMT -5
If you can find the cans at a decent price it would be much better.
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herb
spending too much on rocks
Member since November 2011
Posts: 444
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Post by herb on May 17, 2023 19:02:08 GMT -5
I'm curious how "dry" the sludge in the can is? When using the paper bag method to clean oil, if I let it sit long enough (about a year!) Enough oil has dripped out that the sludge is pretty solid. I'm guessing your sludge is pretty well wrung out from the centrifical force? OK, I probably have a dumb question. I have only been using saws for a little more than a year now. I have always used oil. It is a mess to clean so I kind of like the idea of a cleaning system although they are pretty expensive for how much I use the saws. You mentioned using the paper bag method. I have seen several other posts talking about this. My question is why should you use a paper bag to get every little particle out of the oil when, after a couple minutes of cutting a rock, there will be little particles all though the oil? I am guessing you could recover a bit more of the old oil by doing the paper bag on mostly solids, but I just keep letting it set and decanting the clear(er) oil off the top through a series of decanters. After a few weeks, the solids are pretty much solid, or so it seems. Am I missing something or underestimating how much oil can be recovered? The object of the paper bag method is not so much trying to get every particle out of the oil, as it is getting trying to get all the oil out of the sludge. If I understand you method, you empty the saws oil into a bucket and then skim the clean oil off the top several times? I'd guess you are only getting about half the oil out. I roughly guess I recover about 80% of the oil. When I toss the bag of sludge the surface is all cracked like a dry lake bed in a drought. If you have a smaller saw or dont do alot of cutting, it isn't that big of a deal. My 18 inch saw takes about 5 gallons and I usually have to clean it 2 times a year so that is about 2 gallons a year I'm losing. Depending on what your paying per gallon for oil, it can add up over the years. It wont make you rich, but doesnt take any effort to have a bucket sitting around for a few months draining, so its "free" money!
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Mark K
Cave Dweller
Member since April 2012
Posts: 2,581
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Post by Mark K on May 17, 2023 19:37:13 GMT -5
I agree with Herb. I think that I am going to toss the bag of crap in the trash since tomorrow is trash day and I think I can afford to toss the minor amount that is left. Herb is especially right if you can find the right size buckets to complement each other in the project. Then, even if you do not have a lot, you can just set them in the corner with an old sheet over them to prevent your 10mm socket from jumping out of the toolbox and landing in the slime, and forget about it for a few months. As long as the muck is above the level of the recovered oil, you will get all you are going to get in 2-3 months. In my case, because of the extraordinary set up I was lucky enough to have on hand by chance, I could get the most I could expect in about 1 month.
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Post by Rockoonz on May 17, 2023 19:47:27 GMT -5
I think the 80% figure is probably about right as long as I clean out the saw before the oil totally turns to pudding, I've found that if I stop cutting when the residue is just starting to stay coated on vertical surfaces after a cut I can generally get almost all the oil out of the sludge in 10-14 days, especially when the temperature is 90's plus and I put the filter setup out in the sun. I drilled holes in the bottom of a 5 gallon Stellar oil pail, cut out the center of a lid leaving a lip for the bucket to rest on, and then stack them with the grocery bag in the top one, I usually let the drainings settle a little and pour some clean off the top first. When I ran 5-6 saws up north I bought up all the cheap pillowcases from estates and moving sales and used them if I was in a hurry, oil is less clean but available faster and the pillowcases could be turned inside out to dump and reused a few times.
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Mark K
Cave Dweller
Member since April 2012
Posts: 2,581
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Post by Mark K on May 17, 2023 20:55:47 GMT -5
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herb
spending too much on rocks
Member since November 2011
Posts: 444
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Post by herb on May 18, 2023 9:20:13 GMT -5
I agree with Herb. I think that I am going to toss the bag of crap in the trash since tomorrow is trash day and I think I can afford to toss the minor amount that is left. Herb is especially right if you can find the right size buckets to complement each other in the project. Then, even if you do not have a lot, you can just set them in the corner with an old sheet over them to prevent your 10mm socket from jumping out of the toolbox and landing in the slime, and forget about it for a few months. As long as the muck is above the level of the recovered oil, you will get all you are going to get in 2-3 months. In my case, because of the extraordinary set up I was lucky enough to have on hand by chance, I could get the most I could expect in about 1 month. I use a piece of 6 inch pvc drain pipe I had left over to prop the bucket with the holes and bag of sludge up inside the catch bucket. The pipe is long enough that the buckets dont stick together. After the first few days I dump the oil that has drained already into a storage bucket so then I can just set the dripping bucket pair aside and forget about them without worrying that recovered oil will reach the level of the inner bucket. If I had any metal fabrication skills I would like to have a paper bag sized basket made of expanded metal. I think all the extra holes would help drain the oil faster than a bucket with holes. I guess I could first try adding more holes to my existing buckets but I dont know how long they'd last with that many holes
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Mark K
Cave Dweller
Member since April 2012
Posts: 2,581
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Post by Mark K on May 18, 2023 15:05:44 GMT -5
Honestly Herb, I suspect that if you began with a good bucket and made it look like my aluminum one, it would last forever as long as it was kept out of the sun.
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