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Post by stoner on Apr 12, 2008 16:02:28 GMT -5
I'd like to thank whoever it was who posted the link to the super grinder. I saw that page a long time ago and had forgotten about it. Anyway, I have a bunch of oddball sized diamond blades and they are all pretty thick, so I grabbed the 4 8" blades that have a 1" arbor hole and mounted them on the end of my grinder. It gives me about a 1/2" thick wheel. Man, this thing eats agates like they are butter! Makes my 60g sintered wheel feel like a 600 wheel, but it is going to save a lot of wear on my 60g sintered wheel. I'm using it to preform all my harder material and also to start the doming process. Some of the porcelain jaspers are pretty tough and even with the 60g wheel, it was taking a long time to shape the domes. Super grinder plows right through it. The only problem is chipping, but I've been making the preforms over-sized so I can grind off the chipped backs.
Next I'm going to set up a separate arbor and gang together maybe 10 6" blades.
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adrian65
Cave Dweller
Arch to golden memories and to great friends.
Member since February 2007
Posts: 10,777
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Post by adrian65 on Apr 12, 2008 22:24:53 GMT -5
Could you show us your super grinder please?
Adrian
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Post by Jack ( Yorkshire) on Apr 13, 2008 4:07:52 GMT -5
Hi Stoner , Id like to see it again please Iv just gone through a 6" SC wheel in 14 days doing Pre cuts If I remember they used spacers to account for the thickness of the sintered dimond rims so you dont dish the set up , Correct ? jack yorkshire UK
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Post by stoner on Apr 13, 2008 18:12:42 GMT -5
Yea, I think they said something about washers in between the blades. I just stacked mine without any spacers, but the rims aren't that thick so there was no problem with dishing the blades. Here's a few pics. I took a movie, but it was 13.5MB, so I'll take a shorter one and upload that later.
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adrian65
Cave Dweller
Arch to golden memories and to great friends.
Member since February 2007
Posts: 10,777
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Post by adrian65 on Apr 13, 2008 22:38:32 GMT -5
Thank you for the pics, Ed. Aren't the best ideas the simplest ones?
Adrian
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RockAHOLIC
starting to shine!
Member since March 2008
Posts: 31
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Post by RockAHOLIC on Apr 14, 2008 1:12:21 GMT -5
Noe to self ... Kopy Kat this Cool Idea !!!
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Post by Jack ( Yorkshire) on Apr 14, 2008 2:46:23 GMT -5
HiEd, This is the first paragraph of the what I found on the "Super dimond grinder" SuperGrinder! Faster, Better, Cheaper Grinding by Neal Immega Member of the Houston Gem & Mineral Society This article has many more pictures than were used when published in Rock and Gem. I am sure you have heard the old joke that when a customer asks an engineer (any kind) to design some new product “faster, better, and cheaper,” the client gets to pick only two of the three criteria. I want to show you a design for a lapidary grinder that meets all three criteria and uses inexpensive saw blades. We have been happily using our “SuperGrinder” for two years at the Houston Gem & Mineral Society shop for rough grinding. The machine greatly reduced the load on the cabbing wheels and increased their life. The sphere makers particularly enjoy the improved grinding speeds for removing the corners of their initial cubes, and there is always a line for the unit in the shop. The key items are eight robust 10-inch diameter 40-grit diamond saw blades intended for concrete work. We get these from our local Harbor Freight store (Item # 42043-1VGA, $27 list but there are sales) or from their www.harborfreight.com Web site. An alternative mail order-only site is www.mcgillswarehouse.com/ that offers cheaper blades (#DB10, $8 for the 10-inch size blade) which we have not tested. The eight blades are stacked on the arbor and ganged as a unit. We run these on a donated Foredom grinder that has had its aluminum splashguard raised to accommodate a larger wheel size than the machine’s original 8-inch silicon carbide wheels. We added a separate single blade to the machine at the request of people who do stone carving. We are using a standard 1½ horsepower. There is so much mass in the nine saw blades that the machine takes seconds to get to full speed, and it draws more than 20 amperes while doing so. A future improvement will be to replace the existing redwood 2x12 base (this machine is so old that it uses old growth redwood!) with a steel plate. The wood base is probably too flexible. There is a further 4 or 5 pages but I have a PC problem and all the pictures have gone ,I have it copied to my documents I would think if you go to the Hustone gem & mineral society you should be able to find the original article If you cant find it I can send you the full details I have (Minus pictures), email me john@matco.me.uk That one of yours looks great next to the SC Jack Yorkshire UK
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dshalldms
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since January 2008
Posts: 113
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Post by dshalldms on Apr 14, 2008 8:45:59 GMT -5
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Post by Jack ( Yorkshire) on Apr 14, 2008 11:35:24 GMT -5
Hi Derek
Thanks a Million !! I will try to save it with pictures this time
Jack Yorkshire UK
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mirkaba
spending too much on rocks
Member since August 2006
Posts: 321
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Post by mirkaba on Apr 17, 2008 16:46:20 GMT -5
Stoner......That looks great!!! I'm gonna get one of those. Any idea what grit diamond is on the blades? That old crown looks exactly like mine. One heck of a machine. At one time it was the cadillac. The only thing I need is the tool rests. Might have to build some. Jack...What kind of wheel was it that you wore out? 14 days is not much tool time..... Bob
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Post by stoner on Apr 19, 2008 13:38:35 GMT -5
Hey Bob, I don't know exactly what grit the blades are, but in the article they were saying the blades are 40g, which seems about right for the way they cut agates. I love my machine and I still think it's the cadallac of cabbers. I got it as part of a package deal along with an 18" slab saw for $450. It had SC wheels and belts on it but those are long gone. I've cut a lot of cabs on this machine and I'll probably cut a lot more before it bits the dust.
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mirkaba
spending too much on rocks
Member since August 2006
Posts: 321
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Post by mirkaba on Apr 19, 2008 14:37:03 GMT -5
Stoner. I don't think it will bite the dust! It would probably take a catastrophic event to do it in. I wish I could find another to put all polishing wheels on. I am going to do a little body work on mine this summer and wish I could replace the decal. Guess I will try to preserve it the best I can. I really do need tool rests though. You don't have a set you could get pics of?
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Post by stoner on Apr 19, 2008 16:12:54 GMT -5
What kind of body work are you going to do? I ask because I've been being lazy and not cleaning mine out and the metal is starting to rust pretty bad in places. Cool decal. Could you send me a full sized image of the above photo? I can crop it out and play with it in photoshop and print it out on sticky back paper. I'd like to have one for my machine. I always thought my machine was made by Barranca.
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Post by johnjsgems on Apr 19, 2008 17:27:09 GMT -5
Barranca makes the old Star Diamond brand. I talked to a guy that made a grinder like this with those stupid AOL trial discs they mail to everyone for spacers. I think the spacers are thin like .025" or there abouts since the kerf is only slightly thicker than the core. I saw one my old club made out of 10" tile blades for their sphere people. They had to keep it outside . It is really noisey but really effective.
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bobrocks
off to a rocking start
Member since April 2008
Posts: 9
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Post by bobrocks on Apr 19, 2008 23:41:07 GMT -5
I built my own Supergrinder. I started with a Ryobi 8" bench grinder 3600 rpm, modified the guards for better access, added water spray coolant simple fan type spray heads. I put 7 diamond 7 in. skil saw blades from wallyworld on one side and 9 or 10 4 and a half diamond grinding wheels on the other side. What a rock eater! I could not be happier. Wear them goggles tho. Bob.
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mirkaba
spending too much on rocks
Member since August 2006
Posts: 321
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Post by mirkaba on Apr 20, 2008 18:57:38 GMT -5
Stoner...I will get a better pic of the logo and send it to you
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rocky323
off to a rocking start
Member since April 2008
Posts: 18
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Post by rocky323 on May 2, 2008 1:18:18 GMT -5
to all cutters; I am interested in buying diamond soft wheels will pay $15 for the worn out wheels any size 4-6-8. Have had some good luck in resurfacing with new diamond.
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UtahRockHound
spending too much on rocks
Sometimes your the Windshield, sometimes your the Rock.
Member since May 2008
Posts: 301
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Post by UtahRockHound on Aug 31, 2008 1:07:08 GMT -5
I built my own Supergrinder. I started with a Ryobi 8" bench grinder 3600 rpm, modified the guards for better access, added water spray coolant simple fan type spray heads. I put 7 diamond 7 in. skil saw blades from wallyworld on one side and 9 or 10 4 and a half diamond grinding wheels on the other side. What a rock eater! I could not be happier. Wear them goggles tho. Bob. I will echo what bobrocks says. After reading this article, I used a 6" Ryobi, and modified the guards, then purchased my blades from Harbor freight for $3 each. Mounted 8 of them to get and inch thick. Works like a charm, but as he says, wear the goggles, it is a chip slinger. Will take down Chert or Quartz very fast.
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Post by Jack, lapidaryrough on Aug 31, 2008 11:53:39 GMT -5
On the Diamond blade grinder wheel`s you`l need to space each blade so the grit and chips well wash out, i have been running a stack of MK-303 8" x 8 wheel and i spaced them with Fender washer`s, and i marked each wheel so i could i can mix them up and to keep from wearing out the center blades.
Jack
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Post by Bikerrandy on Dec 1, 2008 14:14:14 GMT -5
These people don't have a life ^^
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