bison57
off to a rocking start
Member since April 2008
Posts: 1
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Post by bison57 on Apr 30, 2008 18:28:21 GMT -5
Hello; I am new here, and some what new to rock polishing. I have done some tumbling. But I would like to build a vibrating flat lap to polish some of my geodes and bigger flats. can anyone help out this new guy?
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Post by johnjsgems on Apr 30, 2008 22:23:31 GMT -5
It's easy to make a motor vibrate. I think you would be better off finding a good used manufactured vibe lap. The time and trial and error efforts and engineering and construction time could be spent actually polishing. Depending on the geode size you can buy the largest aluminum polish head you can find and mount on a motor shaft. You can use sanding discs, diamond discs, leather discs, etc.
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matt111399
starting to shine!
Member since April 2008
Posts: 26
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Post by matt111399 on May 1, 2008 13:54:35 GMT -5
Hey -
I've got a small bench-top drill press. Would I be able to use this to polish? I'm interested in throwing a polish on geodes.
Thanks, Matt
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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 May 5, 2008 5:24:39 GMT -5
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Post by deb193redux on May 8, 2008 16:52:56 GMT -5
Hey - I've got a small bench-top drill press. Would I be able to use this to polish? I'm interested in throwing a polish on geodes. Thanks, Matt Matt - Speed is one factor, but I think you can get speed in a good range. Water is an issue, but polish needs less. Possibly only damp, or a little spray. If you could mount a 6" plate covered in leather, then you could likely use this with AO or CO r diamond polish. But... 1) you may have better luck getting a chuck adapter for a motor shaft or getting a polish pad and using some other shaft adapter to connect directly to a motor. 2) polish will only occur if the surface is well sanded - preferably to at least 1200g. SO you would be talking about using the drill press for sanding stages too? Here water is much more important to prevent lung cancer. 3) is the geode solid? any irregularity with hollow center or crystals may catch on the leather and prove to be a hassle. You might consider hand-finishing by using several grits of good wet lapidary grade sand paper, or grit slurry on a glass plate. Then, use polish on a leather pad. Some elbow grease is involved.
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