thomtap
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since December 2007
Posts: 237
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Post by thomtap on Aug 29, 2008 9:54:26 GMT -5
It would help us novices if someone would post your work flow on creating a cabochon.
1. Rough cut preform. 2. prepare back surface on 80 grit diamond wheel. 3. etc. 4. etc. 5. etc.
I am about to build a small lapidary shop, and would really appreciate details on how YOU do it, so I can build a shop right. No detail is too small.
This would even be a good "Sticky" post for newcomers!!!
Thanks in advance!
Thom
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Post by akansan on Aug 29, 2008 10:34:04 GMT -5
Steps one through three are done in large batches of 40-50 for me -
1) Cut slabs or buy slabs 1a) Draw shapes on slabs
Note: can stop here for day/evening
2) Cut preforms
Note: Can stop here for evening/day.
2a) Clean preforms on 50 grit grinding wheel. 2b) Sometimes clean preform edges all the way through 600 wheel (no longer a preform!) 3) Dop all preforms.
Note: Can stop here for evening/day.
After that, my pattern is shaped by my grinder setup.
4) Work individual cab through 600 grit. Repeat for entire grouping being worked at the time (groupings no larger than 8 at a time).
Note: can stop here for evening/day.
5) Work entire grouping on 1200. 6) Work entire grouping on 3000. 7) Work entire grouping on 8000. 8) Work individual stones on 14k & 50k until grouping is completed. 9) Pop entire grouping in freezer for 30 minutes or more.
Note: Can stop here for day/evening.
10) Remove stones from freezer, scrape excess wax from back of stone with sharp object. Remove excess wax from dop stick and return to dop pot.
I rarely polish the backs, and when I do, I rarely polish all the way through. I've polished backs before and after I've finished. (Back polishing is determined by roughness of original slab cut and translucency of material.)
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Post by stardiamond on Aug 29, 2008 12:30:03 GMT -5
1. select material. 2. design a group of cabs. 3. draw design on face. 4. cut out designs with trim saw leaving a little room. 5. redesign if piece fractures and recut 7 redraw design on back. 8. retrim if necessary. 9. cut around design on back with 80, 220 hard and 280 soft. 10. Mark girdle on cabs 11. Shape cab with 80, 220 hard and 280 soft. 12. Review cabs for corrections. 13. Make corrections with 220 hard and 280 soft. At this point most of the work has been done. 14. Sand cabs with 600 and 1200 grit Nova wheels. 15. Polish with 3,000 and 14,000 wheels on Genie. 16 Polish with 50,000 and 100,000 canvas pads on Genie. 17. Evaluate work. A pretty good amount of my cabs would need to be reworked if I were selling; scratches that I couldn't see until polishing, missed areas of sanding, wavy or uneven girdle lines. I try to learn from these mistake and refine my technique. 18. Put cabs ir Ryker box 19. Scan cabs and upload pictures to photobucket. 20. Post work here.
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Post by krazydiamond on Aug 29, 2008 19:26:24 GMT -5
you guys are way freaking organized,,,,lol, i cut till my blade is dull, then empty the saw water. then i preform, preform, until i get a good batch to dop, then dop and then do the whole batch, leaving the final buff at the end.
i've been SO remiss this summer as other things have got between me and the rocks.
getting closer tho to getting back to it.
KD
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Post by catmandewe on Aug 29, 2008 20:13:32 GMT -5
wow, that sure makes it sound like work!!
I just grab a rock and start grinding on it, whatever it turns out to be is what I polish. Of course I have not done very many, so I am probably speaking out of line. Just got some diamond wheels in the mail today from John at JSgems, can't wait to try them out this weekend.
Tony
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Post by akansan on Aug 30, 2008 7:32:32 GMT -5
LOL - it looks organized when written out, but what really happens is I get the urge to mark slabs. Then I get the urge to cut preforms. Once the preforms are cut, I'm anxious to get them on dops and work them...but there's generally quite a delay between preforming and dopping. And once all of them are dopped, I just start working with the dopped preforms, grabbing the ones that strike my fancy. The 8 limit is because if I do more than that at a time I get sloppy...not to mention that 8 all the way through takes me to the end of a day. That's also the reason that I work all the way through the 600 on each stone before moving to the next one - so I can concentrate on it that far, making sure that I haven't missed any scratches. It helps me pace myself. But once all the preforms are dopped, you slowly build up a stash of preforms to grind. Then you can grab whatever one you want and start grinding. I just restocked my dopped preforms last weekend (before the dozen), so I have another 30 or so dopped preforms and another 20 or so mini-slabbettes for freeform preforming. And I probably have another 5 or so preforms from the batch I did previously that just haven't hit me as hard to cab. My breaks are just natural stopping points for me. One grouping consists of the number of cabs I get done through 600 at a time. I'll either add additional members to the grouping the next day, or I'll just continue on to the 1200. And then there are the ones that jump the line, that I cut, preform, dop, and grind all within one hour because I had a vision.
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Post by stardiamond on Aug 30, 2008 12:53:18 GMT -5
My steps 1-8 and 9-16 are usually done on different days. Steps 17-20 are done after cleanup. I use a recirculating system for tinkerbell, but I need to wipe down the excess water when done. When I am done working through 1200, anything missed needs to be done another day.
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Post by bobby1 on Aug 30, 2008 22:17:16 GMT -5
1. Select rough 2. Mark shape with template (sketch it if the cab is to be a preform) with bic pen or aluminum pencil 3. Trim to near the outline 4. Filp preform over and redraw the pattern on back 5. Grind to outline with 80 grit diamond wheel 6. Sand back of cab dry with slightly worn 220 belt. Remove all saw marks. 7. Mark centerline on cab edge. 8. Grind 45 degree bevel to the centerline. 9. Grind another bevel on inside shoulder 10. Grind from center of cab to the centerline by rocking the cab away from you. 11. Dop cab 12. Sand dry from center of cab to the centerline on a slightly worn 220 belt 13. Sand dry on 400 belt from center to the outline 14 Sand girdle wet on 220 belt 15. Sand girdle wet on 440 belt 16. Sand all over on a worn 600 belt 17. Polish 18. Remove from dop stick by placing in freezer 19. Redop on front 20. Grind very slight bevel on back edge 21. Sand bevel wet on 400 belt 22. Polish back and bevel 23. Remove from dop stick. 24. Swoon over my handicraft. I usually do everything on the cab in one sitting. Sometimes I will do two cabs (at most) at a time. Bob
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thomtap
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since December 2007
Posts: 237
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Post by thomtap on Aug 31, 2008 8:04:02 GMT -5
Bob - I really like step 24 the best! Great stuff everyone! Thanks! Keep it coming if you have a different way of doing it... maybe I can learn something... perhaps...
Thom
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