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Post by Donnie's Rocky Treasures on Jan 28, 2012 15:47:30 GMT -5
Hey Don, you got that machine ready to go yet?!?! My brother is bringing me home some nice big, fresh dug out of the ground hunks of coral!!!! ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D
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sampson
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since April 2011
Posts: 222
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Post by sampson on Jan 28, 2012 16:30:31 GMT -5
I spent a couple hours this morning spinning up a different material and other than getting some deep chips on my grinder i t is working well. It is a chalcedony material from the cliffs out back of my house and has some partially healed fractures that chip out if i grind too hard. I still have a bit of time to grind it down enough to get rid of the chipped out spots but after a couple hours grinding it is pretty much perfectly spherical (other than the chips) I think this one is going to work out well for me. Here are some pics of the one that didn't work out. I will probably try to shine it up a bit since i think it is a neat material but i'm not sure i am going to put any more time into trying to get it round. Looks pretty good from this angle. But from this angle you can see how it developed a ridge around the middle. It doesn't look any different than the rest but it just won't round down. And here is the new one i am working on. It still has a few chips but is otherwise shaping up well. I think i will call it "the death sphere" since everytime i look at it it reminds me of the death star from star wars. Too bad it chipped so bad on the grinder since it will take a bit of time and size to finish it now but i have a ton of this material available out back so i am sure i can make some larger ones later.
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Post by jakesrocks on Jan 28, 2012 17:30:37 GMT -5
Hey Donnie, with any luck the machine will be ready for a trial spin by next Saturday or Sunday. Pet coral is going to be a bit tricky to work with, so I won't try it until I've put a few spheres under my belt, and worked out any bugs in the machine. Should make interesting spheres though. Don
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Post by Donnie's Rocky Treasures on Jan 28, 2012 17:47:21 GMT -5
Just let me know when you are ready.
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Post by jakesrocks on Jan 28, 2012 18:21:45 GMT -5
Will do Donnie, just as soon as I get the machine figured out. Send enough for 2 spheres, and I'll send one back to you.
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Post by jakesrocks on Feb 1, 2012 11:56:49 GMT -5
Been down sick for a couple days, but did manage to epoxy spacer plates to my motor bases yesterday. Roughed the aluminum up with 80 grit sandpaper first. Hope to get all of the holes drilled today, and the motor mounts bolted together. Will post a pic when I get them mounted.
Gonna sit in my recliner and work on the wiring harness for a while. Don
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juzwuz
has rocks in the head
Member since April 2010
Posts: 526
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Post by juzwuz on Feb 4, 2012 19:18:58 GMT -5
Finally had some time to work on a sphere today. My 2" core bits were glazed over from grinding the jasper sphere so I decided to work on an obsidian sphere to expose more diamond. Here's the before and after pictures: It's 2.39 inch diameter. It is a midnight lace with mahogony but unfortunately you can't see the lace. Since it's soft, it took around 1.5 hours to grind.
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Post by jakesrocks on Feb 4, 2012 22:43:32 GMT -5
Man, that obsidian rounded up real nice. Should have cleaned your diamond cutters up too.
I'm getting closer to having mine finished. Should have it ready to role in a few days.
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sampson
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since April 2011
Posts: 222
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Post by sampson on Feb 6, 2012 0:49:54 GMT -5
Looks good Justin, can't wait to see it with a finish polish on it. Nice splash of color there.
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Post by jakesrocks on Feb 6, 2012 15:04:10 GMT -5
Well, so much for super glue being so good on aluminum dops. I have to use doubler plates on my motor bases so my spring hinges will clear the base rails. I bonded the doublers with 12 evenly spaced drops of Loctite brand super glue, and left them in clamps for 24 hours. This was after cleaning the aluminum pieces with acetone and roughing them up with 80 grit sandpaper. Went to mark the holes for drilling with a center punch. All of the bonded pieces popped loose on the first hammer blow. Back to the drawing board. I used industrial type double sided tape to bond them. They held for center punching. I'll never trust super glue on metal again.
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juzwuz
has rocks in the head
Member since April 2010
Posts: 526
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Post by juzwuz on Feb 7, 2012 2:52:14 GMT -5
I've been working on a small labradorite sphere lately. The preform was very egg-shaped but I decided to put it in the machine anyway. After grinding for a while, it was still egg-shaped and my grinding cups were getting close to touching each other so I took one cup out and let it grind with the other two. Grinding with 2 cups has rounded out the sphere pretty good. There's still a little more grinding to do but it looks close now. Hopefully I'll have some pictures tomorrow.
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juzwuz
has rocks in the head
Member since April 2010
Posts: 526
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Post by juzwuz on Feb 8, 2012 1:55:54 GMT -5
I was chasing the color on the labradorite sphere and finally had to stop because I was at the point where the two grinding cups were almost touching. Here's the before and after: The sphere ended up at 1.34 inches. It reminds me of a blue planet with cloud cover. There is color around the equator. At the poles, it is dark gray/black but as you move the sphere around, you can see a light moving around. I guess this might be similar to moonstones? Very hard to capture in a picture. I've got some ideas to try on polishing pads but it will have to wait for the weekend.
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Post by jakesrocks on Feb 9, 2012 15:42:07 GMT -5
Update. Motors mounted. Need to finish wiring and put on cutter cups, and give this puppy a spin. Spring loaded fire door hinges are going to work good. Don
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Deleted
Deleted Member
Member since January 1970
Posts: 0
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Post by Deleted on Feb 10, 2012 17:26:52 GMT -5
Man you made that tennis ball round without even using cups!
Great idea using the track material mounted to a base. Looks great! I have motors, need to get off my @ss and make my machine.
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Post by jakesrocks on Feb 10, 2012 17:46:29 GMT -5
Just trying to protect the threads on the adapters with the ball. Soon as I can get to town, I'll buy some 3/4" pipe caps to put on them when the cups are off.
Steel Unistrut would work just as good as the aluminum track, and be cheaper too.
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Post by jakesrocks on Feb 12, 2012 13:47:37 GMT -5
Parts are parts. You get em where ya find em. Decided that I'd need springs on my machine after all. My spring hinges will be alright for sanding and polishing, but for the first rough grind the cutters may jump around enough to make my motors fall over backwards. Anyway, my PayPal account won't accept my password so I couldn't order new springs. I found these on an old drafting lamp with a broken switch. They're plenty strong enough, and just about the perfect length. The L brackets will replace the washers on the top motor mounting bolts. Found them too while looking in my shed for springs. (I'm the king of packrats). Once I get everything mounted, I'll post another pic. Don
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Post by jakesrocks on Feb 20, 2012 11:16:04 GMT -5
Finally found a few minutes last night to work on the machine. First pic is the springs attached. Second pic shows the 1" angles I used for attachment points. One hole in each angle had to be drilled out to a couple thousandths over 1/4". The nuts will be replaced with aircraft self locking nuts before trying the machine. I'm using 3/4" ABS pipe caps to protect the cup adapters when there aren't any cups mounted. Don
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Post by Hard Rock Cafe on Feb 21, 2012 10:13:45 GMT -5
So, Don, are you actually going to grind a sphere with that thing, or are you just enjoying the process of building it? LOL Chuck
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Post by jakesrocks on Feb 21, 2012 10:24:56 GMT -5
So, Don, are you actually going to grind a sphere with that thing, or are you just enjoying the process of building it? LOL Chuck ;D ;D ;D Right now I'm just enjoying building it. Don't want to haul my big saw out in the snow to cut preforms in below freezing weather. Gotta run to Radio Shack today, so I can get some heat shrink tubing. Want to get the wiring finished this week.
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juzwuz
has rocks in the head
Member since April 2010
Posts: 526
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Post by juzwuz on Feb 21, 2012 23:13:20 GMT -5
If anybody is interested, Surplus Center has a few of the gearmotors again.
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