|
Post by Mel on Mar 2, 2021 16:48:22 GMT -5
Could you folks weigh in and give me some input?
My goal is to polish larger sized slabs/display pieces, and some intarsia pieces with minimal effort and mess. I'd prefer to find a machine that can run on its own with minimal supervision. I've seen vibe laps and reciprocating/oscillating (I believe that's the term that was used) versions; does one have any big advantage over the other?
Thanks!
|
|
|
Post by rmf on Mar 2, 2021 19:45:20 GMT -5
recipro lap is faster. managing water is the issue with all flat laps
|
|
|
Post by Rockoonz on Mar 3, 2021 0:34:33 GMT -5
IMO a rotating lap is the only good hands free polisher for flats.
|
|
carver
starting to shine!
Member since November 2019
Posts: 36
|
Post by carver on Mar 15, 2021 23:55:43 GMT -5
IMO a rotating lap is the only good hands free polisher for flats. What do you mean rotating lap? hands free sounds nice. Are you talking like the things with the cage above the grinding disk that rotates? I've only seen these used in labs, never in lapidary uses.
|
|
|
Post by Rockoonz on Mar 16, 2021 0:23:55 GMT -5
IMO a rotating lap is the only good hands free polisher for flats. What do you mean rotating lap? hands free sounds nice. Are you talking like the things with the cage above the grinding disk that rotates? I've only seen these used in labs, never in lapidary uses. Rotating as opposed to vibrating. Vibe laps have got to be pretty much at the head of my list of lapidary tools to run away from.
|
|
|
Post by HankRocks on Mar 16, 2021 3:34:27 GMT -5
Could you folks weigh in and give me some input? My goal is to polish larger sized slabs/display pieces, and some intarsia pieces with minimal effort and mess. I'd prefer to find a machine that can run on its own with minimal supervision. I've seen vibe laps and oscillating versions; does one have any big advantage over the other? Thanks! 2 questions; how large are the pieces you want to polish? and what do you mean by oscillating Lap? In my case I am using two methods to polish flats; Vib Lap and Tumblers. The Vib Lap for polishing one side where the piece is too large for my tumblers or the piece is a bit too brittle for tumbling. The main problem with polishing flats on the Vib-Lap is the lack of sufficient weight of the piece which requires that I attach weights. I use Lead weights attached with caulk. I need to be careful with the transfer of un-broken down grit between stages so rinsing becomes important. Transfer of grit in flat lap polishing can be a much bigger problem than with tumbling where a stray piece of grit is not a big deal(I realize that's heresy in some camps). If a piece of 80 or 220 grit comes loose in the 600 or the polish stage it's going to leave a mark that cannot be removed without bringing the rock back to an earlier stage. Using enough caulk to avoid grit traps under the weight and allowing the caulk to dry sufficiently. That takes time so i usually have a set of rocks with caulk drying for a week, while a previously dried batch is going through the grinding/polishing process. The only problem I have with water in the Vib-Lap is the combination of water and vibration loosening the weights due to the caulk staying too wet. I do find that checking the Vib Lap about every 4 hours for sufficient water is adequate. Due to this I do not run the Lap during sleeping hours. Have also tumbled a good many larger slabs, mostly Brazilian up to the 4 or 5 inch range in the tumbler. I try and select non-fractured pieces. Larger flats of petrified wood do not do well in a tumbler as they are prone to breakage and they loose the 'bark". There is also one other method for polishing flats, polish the end of a larger piece then cut the polished end off. This can eliminate the whole "attached weight" issues and it does require a large saw. I have one piece of Brazilian that I have polished then cut off about 4 times now with probably 3 to 4 more polish and cut cycles. It's an easy to clamp rock so this method works well. A more difficult to clamp rock moves polishing back to the "flat with attached weights" method So for me the Vib Lap works and as they say "when all you have is a Hammer, everything is a nail"!!
|
|
|
Post by roy on Mar 16, 2021 10:15:42 GMT -5
IMO a rotating lap is the only good hands free polisher for flats. What do you mean rotating lap? hands free sounds nice. Are you talking like the things with the cage above the grinding disk that rotates? I've only seen these used in labs, never in lapidary uses. Untitled by Roy Kessell, on Flickr
|
|
|
Post by greig on Mar 16, 2021 10:53:24 GMT -5
I have a vibe lap for slabs. It is not perfect. If it has multiple rocks, it definitely needs to be monitored. It can break rocks as they touch each other but there are strategies to help avoid this (eg rubber bumpers on the rocks or PVC circles). It does a good polish, but isn't very effective removing wheel marks from the saw. If your rocks are small enough, I would suggest a flat lap instead ... but that is hands on.
|
|
fishnpinball
Cave Dweller
So much to learn, so little time
Member since March 2017
Posts: 1,491
|
Post by fishnpinball on Mar 16, 2021 11:09:20 GMT -5
Another hands on is a wet belt sander.
|
|
|
Post by Rockoonz on Mar 16, 2021 22:57:04 GMT -5
I have a vibe lap for slabs. It is not perfect. If it has multiple rocks, it definitely needs to be monitored. It can break rocks as they touch each other but there are strategies to help avoid this (eg rubber bumpers on the rocks or PVC circles). It does a good polish, but isn't very effective removing wheel marks from the saw. If your rocks are small enough, I would suggest a flat lap instead ... but that is hands on. Roys lap above isn't hands on at all, and with the grit and water applied automatically it doesn't need any monitoring. Not sure what size Roys lap is, but I've seen 48 inch, and heard of larger.
|
|
|
Post by Mel on Apr 14, 2021 21:15:07 GMT -5
The old timer I was asking about them mentioned the two types; I wasn't able to find a whole lot about rotating laps yet (but also have not looked; I'm only really vaguely familiar with the vibrating pan types). My biggest thing is I want something that can run with minimal supervision; less mess is nice, but I have a garage shop so it can't be any worse than I've already made it.
My goal is to make some intarsia art about 8x10 inches or so, but I still need to do a lot of investigation (and fund raising, ugh).
|
|
|
Post by Mel on Apr 14, 2021 21:24:25 GMT -5
Another hands on is a wet belt sander. My wrists & hands hurt just reading that
|
|
stefan
Cave Dweller
Member since January 2005
Posts: 14,095
|
Post by stefan on Apr 15, 2021 18:31:21 GMT -5
|
|
aksockeye
off to a rocking start
Member since December 2017
Posts: 14
|
Post by aksockeye on Apr 18, 2021 0:13:19 GMT -5
So in Kingsley catalog I see Lortone !5” oscillating flat lap and Covington reciprocals which seem to be rotating laps. Does anybody have experience they could share on these or any other suggested makes or models?
|
|
|
Post by Peruano on Apr 18, 2021 7:23:28 GMT -5
My experience with vibratory laps is that they are messy and need lots of supervision. Fun to play with once in awhile but my greatest admiration goes to anyone who turns out a LOT of material on a vibe.
|
|
standles
spending too much on rocks
Well all I got was a rock ... Cool!
Member since February 2021
Posts: 325
|
Post by standles on Apr 18, 2021 9:40:10 GMT -5
While no direct experience I watched a vid where a guy had one setup. The issue at hand was constnat monitoring due to it drying out and having to constantly add water to keep slurry at proper consistency. He solved this by hanging an IV bag slowly dripping into it.
|
|
RWA3006
Cave Dweller
Member since March 2009
Posts: 4,220
|
Post by RWA3006 on Apr 18, 2021 22:00:08 GMT -5
woodman knows a thing or two about big laps. Maybe he's got a tip for us.
|
|
|
Post by HankRocks on Apr 19, 2021 5:01:26 GMT -5
woodman knows a thing or two about big laps. Maybe he's got a tip for us. As I mentioned earlier in this thread, I use a 20 inch Vibe Lap. It does the job for me. Have a batch of 7 slabs of Petrified Wood that just finished Polish run and soaking weights off. Will post a few pics when cleanup is done. Here's a big slab of Palm that I polished on the Vibe Lap about a year ago. The cut was rough and I seem to remember it took 7 or 8 days in 80 to remove all the saw marks. It's about 13 inches across and 8 - 9 inches high. DSC_0439 by Findrocks, on Flickr As I mentioned earlier, I don't find the Vibe to be overly care-intensive. It does not run a night or when I am gone from the house for longer than say an hour or so. The biggest issue for me is imbalanced rocks or flat rocks or slabs that require weights. Once I found the right caulk and learned to allow sufficient time for caulk to cure, a lot of the hassle went away. For drying I usually allow a week. That's no issue for me as there are always a number of rocks in the queue.
|
|
|
Post by rmf on Apr 19, 2021 6:14:51 GMT -5
So in Kingsley catalog I see Lortone !5” oscillating flat lap and Covington reciprocals which seem to be rotating laps. Does anybody have experience they could share on these or any other suggested makes or models? I have used a HP 27" vib lap that walked all over the basement. could never get it to stop so I dumped it. I had at one time 3 Lortone 21" laps I think. I did pen sets and bookends. I discovered the Rose recipro lap which is now the Covington Recipro lap.
The Recipro lap is a large cast steel plate that has an counter weighted off set and as it makes its big circle it has smaller loops. this causes it to cut faster. There are some consumables (Nylon balls-marble size, and steel disks) that need to be replaced when they wear. I was told these were originally designed to grind piston heads for large single cylinder engines used to pump oil. They do great on rock for cutting. Polishing was done on the smaller Lortone mostly to avoid grit contamination.
|
|
RWA3006
Cave Dweller
Member since March 2009
Posts: 4,220
|
Post by RWA3006 on Apr 19, 2021 6:58:30 GMT -5
woodman knows a thing or two about big laps. Maybe he's got a tip for us. As I mentioned earlier in this thread, I use a 20 inch Vibe Lap. It does the job for me. Have a batch of 7 slabs of Petrified Wood that just finished Polish run and soaking weights off. Will post a few pics when cleanup is done. Here's a big slab of Palm that I polished on the Vibe Lap about a year ago. The cut was rough and I seem to remember it took 7 or 8 days in 80 to remove all the saw marks. It's about 13 inches across and 8 - 9 inches high. DSC_0439 by Findrocks, on Flickr As I mentioned earlier, I don't find the Vibe to be overly care-intensive. It does not run a night or when I am gone from the house for longer than say an hour or so. The biggest issue for me is imbalanced rocks or flat rocks or slabs that require weights. Once I found the right caulk and learned to allow sufficient time for caulk to cure, a lot of the hassle went away. For drying I usually allow a week. That's no issue for me as there are always a number of rocks in the queue. Pretty nice results you have there. Is your vibe anchored to the floor, and how much weight do you glue onto the rock?
|
|