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Post by As I in does tries! on Apr 12, 2021 0:18:45 GMT -5
Greetings here is my Hans 6 inch cabber, the wheels left to right are 1200 and 600 soft, 60 and 200 sintered, 3000 soft, 14000 expando belt. Leith Lapidary Club's 60 sintered diamond, after six months use; at first it was thought that someone was just using the center of the wheel, however my 200 sintered has just started to undercut in the center of the wheel too! I only use the cabber usually for just 200 sintered, 600 and 1200 and the machine has only done around 100 hours in the last four and a half years. The reason for low usage is I have "Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder", which sort of explains my signature, that stops me from completing complex, long or timed tasks, I will try, but may never able to complete the task in one go.
For example: I love Lapidary (cutting and polishing rock), I can preform the rock perfectly, but polishing the stone I keep making basic errors that lead to flat spots
and gouges in the stone, usually one or two senarios occur A: The stone becomes too thin to work on, or B: I give up the task and may try again at a later date! On the other hand I can show a complete noob how to do the process and noob would have a better result than me the first time, my failure rate is 95%,
the 5% that remain is more likely just work in progress, just like everything I created on the Atari-8bit computer, it's more just work in progress than a completed work! Click the picture for the larger picture.
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Post by hummingbirdstones on Apr 12, 2021 9:35:00 GMT -5
Have you ever dressed your sintered wheels? Dressing them will knock off the used and glazed over diamond and expose fresh diamond. It will also true the wheels up.
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Post by opalpyrexia on Apr 12, 2021 9:48:34 GMT -5
It's not entirely clear to me why polishing has been so frustrating for you. Perhaps working a small batch of cabs (maybe 3 or 4) in stages would help. What I mean is, working with just a single grit and then stopping. Then go on to the next grit the next day, or after taking a long break.
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Post by stardiamond on Apr 12, 2021 17:16:52 GMT -5
I've run into about every problem. A few suggestions if you aren't already doing things correctly.
1. Make sure that there are no sharp edges when going to soft wheels. 2. Use all the wheel surface to get even wear. 3. Stay on the lowest grit wheel until nothing more can be done with it and repeat for each wheel. Flat spots are generally missed areas on a lower grit wheel. Rub a pencil on the face of the cab to find missed areas. Develop a grinding and sanding pattern that covers all of the face. The harder the material the more important to get it right the first time. I was working on very hard Owyhee cab and the flat spots weren't obvious until sanding. I had to keep going back to the lowest grit to get them out. There are no short cuts and don't try to fix a lower grit problem with a higher grit wheel. A person can get away with it using softer material but not the hard stuff..
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Post by As I in does tries! on Apr 13, 2021 18:57:01 GMT -5
hummingbirdstones: Yes it has been tried, but now out of the 5mm of sintered diamond at least 3mm has already undercut in the center of the wheel, so it's not worth dressing it anymore.
opalpyrexia and stardiamond: 1: I know the entire lapidary process I have taught it to over 30 people since 2013. 2: I always use the whole width of the wheel. 3: I have found if I spend only 15 minutes a day on one stone with one grit, but it may be six to eight weeks later that i will continue.
If I feel I had lost focus of what i'm doing it's best to just stop there.
My problem is concentration, 60% Most of the time I have no focus whatsoever. 30% Some days i'm all over the place, (that's how I feel today). 10% Rarely i'm hyper-focused, but only one subject (usually computer related).
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Post by stardiamond on Apr 13, 2021 20:03:19 GMT -5
hummingbirdstones: 3: I have found if I spend only 15 minutes a day on one stone with one grit, but it may be six to eight weeks later that i will continue. I might spend a total of 5-10 minutes combined doming a cab with an aggressive 80 grit and a worn 80 grit wheel because that is where I do most of my work. On the next 7 wheels, 1 minute each. I work standing up and in 15 minute increments to avoid fatiguing my old body. I work in batches and take a longer break after the aggressive 80 to make sure I can maintain my concentration for more delicate work. After the 280 soft, I am on auto pilot and follow a sanding and pre-polishing that requires almost no concentration. The more work I do, the better my confidence, technique and speed. I recommend working fast and as long as you are physically able and don't worry about the results.
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Post by hummingbirdstones on Apr 13, 2021 20:44:47 GMT -5
stardiamond he has ADHD. It's not something he can control. It's not a physical problem.
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Post by stardiamond on Apr 13, 2021 21:45:39 GMT -5
stardiamond he has ADHD. It's not something he can control. It's not a physical problem. He did a good job of describing the issue. He also said that he loves lapidary. Many people in the hobby have issues to deal with. I was making a suggestion not a criticism. My assumption was that he since posted here, he was looking for assistance.
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Post by hummingbirdstones on Apr 13, 2021 21:55:03 GMT -5
stardiamond he has ADHD. It's not something he can control. It's not a physical problem. He did a good job of describing the issue. He also said that he loves lapidary. Many people in the hobby have issues to deal with. I was making a suggestion not a criticism. My assumption was that he since posted here, he was looking for assistance. I know. I wasn't criticizing you. I thought maybe you hadn't caught that in the OP.
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Post by As I in does tries! on Apr 14, 2021 5:22:17 GMT -5
My formula skip F60 unless working on Chalcedony (Basalt based Fortified Agate)or harder you will need to spend at least 15 minute primary preforming, For Quartz and Quartz based Agates skip this grit as it is too coarse, spend at least 15 minutes on F200 Hard preforming, then about 12 minutes on F600 soft, your stone should be dull all over, switch to F1200 and work the stone for 1 minute, dry the stone and you should see the polish forming, if no shine there are two things that may be wrong, 1: Diamond is the wrong polish or 2: You have not spent long enough preforming, back to F1200 for another 9 minutes, move on to F3000 for a minimum of 5 minutes, that it you're all done.
When you inspect the stone: Do not just look at the stone, but feel the stone for imperfection both dry and wet and always keep rounding off sharp edges as they develop as they are a weak point that a crack can occur and later develops in to a split and if unlucky breaks in two, something else to be aware of is heat damage; crystaline Quartz is prone to heat damage so breaking time into 5 minute each also having a cup of water (room temperature) nearby as the stone get warm place the stone in the cup for a minute or so, but never use chilled water as it can cause thermal shock and the stone may shatter completely!
Hans Lapidary (China) I have spent around $3000 on various stuff over 4 years, however when you actually look at the items, there is something wrong with every item I received, it's like he is either selling some other companies rejects stock that he bought for peanuts or dumpster dived, which is more likely than just making fakes as some bread and butter items seem to go out of stock and never return.
My ADHD when I loose focus (get side-tracked) I forget what I am doing, and I may be side-tracked every five to ten minutes.
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Post by rockjunquie on Apr 14, 2021 7:09:35 GMT -5
My formula skip F60 unless working on Chalcedony (Basalt based Fortified Agate)or harder you will need to spend at least 15 minute primary preforming, For Quartz and Quartz based Agates skip this grit as it is too coarse, spend at least 15 minutes on F200 Hard preforming, then about 12 minutes on F600 soft, your stone should be dull all over, switch to F1200 and work the stone for 1 minute, dry the stone and you should see the polish forming, if no shine there are two things that may be wrong, 1: Diamond is the wrong polish or 2: You have not spent long enough preforming, back to F1200 for another 9 minutes, move on to F3000 for a minimum of 5 minutes, that it you're all done. When you inspect the stone: Do not just look at the stone, but feel the stone for imperfection both dry and wet and always keep rounding off sharp edges as they develop as they are a weak point that a crack can occur and later develops in to a split and if unlucky breaks in two, something else to be aware of is heat damage; crystaline Quartz is prone to heat damage so breaking time into 5 minute each also having a cup of water (room temperature) nearby as the stone get warm place the stone in the cup for a minute or so, but never use chilled water as it can cause thermal shock and the stone may shatter completely! Hans Lapidary (China) I have spent around $3000 on various stuff over 4 years, however when you actually look at the items, there is something wrong with every item I received, it's like he is either selling some other companies rejects stock that he bought for peanuts or dumpster dived, which is more likely than just making fakes as some bread and butter items seem to go out of stock and never return. My ADHD when I loose focus (get side-tracked) I forget what I am doing, and I may be side-tracked every five to ten minutes. Maybe I'm wrong to say it, but have you tried medication? It works great! I have ADD not ADHD, it's the same meds. I took it for years and had to stop. After stopping the meds, I have A LOT of problems staying on task- esp cabbing. I can only say that I do each cab, one at a time and not in a production line where I might do 10 on the first wheel then move to the next, etc. It's very hard, I know it is.
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Post by stardiamond on Apr 14, 2021 11:41:14 GMT -5
My career was as a computer programmer. As a student, I would have writer's block with term papers. After about 3 years, I learned to work on what I could do and wait for the block to clear as opposed to doing nothing. I used this practice when writing a program. When faced with a problem that I couldn't solve, I would code everything else and leave what I couldn't do alone until it came to me.
I follow the same practice making cabs. A good percentage of the work is either grunt work or auto pilot. Getting the dome and shape right can be difficult for me. I don't attempt it until I'm physically and mentally ready. Batching cabs allows me to get a lot of work done when I'm not at my best. Concentrating on one task is good for the connection of my eyes to my mind to my hands.
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Post by As I in does tries! on Apr 15, 2021 15:14:27 GMT -5
Unfortunately no drugs as yet as I was assessed by family doctor just 1.5 years ago with a 2 year waiting list, then Covid-19 struck a year ago and all non-emergency treatments, operations, and appointments were canceled and just restarted this month so I have possibly another 1.5 years still to go before I can see a Psychiatrist.
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