It's alive! Homebuilt cabbing machine
Jul 11, 2022 13:50:24 GMT -5
mohs, RickB, and 14 more like this
Post by goldfinder on Jul 11, 2022 13:50:24 GMT -5
Howdy rockhounds,
It was requested that I upload some pictures of the cabbing machine I built. It's still a work in progress and I'll continue to improve it but it's working really well now. The DIY build threads on here helped a ton and I referenced them extensively during the build, hopefully my experience can help/inspire others.
When planning and thinking it though it seemed very straightforward and relatively easy. But actually building it was quite a process. The hardest part was finding a good arbor and bearing combo. I originally went with a cold-rolled stainless rod from eBay. The machinist took almost 2 months to finish it. It was a 1" diameter rod, 36" long and appeared to be really nice quality. I bought some high-quality Timken pillow block bearings but had a huge pain trying to get them to fit the arbor. I tried sanding both for days on end but eventually figured out that cold rolled steel (CRS) is a few thousandths oversized and the precision bearings wouldn't fit it. I ordered some cheap self aligning pillow block bearings and it fit great, except that's when I figured out the rod was slightly bent (had runout). When I mounted the rod in the bearings and spun it, it was obvious the bend increased towards each end of the rod (After research I found out that the threading process can cause bends in the rod). This rod clearly wouldn't work for a lapidary cabber.
I posted on this helpful forum and Rockoonz mentioned that Covington sells arbors. So I went that route with a 1" diameter 36" length stainless rod. Very high quality and super helpful company! This rod is a completely different caliber and extremely straight, no detectable runout what so ever. After that everything was pretty smooth sailing. The motor is a 1/3 hp GE I just had laying around and it's hooked up 1:1 to the arbor via a v-belt.
I'll eventually bend up some custom stainless drain pans but these stainless kitchen pans were a quick cheap fix and are working well in the meantime. It also helps me find out what design to use to minimize the water spray.
My goal was to build something that I could run 8" wheels if I ever want to in the future and can easily do that by just raising the upper drip shield 1". There is around 10" of arbor space for wheels on each side and currently fitted with 6" JB supernova wheels, there is plenty of room to add an additional wheel on each side if ever needed/wanted, like a 220 soft and 14,000.
It's currently not the prettiest thing but works great, The only thing that I foresee ever needing replacing is the bearings or motor and both are standard sizes and very easy to find. I'll eventually add a shelf and larger water reservoir above. (The ducktape in front is just to help secure it to the table since the table is stainless steel and slick, I'll move to a more stable wood desk/table eventually).
Also I've nicknamed it Frankie (Frankenstein) haha!
It was requested that I upload some pictures of the cabbing machine I built. It's still a work in progress and I'll continue to improve it but it's working really well now. The DIY build threads on here helped a ton and I referenced them extensively during the build, hopefully my experience can help/inspire others.
When planning and thinking it though it seemed very straightforward and relatively easy. But actually building it was quite a process. The hardest part was finding a good arbor and bearing combo. I originally went with a cold-rolled stainless rod from eBay. The machinist took almost 2 months to finish it. It was a 1" diameter rod, 36" long and appeared to be really nice quality. I bought some high-quality Timken pillow block bearings but had a huge pain trying to get them to fit the arbor. I tried sanding both for days on end but eventually figured out that cold rolled steel (CRS) is a few thousandths oversized and the precision bearings wouldn't fit it. I ordered some cheap self aligning pillow block bearings and it fit great, except that's when I figured out the rod was slightly bent (had runout). When I mounted the rod in the bearings and spun it, it was obvious the bend increased towards each end of the rod (After research I found out that the threading process can cause bends in the rod). This rod clearly wouldn't work for a lapidary cabber.
I posted on this helpful forum and Rockoonz mentioned that Covington sells arbors. So I went that route with a 1" diameter 36" length stainless rod. Very high quality and super helpful company! This rod is a completely different caliber and extremely straight, no detectable runout what so ever. After that everything was pretty smooth sailing. The motor is a 1/3 hp GE I just had laying around and it's hooked up 1:1 to the arbor via a v-belt.
I'll eventually bend up some custom stainless drain pans but these stainless kitchen pans were a quick cheap fix and are working well in the meantime. It also helps me find out what design to use to minimize the water spray.
My goal was to build something that I could run 8" wheels if I ever want to in the future and can easily do that by just raising the upper drip shield 1". There is around 10" of arbor space for wheels on each side and currently fitted with 6" JB supernova wheels, there is plenty of room to add an additional wheel on each side if ever needed/wanted, like a 220 soft and 14,000.
It's currently not the prettiest thing but works great, The only thing that I foresee ever needing replacing is the bearings or motor and both are standard sizes and very easy to find. I'll eventually add a shelf and larger water reservoir above. (The ducktape in front is just to help secure it to the table since the table is stainless steel and slick, I'll move to a more stable wood desk/table eventually).
Also I've nicknamed it Frankie (Frankenstein) haha!