Homemade cabbing machine from scrap.

[justin1]

This machine screams. Litterally. Its easily the loudest machine ive ever used

Wow your really into rocks haha that's some big equipment to be a hobby.

Is that saw just diamond segments? As I was thinking of brazing some onto some sawmill blades I had laying around just to dick around with to maybe make a "rock chop saw" lol.

I made my large and small roughing sphere cups with diamond segments fairly easy to work with.

My little prototype sphere machine I made up while ago.

I was curious how cheap I could make a sphere machine that was useful enough to be saleable as there isn't what I considered a hobby sized machine available for a hobby price.

(Edit. Answer is around 120$ with undersized motors that looked bigger on aliexpress.) it can be built cheaper but I bought some nice rubber feet and nice SS hinges and felt aluminum would be nice aswell. But I think realistically to make it a "saleable product" needs few more finishing touches to go from "DIY finish" to "product quality"

 

[Stuart Samuel]

I will purchase this unit from you if we can set a price thats happy for both please PM

Already headed to Dan Dubeau, sorry! Should have edited the post.

 

[justin1]

I might get away with 1018 in my slab saw because the coolant is oil. The ideal solution would be to find out where a place like cabking gets it's grinders from. Motor and shaft in one.

I added a threaded hole on right hand side we could put on a flat lap possibly on the side that I've seen some companies sell.

I did look into pressing a shaft out of a 1725 rpm motor and replacing with longer shaft then getting rid of OEM bearings and end plates and machining up new motor ends to fit new bearing and shaft to make a homemade bench grinder motor.

Only other way would be talk to bench grinder manufacturers in China see if they willing to do low volume run custom motors or maybe 1 off.

or buy low rpm motor that has housing that already fits a double 1" shaft then press in new longer shaft.

Didn't have right sized heavy duty motor for doing that and had some bearing blocks laying around so ended up doing jack shaft style instead with a light duty HVAC motor which probly wouldn't like being run without any cooling fan.

 

[Downwindtracker2]

I picked up 1/2hp TEFC motors from PA on sale for the 8" wheels my wife has. You can get away with 1/3hp motors. The 6" ones at the rock and gem club just use 1/4hp motors. 1750s.

 

[justin1]

I picked up 1/2hp TEFC motors from PA on sale for the 8" wheels my wife has. You can get away with 1/3hp motors. The 6" ones at the rock and gem club just use 1/4hp motors. 1750s.

Ye the motor I used was 1/2 HP seems more then strong enough. I have few 1/3 motors but the RPM was 3450 and didn't want to make big pulley for them to be right speed and all the other motors I got are 3 phase or just overkill for what it is. But wouldn't have to worry about stalling it with a 15hp motor

Also the local landfills are a gold mine for small motors 1hp and smaller. And DC motors aswell that's if they allow you to scavenge which most do. Also small 2 stroke engines as most just need carb tune and are good to go.

 

[Downwindtracker2]

My wife is the rockhound. Her hobby encompasses going out finding the rock, cutting slabs off it, trimming them to shape ,grinding and polishing them, then silversmithing the setting. She is working on one right now. She drives a Jeep Wrangler, it gets more bush time than my 4x4 truck. I joke that I'm too cheap to buy her jewellery, she has to make her own.

Her club was the inheritors of the equipment from the old MSA club. That club was founded in the '70s. That equipment and hobbyist's shop was what I got to re and re. They had mounted their arbors on pieces of plywood, which is what I had done with my own metal grinding arbor many year before. The newly acquired arbors got the same . I like using the motor's gravity to tension belts. A couple of HD commercial door hinges that I found in a used building material store made a pretty solid hinge for small piece of plywood motor mounts . The 1/4hps weren't heavy enough when starting, they bounced, so I added a spring. When mounting the arbors and hinges I used 1/4" carriage bolts. Plywood isn't dense enough to get a firm grip on the square section of the bolt so I added some epoxy under the heads. These were the counter bored of course. The way those rockhounds wired things, it's beyond me why they weren't all electrocuted ! I used square boxes so I could mount a 20amp switch and a HD plug sockets. Thus the switch would turn on both the motor and the light. For lights we used the articulated arm ones, picked up at thrift stores. A 1/2" hole in a chunk of 2x4 for the base. Because these are a wet machines, the box cords are plugged into GFI sockets.

When I showed my wife your cabbing machine, "Oh like a Titan."

 

[wmetfab]

Fellow rockhounds,
I propose we do a hostile take over of this website and re name it Canadian Hobby Lapidary Workers and Rock Beakers.
Or in short CHLWRB
We will make the 3d printing guys go out and dig holes and pack rocks for us.

 

[wmetfab]

Mercury. Made in Edmonton, I was told. One of the double wheel grinder/polisher at the rock and gem club shop is Mercury. They were considered very good units. The grinder/polisher unit reminds me of the Frantom unit I redid. The Frantom is an interesting name, Tom was the owner and his wife was Fran.

The club's 10" is ( if memory serves me right) is an original Highland Park as is my wife's. They use a pulley, weight, and wire for feed. I wonder how that Mercury does the feed.

The club's 10" gets a lot of use and abuse. Members pay by the square inch and the 10" is is the least expensive. They member try to speed things up by pushing. Thin lapidary diamond blades get quickly warped.You can't push !!! Even thin construction blades die. This time I put a HD "turbo" construction blade on. It cuts for a diamond blade a wide kerf .

We use food grade mineral oil,. It's also used as laxative for cows. Dairy equipment suppliers are one source. It doesn't mist much. and is safe. The Langley club uses hydraulic oil , it's cheaper. From working with hydraulic oil, it can cause rashes and stuff. It's the additives.

My friend in Kelowna aquired the remaining assets of Mercury, name, patterns and so on. He intended to start manufacturing but hes got a full plate so im not sure if he'll get to it.

 

[Downwindtracker2]

Interesting about Mercury. When my wife started, we bought a trim saw combination unit and a arbor set up on a stand. If memory serves me right, the arbor was Raybilt. His shop was in New Westminster ! It's a copy of the California made Polyarbor. At Quartzite ,it a huge tailgate, I hunted for Polyarbors .I could be wrong on that name, but it does start with Poly. I replaced the bearings, a special bearing mounted in rubber used on fan unis, and belt for my wife's.

 

[Upnorth]

I added a threaded hole on right hand side we could put on a flat lap possibly on the side that I've seen some companies sell.

I did look into pressing a shaft out of a 1725 rpm motor and replacing with longer shaft then getting rid of OEM bearings and end plates and machining up new motor ends to fit new bearing and shaft to make a homemade bench grinder motor.

Only other way would be talk to bench grinder manufacturers in China see if they willing to do low volume run custom motors or maybe 1 off.

or buy low rpm motor that has housing that already fits a double 1" shaft then press in new longer shaft.

Didn't have right sized heavy duty motor for doing that and had some bearing blocks laying around so ended up doing jack shaft style instead with a light duty HVAC motor which probly wouldn't like being run without any cooling fan.

I looked into ordering a grinder similar to a cabking. I just couldn't find anything that could handle 3 wheels on each side and was slow enough. I think a 3 phase motor with a VFD would be great.

 

[justin1]

I looked into ordering a grinder similar to a cabking. I just couldn't find anything that could handle 3 wheels on each side and was slow enough. I think a 3 phase motor with a VFD would be great.

Ye that's why you would have to probly press shaft out of arbor and then press back in a longer one. It would probly require rebalancing tho depending on how they machined the arbor to begin with.

3 phase machine would be neat also offers lots of RPM options.

The wife couldn't wait for splash guards so this is how I found her when I got home from helping a buddy out fixing some stuff around his farm.

Also her first attempts at some making some shiny shaped rocks

Also handy to have 3d print as you can print out some of the most random things.

 

[wmetfab]

Ye that's why you would have to probly press shaft out of arbor and then press back in a longer one. It would probly require rebalancing tho depending on how they machined the arbor to begin with.

3 phase machine would be neat also offers lots of RPM options.View attachment 59312View attachment 59313

The wife couldn't wait for splash guards so this is how I found her when I got home from helping a buddy out fixing some stuff around his farm.

Also her first attempts at some making some shiny shaped rocks

Also handy to have 3d print as you can print out some of the most random things.View attachment 59314

I recognize a piece of larch chalcedony? Very similar to Dans ocean picture stone
I love the freestyle shapes thats how i do it

 

[wmetfab]

This is a genie G2 from Diamond Pacific with 6" wheels. $2,500 USD
Ive bought their 8" galaxy wheels in various grits and 12" lapping pads at Tucson, they are great people to deal with

 

[wmetfab]

Im not wealthy enough for a genie.

This is my go to workhorse 1970's Lortone arbor i got for $75. with a motor.
I cleaned it, welded up a rolling cabinet to put under it and a plastic pail gravity feed sitting on a simple stand of boards with a couple salvaged red and white valves.
The waste pail is inside the cabinet
I have a galaxy 60 grit 8" x 1.5" on the left and a 220grit 2" wide on the right.
I use this for rough shaping and refining the shape and prep for polish on the 220.

 

[wmetfab]

 

[wmetfab]

 

[wmetfab]

These are a couple poly arbors i paid 50 bucks each both turn perfectly. They sit in a stainless steel chafing tray, $22 at wholesale club. I saw that on a utube vid. They are mounted on 2 cheap machine stands. I put 2 thick coats of urethane on the MDF platforms so they dont get wet.
I losened all the bolts adjusted the legs and shoved the stands forward then re tighten all the bolts. Result is the pan slopes forward a bit for drainage
I had some 20 ga. Stainless i bent on my box and pan.
salvaged motor bolts on a heavy strap hinge and a spring keeps the tension.

On the way home from Peachland where I picked up Lana the Lantaine Lathe and Benny the bandsaw I got a text from my wife she saw the 2 stands on castanet. Quick diversion in OK falls and 30 mins later I was loading the stands in the pickup. They were $40 each. The box was so full of treasure we had to tie them to the tailgate! Lol

 

[wmetfab]

 

[wmetfab]

My metalwork supports another arm of my hobbies that is this restoring poor abused lapidary machines that nobody loves anymore. Lol.

 

[justin1]

I recognize a piece of larch chalcedony? Very similar to Dans ocean picture stone
I love the freestyle shapes thats how i do it

Not sure which one you mean lol I'm bad with names of stuff.

I looked a few of those grinder heads but the smaller versions as they seem to come up semi cheap. I figured they would make goods standalone roughing machine.

Those motors are basicly same as the one I used and I have few more kicking around only draw back is there not very rigid.

And hey deals don't wait for anyone. Sometimes you have go get it in sub optional conditions.

And ye I enjoy using my equipment to make more equipment to fix other equipment that I need to finish some of the equipment I used to make equipment in the first place. Vicious cycle and addictive.