Slab saw & grinding equipment advice needed

Hello,
I am a rock newbie and would like some advice on rock cutting/grinding equipment. I am chomping at the bit to slice into big rocks so I can start experimenting with cabbing and other stone work. I can purchase a Diamond Pacific Slab Saw with a 12" blade (LS12) brand new for $1100 which sounds like a good deal and I love the Diamond Pacific Pixie polisher with 6 wheels. I have been advised to start smaller which makes sense but the problem with that is I won't be able to cut into as many rocks with a small slab saw and I am frankly spoiled by learning cabbing on the Pixie.
What are some things I should consider when purchasing equipment, especially online, and how/where can this equipment be serviced if necessary? What companies have great reputations for quality and backing up their products? Thanx!

Hi Robin!

I suggest asking the helpful folks at this link::
[gemstone.smfforfree4.com]


J T

You might want to see if there is a local gem & mineral club in your area. Most members would be more than willing to share opinions on various machines. The club might also have some saws and equipment that you could use (especially helpful for large slab saws to cut up a couple of oversize rocks and other specialized equipment)

A cheaper option would be to go to Harbor Freight and pick up one of their 10" tile saws when they place them on sale or with coupon you can snag them for under $150! Just snag a pair of blade stabilizers from Sears(DeWalt makes them) and then snag a lapidary blade of choice. This is what we did and how we cut all of our slabs currently. But we do have a 10" or 12" Highland park self feeder we just got, a 10" RockGem or something saw, and then we have another 10" Highland park attached to our Highland Park wheel grinder/polisher machine. But most often using the Harbor Freight one, it is identical to the MK 700 or something like that, except the MK is blue, lol. Pump will need to be cleaned regularly, but works fine. I actually bumped mine up to get more water flow, they sell those there as well. But all of our stuff gets cut on it and then trimmed on a 6" trim saw, hehe. Then off to the Genie(replaced first wheel with an Inland 80grit Sintered wheel.. WOW). The Harbor Freight 10" saw came with a 3yr in store replacement warrant for an extra $29.95 IIRC, and that meant anything goes wrong, drive it in and they hand you a brand new one off the shelf, lol.

This is our unit:
[www.harborfreight.com]

I also use these on my rotary tool for preforming and even shaping gemstones before the Genie. Now I use them for carving.
[www.harborfreight.com]
[www.harborfreight.com]
[www.harborfreight.com]
[www.harborfreight.com]
[www.harborfreight.com]
[www.harborfreight.com]

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Registered Gemologist
Research Gemologist
Rockhound/Cutter/Collector
Club President/Owner

Thank u very much John, Jamey & David!

You are very welcome.

Also, as for cabbing machines, two of the best choices to go with are the CabKing 6" setup and the Genie by DP. The CabKing has a superior water system IMHO but it is far messier and sprays out more then the Genie does! The Genie is clean and splatter free enough I can sit in my living room and cut without the Wife complaining about any mess! The Genie can be modded with some fittings, tubing, a pump from Harbor Freight and a 5gal bucket and two drains and have a water system far superior to the CabKing. The real benefit is the wheels on the Genie. They are far superior to the CabKing wheels. Both cut great at first and as you use them, but the CabKing wheels wear out almost 3-4x or more quicker then the Nova wheels on the Genie do. The CabKing wheels are more or less just diamond belts permanently adhered to a backed/padded wheel. The Nova wheels are much different and better. But, you could always just get the CabKing, and when the wheels wear out replace them with the Novas or the EastWind replacement wheels instead of the cheapy CabKing ones. I just replaced ours, but used Novas on our Genie and they do not seem as nice as they used to be, and more then one of my Wife's suppliers has said the EastWind wheels are a much preferred replacement for them now.

Our setup, and my fav, Genie with an 80grit Inland Sintered wheel, 220grit Inland Sintered(still using our DP Galaxy wheel yet until it wears out), 260/280(forget which) Nova, 600 Nova, 1200 Nova, and a 3K Nova. Then I have a 6" master lap and toppers for the left hand side and a flex disc setup with numerous felt pads, leather pads hard and soft, as well as CrystalPads for various polishes. I can cut many cabs quite quickly at a time, lol. The 80grit Sintered really tears through material too! It cuts Montana Agates like a knife through butter! Sped up my pre-forming and shaping at least 8-10x quicker! I always add in a little Lube Cool 4800 just to help extend the wheel and lap life. I have everything from 14K-200K diamond, CeO, AlO, M-5, ZAM, CeO + AlO mix, and a few others for polishes.

A Spool polisher is also a nice little tool for softer stones. Works great to pre-polish and polish agates and corundum cabs as well! I believe they can be gotten from Graves for like $199 for the entire kit.

Another favorite, what I started out on eons ago, a mini food chopper lap with Router speed control for polishing and pre-polishing and a rotary tool with diamond cutting discs and diamond drums for preforming! I still, have my mini food chopper lap here somewhere. Cut many Oregon sunstones, many opals of all flavors, turquoise, variscite, etc. using one.

jamey

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Registered Gemologist
Research Gemologist
Rockhound/Cutter/Collector
Club President/Owner

For a cabbing machine, I like the 8" best. You have a lot more working area and grinding and polishing surface. I purchased my first machine and it was a lot cheaper than they are now.To make one is a great deal cheaper and it is a simple thing to do. I have made several for myself and a number of friends. You need a steel rod and two sets of bearings. Attach your wheels, make a plexiglass box, set up a water supply and there you are. You should be able to make one for less than $150.00 plus the cost of the wheels and pads.

speaking of saws, I have a 20" slab saw that I acquired and cleaned it etc. I am new to lapidary, so I don't know a lot about troubleshooting saw problems. I have been trying to cut a piece of yellow feather jasper(about 5 1/2" X 8")My blade is, I think an MK Diamond blade (red?) and I can only seem to get about 3 1/2" into the cut and I can hear the saw laboring, and once it tripped the breaker. I know the feed is straight (parallel), the vise is tight, the motor is good, rpm's is according to the charts. I "sharpened" the blade with a coarse (about 60 grit) piece of grinding wheel and it doesn't seem to do much better. Any suggestions from you Pro's out there?

Rick

OP - get the cabbing machine, and a decent small trim saw. Buy slabs. Cut twenty or fifty stones to see if you like it. Then get into buying big saws. Bear in mind that a name brand slab saw is going to be far superior to any tile saw. Also, even a 10" saw is ok, as you can cut bigger pieces than you'd think by vice-slicing then hand holding them to finish the cut. Not ideal but it does work. Sad thing is that no matter how big the saw is... you always need one bigger!

Rick - check if your blade is dished. Lower the feed speed. Change the oil? Lot of friction involved when getting deep into a cut; my slab saw really is wimpy and does not like the tougher forms of silica, it's really annoying. If you're sure the feed and blade are bang-on parallell, and none of the above helps, buy a new blade.

Rick,

Check your blade to see if there are any Diamonds left on it. It's possible to wear away all of the metal that the Diamonds are sintered onto by "sharpening" it. Also, make sure that you are not feeding too fast.

Gene

Rick; ditto on Tim's advice to get a trim saw. I have a 6" raytech with an old washing machine motor I picked up for next to nothing I also have a genie. I think you will find out very quickly if you do much cabbing that perhaps the pixie is too small. You can get lots of slabs cheap and cut pieces up to 2-3 inches with a trim saw. The 6 in and genie would probably not be much more then the large saw and pixie you will also save on material when it comes to trimming out the cabs. I actually prefer slabs as I see what I get you can waste a lot of time and money getting big rocks of rough which you don't know the inside of especially starting out not being fimilar with different materials. Dave