Author Topic: Stone polisher  (Read 2535 times)

Offline Derek

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Stone polisher
« on: December 28, 2017, 06:11:11 PM »
Having seen a couple of items made by forum members using stones to embellish their pieces when a stone polisher came up of free cycle I jumped at the chance. I was thinking of using a grinder to cut to shape then put them in the polisher. Does this seem feasible.
This is the little beast I id have to strip the two rollers down and clean them and everything now works it also came with enough abrasive to do at least 20 to 30 loads as well as instructions.
Here it is after a clean but back in the box it came with why do these things never fit back in their original boxes ???
« Last Edit: December 28, 2017, 07:44:57 PM by Derek »

Offline malcy

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Re: Stone polisher
« Reply #1 on: December 28, 2017, 08:03:34 PM »
If you cut the sones to shape and then put them into the polisher, not only will you get a good shine on the stones but any sharp edges or corners will be rounded and not crisp. If that is what you want then ok, but just remember that all of the stone is affected not just the surfaces you want polished. Malcolm.

Offline bodrighywood

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Re: Stone polisher
« Reply #2 on: December 28, 2017, 09:53:39 PM »
Make sure you use it somewhere secluded as it can take a long time and is noisy.

Pete
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Offline APH

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Re: Stone polisher
« Reply #3 on: December 28, 2017, 10:34:25 PM »
Wow, I didn't know they still made those. My parents had one in the 60s.
Each batch took about two weeks of continuous racket.

I just can't see how a bunch of rounded off bits of rock like fancy river gravel would be used in a woodturning project myself.

Offline Les Symonds

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Re: Stone polisher
« Reply #4 on: December 29, 2017, 05:06:06 AM »
I applaud your enthusiasm, but suspect that you're heading off in the wrong direction! These lapidary tumblers (coupled with your suggestion of the use of a grinder) don't give the end result that you see some of us regularly using in the forum. Grinders generally operate at too high a speed, causing excessive heat and friction, which shatters most stone, whereas lapidary saws usually have a water cooled, diamond grit blade and operate at slow speed. The type of cabochon that I use regularly is pre-cut on the saw to a "coin", with one flat surface being glued with epoxy onto a stub (a bit like a short length of broom-stick), and then shaped and polished against water-fed stones and buffers to achieve the rounded over shape and finish.

All of this is slow, labour intensive work and tends to happen in less-developed countries where labour costs are low. I've had a limited amount of success in cutting and polishing my own cabochons, but only in slate, which is a relatively soft stone, and that took many failed attempts before I found successful strategies for working it.

Sorry to be so negative when you sound so enthusiastic, but better that you know what you're heading into!

Les
« Last Edit: December 29, 2017, 05:08:00 AM by gwyntog »
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Offline bodrighywood

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Re: Stone polisher
« Reply #5 on: December 29, 2017, 09:05:24 AM »
We have one of the tumblers that you now have and as APH and Les say they don't make the cabochons that we use. They polish up stones that are rounded off using various grinding grits. The ones we use for decorations are flat backed and you can get them in any decent gem suppliers such as here

Pete
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Offline Tim Pettigrew

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Re: Stone polisher
« Reply #6 on: December 29, 2017, 12:21:15 PM »
My first job was a  technician in a university geology department so I had to do a lot of prep involving cutting and polishing rock samples.

For DIY small-scale stone cutting at home, you can use a diamond wheel tile cutter (available at DIY shops - 30-40 GBP).  The blade is lubricated and kept cool by dipping in a bath of water.  You can then polish up by using successively finer grades of carborundum powder on a glass plate (with water lubrication) or else sheets of wetordry abrasive paper (the stone is rubbed on a flat sheet lubricated with plenty of water) and finish up by using the stone polisher to get a final polish or use a buffing wheel system. I have attached two pictures of some home-made examples made from Alabaster collected from Blue Anchor Bay in Somerset


Offline Derek

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Re: Stone polisher
« Reply #7 on: December 29, 2017, 04:12:21 PM »
Thank you every one for the various comments. No need to be sorry Les as I did ask.
 
It was free so I grabbed it so to speak as I did not have time to ask the question otherwise I would have missed the opportunity to get it if I had waited for different answers.

I know it can take ages to get something polished.

Have just looked at the site Pete mentioned and some great pieces on there.

Offline happy amateur

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Re: Stone polisher
« Reply #8 on: December 29, 2017, 05:03:43 PM »
What about polished pebbles set in resin (Resin seems to be the in thing at the moment)

Fred
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