Homemade, DIY or modified tools and equipment

[StoneTemple]

I thought we should have a thread about lapidary equipment, specifically homemade, DIY or modified. Please share!

As mentioned previously in another thread, I needed a new flat lap and wanted to build my own. My first two flat laps were homemade and had lasted a few productive years each but I wanted to make one that would last longer.
My objective was not to build the ultimate machine, instead I wanted to make one with minimal costs using parts and materials I had on hand. Fortunately I'm a bit of a scrounge and had some thick aluminum plate which provided the base on which to build. I also had small pile of misc metal parts and hardware. I wanted a machine that could be fit with a faceting head in the future and the 1/2 inch plate made a sturdy surface for that. Since I already had a shaft adapter for a 3/4" shaft to 1/2" thread I just needed the shaft and bearings. McMaster provided the precision shaft for under $10 and USAbearingsandbelts on ebay provided a pair of flange bearings for $14 free shipping. So far so good.
It took some serious hacksaw work to liberate a couple rectangles from the aluminum scrap and the drill press came in handy for drilling holes for the shaft and bearings. The local hardware store had pulleys for the motor I had chosen and the shaft. Unfortunately the motor was pretty high RPM, I had cut that in half with the pulleys selected but trust me 1720 RPM is still a bit much for a flat lap. I had searched ebay for DC motors but everything I found with enough muscle was more than I wanted to spend, finally I found Starcraft Surplus online offering treadmill motors for around $42 after shipping. They come with a power supply but you need to provide a 5K ohm potentiometer and a couple resistors to make it work.
The provided schematics were a little vague but an electrician friend helped decipher it for me, so $20 more in easily obtained electrical parts which also included a couple switches, one for power and one to reverse direction and I had the variable speed reversing motor. I should note the motor shaft was an odd size, well, 14mm, but by using a short length of 1/2" copper pipe and a little shim stock I got the 5/8" ID pulley centered and snug. I bought a short piece of 3x4 angle to mount the motor but could had discarded the provided motor mount and just used an angle bracket but the steel was only $6 so no biggie.
For a splash shield I bought a 3 gal bucket which is about 8-1/2" ID so perfect the the 8" laps, I siliconed down a small plastic lid in the bottom and drilled out a stainless bolt, PITA BTW, for a drain. You can buy brass fittings known as bulkheads which would be much easier but once I got started drilling the bolt there was no stopping me!
I've got 3 photos on flickr, here's the last one, just click for the other two or keep going for my pics of flowers and rocks and other stuff!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/stonetemplelapidary/13277362243/

[GKJdesigns]

Wow, very nice work, Mark! Just looking at your design makes me want to build one even though I have a lap. I like your idea to create a thread devoted to DIY equipment. It ought to be a great resource for others.

Good timing, too, as I am close to finishing an 8" polisher for final polish of opal. I got my drive shaft and bearings from the same places you did. With some persistence I was lucky and found a decent 1725 RPM motor on Craigslist for $50. The seller told me that it had seen use in lapidary, but it looked nearly new to me. I debated on whether to make or modify an existing Ameritool 8" disk, but then decided to buy an aluminum disk from Kingsley North - the lowest price online that I could find.

http://www.slickpic.com/users/GKirchberger/albums/Opals/photo?viewer#7725203

[StoneTemple]

Hey Gary, that looks great!
Seems we were on parallel paths of a sort.

I too should probably add some guarding around the belt in case the cats get curious. I might also go with a smaller profile belt as the one I'm using offers quite a bit of resistance.

Those opals are sweet!

[GKJdesigns]

Here's an easy-to-build, simple, 3-drawer combination table and storage stand that I made. I needed to find more surface area (who doesn't?!), and I was running out of storage for supplies and rough (a familiar story):

www.slickpic.com/u/GKirchberger/LapidaryShopStand

I wish that I could take credit for the idea to use restaurant bussing bins for drawers, but that came from a woodworking magazine. I added casters so that I can move the stand when I sit and use the saw or lap. I liked the bin idea so much that, after building this stand, I added a some bins that ride under my heavy workbench and two tables that I stand at when cutting.

[StoneTemple]

Thanks for sharing that Gary. I've been wanting some drawers or shelves or something under one of my benches, just one big shelf now which keeps everything in boxes, not the most convenient. Hmm, another project.

[GKJdesigns]

Thanks, Mark. I uploaded a photo of the bins that ride under my cutting tables.

[Former_Member]

Hey just a quick add to this..right now on ebay a source has old original Poly arbors some complete and some just the shafts..but some are for building flat laps and saws..and are cheap for what they are..if you need educated about who poly was..??? they manufactured many years ago the poly arbors that were used stand alone and also were incorporated into other machines made from large lapidary Co’s..Poly also made many shafts and inclosed shafts arbors that were again used by the other manufacturers to make saws and flat laps and grinders from..I will try and find a link to put here for you..He has many parts right now..Poly is gone so these old parts are hard to find...bearing's to replace are easy to find..

[Former_Member]

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Poly-arbor-for-building-your-own-rock-saw-or-polishing-unit-DIY-/11132308395...

this is a link to a seller on ebay that right now has the correct top quality arbors and shafts to build many lapidary tools from and built originally by Poly...and very cheap....have fun

[GKJdesigns]

And this guy has two listings of 8" aluminum polishing heads at fire sale prices:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Lapidary-8-polishing-head-end-disc-set-of-4-rock-grinder-/121312325937?pt=LH...

Where was he when I bought a new one a couple weeks ago?!?!?!??

[Former_Member]

I bought about 20 of his shafts myself..they were cheaper than the metal to build them from and saved the time..I will try and bring here what I intend to do with them...Mostly small 4-6 inch and 2 -3 ----8-10 inch water cooled saws as all the makes are not very good and most are designed for oil.. oil will not work for my needs and is very messy...water is great but will rust the bearing's and yes there are rust preventative additives but I use 5 gallons of water at a time when I cut..i am not cutting just a few stones .That gets exspensive to use rust preventitives as I cut pounds at a time so I need saws that will last and not vibrate and will allow the change of water as it gets dirty and mucky..so about every 15-30 minutes I need to change water as it has gotten very thick with sludge..I have developed a few changes on saws..so I will post as I get them along...Mostly just need to move the bearings away from contact with the water..Duh... needed longer shafts..this guy had them..

[StoneTemple]

Thanks for that link James, I did buy one of his polishing heads to use with my flat lap, I can dial the speed down, an option I haven't had before.

[Former_Member]

Hey Mark
That is great that link helped..This thread is interesting..I find myself building and altering tools all the time..not because I am trying to save a buck..just the equipment manufactured only works so far and I find myself fixing the problems I find with commercial lapidary equipment..almost all is built for the hobby lapidary...My biggest complaint is almost all saws are built for oil and I use water...and then we have vibration.. another problem..rough has got very pricy in recent years and the need for very thin vibration free water cooled saws..and they do not exist...I will share some of my updates to equipment..

[Former_Member]

Hey Mark, great discussion. I had turned an old knife sharpener into a flat lap and worked great for grinding but was too fast for most polishing. I even was able to do a little faceting with a cheap mast and head. I added a dimmer switch to it which did slow it down but it had no power at slow speed. What kind of motors do real faceting machines have that allow them to go so slow with a lot of power?

I'd like to have an 8 inch setup for doing slabs but also do some faceting and thought about getting an ameritool or all u need flat lap but the ameritool guy thought it'd have too much flex in the disc. My budget is only around 600 bucks and that won't even get close to a used faceting machine. How's your machine with faceting?

[StoneTemple]

Hi Joshua
I suspect most faceting machines have a DC motor probably minimum 1/4 HP with an electronic drive. I'm not sure of the power rating on my machine, the motor was out of a treadmill and seems fairly strong even at low rpm.
I just updated my flat lap a little by replacing the plain shaft and shaft adapter with a threaded stepped shaft, the adapter added a slight wobble that I could shim out but was a PITA, much smoother with the one piece.