I am becoming interested in cabbing stones. Like most hobbies cabbing is
expensive. You need a stone saw, shaping machine and polishing machine.
Anyone out there using their lathes to shape and polish cabs?
Tony Manella
ndd1"at"prolog.net (remove "at")
http://home.ptd.net/~ndd1/
Lehigh Valley Woodturners

In article ,
"TonyM" tonym.le"at"comcast.net wrote:

I am becoming interested in cabbing stones. Like most hobbies cabbing is
expensive. You need a stone saw, shaping machine and polishing machine.
Anyone out there using their lathes to shape and polish cabs?

Seems like you'd want to dedicate a lathe on its last legs to this
and/or turning soapstone/alabaster/etc. The abrasive dust and/or slurry
will be hard on bearings and ways, and difficult to fully contain.

I have never gotten into cabuchons, but I spent a decade or so of my
youth tending a rock tumbler.

--
Cats, coffee, chocolate...vices to live by

"TonyM" tonym.le"at"comcast.net wrote in message
. ..
I am becoming interested in cabbing stones. Like most hobbies cabbing is
expensive. You need a stone saw, shaping machine and polishing machine.
Anyone out there using their lathes to shape and polish cabs?

Doesn't sound impossible. Dop wax to hold the flat side to the faceplate or
such, and something to grip a rotary tool firmly to maneuver around. A
metal lathe with a nice X-Y would feed slowly enough, that's for sure.

But why not get a mandrel and a washing machine motor. Not like you need
the other things a lathe has.

"Ecnerwal" wrote: (clip) The abrasive dust and/or slurry will be hard on
bearings and ways, and difficult to fully contain. (clip)
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
That makes sense. OTOH, I bought my Stubby from Larry Osterman, who had
been using it to turn stone, and I have never detected any after-effects.
He sold the Stubby because it wasn't heavy enough for the pieces he was
spinning, and upgraded to a custom-build Nichols. It was awesome--even had
a crane built on.

I cab on a Diamond Pacific Genie, but would never cab on my lathe. Most
cabbing is done with silicon carbide, or preferably, diamond wheels
starting around 80 grit and working up to 12,000 or so before final
polishing. Both types of cutting abrasive require a continuous stream
of water as a lubricant and coolant. Grinding without water can destroy
a wheel in seconds.

The stones that are cabbed run up to 8 or higher on the Mohs scale, and
prodigious quantities of stone dust as up to half the volume of the
blanks are ground away.

The water, abrasive dust, and the swarf generated would surely do a
great deal of damage to your lathe. Especially since the water slings
off the wheels carrying along the swarf as it goes.

I can only assume that you want to mount the grinding wheel on the
lathe, as mounting the cab blank itself doesn't seem to make much sense
to me.

Why not just mount the grinding wheels on a shaft supported in a pillow
block bearing? It would be easy to add protective cowling around the
wheels. A drip system or water spray can be economically added to
provide the cooling necessary. Plans are available in a number of places
on the web, one of which is available here

http://www.bovagems.com/eclectic/HTM...LBL199701.html.

A rock saw can be built in basically the same way, except of course that
the saw needs a lubricant well rather than only a spray.

There are also gem and mineral clubs around that often have equipment
available for their members. More importantly, like lathe clubs, they
can provide a great deal of experience and advice to the new comer.

Enjoy.

TonyM wrote:
I am becoming interested in cabbing stones. Like most hobbies cabbing is
expensive. You need a stone saw, shaping machine and polishing machine.
Anyone out there using their lathes to shape and polish cabs?
Tony Manella
ndd1"at"prolog.net (remove "at")
http://home.ptd.net/~ndd1/
Lehigh Valley Woodturners

Thanks M for a good post full of useful information. No clubs in my area.
I had already found that the eclectic lapidary but was trying to be too
cheap (as usual for a Pennsylvania Dutchman). I knew it was a far fetched
idea but thought I'd ask any way.
Tony Manella

"m" wrote in message
...
I cab on a Diamond Pacific Genie, but would never cab on my lathe. Most
cabbing is done with silicon carbide, or preferably, diamond wheels
starting around 80 grit and working up to 12,000 or so before final
polishing. Both types of cutting abrasive require a continuous stream of
water as a lubricant and coolant. Grinding without water can destroy a
wheel in seconds.

The stones that are cabbed run up to 8 or higher on the Mohs scale, and
prodigious quantities of stone dust as up to half the volume of the blanks
are ground away.

The water, abrasive dust, and the swarf generated would surely do a great
deal of damage to your lathe. Especially since the water slings off the
wheels carrying along the swarf as it goes.

I can only assume that you want to mount the grinding wheel on the lathe,
as mounting the cab blank itself doesn't seem to make much sense to me.

Why not just mount the grinding wheels on a shaft supported in a pillow
block bearing? It would be easy to add protective cowling around the
wheels. A drip system or water spray can be economically added to provide
the cooling necessary. Plans are available in a number of places on the
web, one of which is available here

http://www.bovagems.com/eclectic/HTM...LBL199701.html.

A rock saw can be built in basically the same way, except of course that
the saw needs a lubricant well rather than only a spray.

There are also gem and mineral clubs around that often have equipment
available for their members. More importantly, like lathe clubs, they can
provide a great deal of experience and advice to the new comer.

Enjoy.

TonyM wrote:
I am becoming interested in cabbing stones. Like most hobbies cabbing is
expensive. You need a stone saw, shaping machine and polishing machine.
Anyone out there using their lathes to shape and polish cabs?
Tony Manella
ndd1"at"prolog.net (remove "at")
http://home.ptd.net/~ndd1/
Lehigh Valley Woodturners

"TonyM" tonym.le"at"comcast.net wrote in message
. ..
Thanks M for a good post full of useful information. No clubs in my area.
I had already found that the eclectic lapidary but was trying to be too
cheap (as usual for a Pennsylvania Dutchman). I knew it was a far fetched
idea but thought I'd ask any way.
Tony Manella


Save those small chunks of burl or weird figure you find around knots, or
even the knots themselves and make cabochons out of them. Really dress up
the lid of a box. They turn well on the lathe.

Hi Tony

You certainly can do some stone turning on your lathe, as long as you
keep the stones used in the "soft" catogory, like soapstone and
serpentine or alabaster, they can be turned with regular HSS scrapers
or with carbide bids added to them, you do get a lot of dust and have
to take care of that.

I wouldn't try the hard stuff, where you'd need a constant stream of
coolant with the water/slurry flung around, doesn't mean it can't be
done, with trays and baffles, but it still would be a mess.

A small piece of rock glued to a chunk of wood held on your lathe,
water running over it and a hand held air powered tool with some
diamond coated tool in it, should work, and you'd better wear some
rain gear. ;-)))

I have made a couple of cabochons from bone, and they polished up
nice, though I doubt they come close to a real gemstone cabochon.

Link to a place that does sell the stone you could try turning,
http://www.stonemandist.homestead.com/Index.html

Have fun and take care
Leo Van Der Loo



On May 17, 8:25 am, "TonyM" tonym.le"at"comcast.net wrote:
Thanks M for a good post full of useful information. No clubs in my area.
I had already found that the eclectic lapidary but was trying to be too
cheap (as usual for a Pennsylvania Dutchman). I knew it was a far fetched
idea but thought I'd ask any way.
Tony Manella

"m" wrote in message

...

I cab on a Diamond Pacific Genie, but would never cab on my lathe. Most
cabbing is done with silicon carbide, or preferably, diamond wheels
starting around 80 grit and working up to 12,000 or so before final
polishing. Both types of cutting abrasive require a continuous stream of
water as a lubricant and coolant. Grinding without water can destroy a
wheel in seconds.

The stones that are cabbed run up to 8 or higher on the Mohs scale, and
prodigious quantities of stone dust as up to half the volume of the blanks
are ground away.

The water, abrasive dust, and the swarf generated would surely do a great
deal of damage to your lathe. Especially since the water slings off the
wheels carrying along the swarf as it goes.

I can only assume that you want to mount the grinding wheel on the lathe,
as mounting the cab blank itself doesn't seem to make much sense to me.

Why not just mount the grinding wheels on a shaft supported in a pillow
block bearing? It would be easy to add protective cowling around the
wheels. A drip system or water spray can be economically added to provide
the cooling necessary. Plans are available in a number of places on the
web, one of which is available here

http://www.bovagems.com/eclectic/HTM...LBL199701.html.

A rock saw can be built in basically the same way, except of course that
the saw needs a lubricant well rather than only a spray.

There are also gem and mineral clubs around that often have equipment
available for their members. More importantly, like lathe clubs, they can
provide a great deal of experience and advice to the new comer.

Enjoy.

TonyM wrote:
I am becoming interested in cabbing stones. Like most hobbies cabbing is
expensive. You need a stone saw, shaping machine and polishing machine.
Anyone out there using their lathes to shape and polish cabs?
Tony Manella
ndd1"at"prolog.net (remove "at")
http://home.ptd.net/~ndd1/
Lehigh Valley Woodturners

Tony here are a couple more links for perusal.

http://www.maxkrimmel.com/

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/stoneturners/

Have fun and take care
Leo Van Der Loo

Thanks George, I've been doing that for years. Actually got a 40# box of
burl scraps that Bob Rosand was throwing into the fire. Lots of great stuff
there.

"George" wrote in message
news

"TonyM" tonym.le"at"comcast.net wrote in message
. ..
Thanks M for a good post full of useful information. No clubs in my
area. I had already found that the eclectic lapidary but was trying to be
too cheap (as usual for a Pennsylvania Dutchman). I knew it was a far
fetched idea but thought I'd ask any way.
Tony Manella


Save those small chunks of burl or weird figure you find around knots, or
even the knots themselves and make cabochons out of them. Really dress up
the lid of a box. They turn well on the lathe.

Thanks Leo. Don't really want to turn wood. My 6 year old daughter has
become very interested in rocks and has a nice collection of specimens
going. Just was trying to find a way to shape and polish with out the large
expense of specialized equipment. I just ordered a book on lapidary that
tells how to do this using common tools from Lowes and Home Depot. That
should be good enough as I'm only looking to do a few.

wrote in message
oups.com...
Tony here are a couple more links for perusal.

http://www.maxkrimmel.com/

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/stoneturners/

Have fun and take care
Leo Van Der Loo