Lapidary Hobby/Equiptment

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roc2rol
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Lapidary Hobby/Equiptment

Post by roc2rol »

Hi Everyone!

Image

This is some of my lapidary equipment.
The blue machine is called a cabbing unit.
Its basically grinding machine, that as a drip water system,
that keep the grinding wheels clean & cool when polishing.

It’s a clean fun hobby, not to much space is needed,
& rocks are free in theory. I work outside. So during this
nice weather I’m out every weekend polishing stones

Too old to do much hiking. So for you young bucks
rock hound now & polish later ;)

Don’t hesitate to ask if you have any questions !

Thanks

Ed
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roc2rol
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Re: Lapidary Hobby/Equiptment

Post by roc2rol »

Hi Everyone :P

My trip to Tucson went flawlessly
That city ROCKS
Literally
Rock Shops & Shows are on every corner
an avalanche!


And here is what I purchased

Image
a fine cabbing unit manufactured by Diamond Pacific


Plus I want to mention whom I purchased it from.
Highly recommended for anyone interested

John at JS GEMS

http://www.jsgemslapidary.com/

Suberb knowledge & service
and just a real pleasure to deal with
for all things lapidary !

Ed
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cubfan64
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Re: Lapidary Hobby/Equiptment

Post by cubfan64 »

I was wondering in regards to the hearts that I've seen you post here that you've made, I'm assuming they are one full piece of stone? You must have to do lots of searching to find rocks that have more than one band of color running through them and then fashion the heart to surround that band or two.

How do you get the loop inserted for them to be worn as a pendant - just a drill hole and something like superglue?

Always curious :)

Paul
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roc2rol
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Re: Lapidary Hobby/Equiptment

Post by roc2rol »

Hi Paul

I’ve been meaning to answer that question
The roc’n heart as quite an evolutionary history to it
& it far from perfected

but as far as I know
its my own creation

well gluing rocks together as a long and noble history
its called intarsia

but my idea for the heart was make two contrasting ½’s
as opposed to grinding a heart out of 1 single stone

I call one half an angel wing
when you put 2 angel wings together you get a heart!
well that my pitch

When I first started I was gluing on a bale to one side of the heart
because I couldn’t figure out how to drill a hole in the cleavage

the epoxy is amazing ! I can’t snap a roc’n heart by hand

but drilling a hole may be asking too much
because it would separate

then I came up with a brainstorm
before I glue them together
I grind a groove in the 2 flat half’s
with a Dremel and diamond disk
and
whallaaaaa!
a pre-drilled hole!

Insert a screw type eyelet with epoxy
and you have nice looking pendant
I like to believe :P

anyway Paul its a labor of love
or something like that

Ed
this is early roc’n heart
one of the first with the pre-drilled technique
and made from rock that I hounded myself
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Re: Lapidary Hobby/Equiptment

Post by cubfan64 »

Ahhh - originally I thought they looked like 2 separate stone that you connected together, but now and then I had a feeling you were shaping one stone.

The 2 different makes much more sense when I see the ones that look as though there's no way you could find one stone with both colors of rock in them (like the 1 in your previous post).

Very cool idea and creative to say the least! It's hard to tell from the photos, but do your hearts lie flat, or is the cut in the middle where you connect them at a slight angle so they look more like wings?

One of these days I'll have to get some unique stones together and pay you to make something cool for my wife.

Paul
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Re: Lapidary Hobby/Equiptment

Post by roc2rol »

both sides are ground in domed shape
and both sides look differnt
sometimes radically

my joints are getting better and better
it all free hand grinding on the flat
so I try thebest I can to
get them flat and parallel

my latest rage as been to buy tumbled stones
I get exotic material for .75 at Az Museum
I slice that 1 stone in 1/2
and expoxy them together
to make the heart
it works out great
I can make the seam
sort of seamless

The expoxy I use is E6000
it pre- mixed and comes in a tube
incredible stuff

Paul, let me know two of your wifes favorite rock colors
I'll craft one and send it
if you like it
you can throw a rock at me :lol:
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Re: Lapidary Hobby/Equiptment

Post by roc2rol »

Happy 4th of July !!

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AndersT
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Re: Lapidary Hobby/Equiptment

Post by AndersT »

That's great looking work. I like the pendant. The seams look really good too. Have you tried bonding more than just two rocks. I've never seen anything like that in jewelry stores. It looks really cool.
Last edited by AndersT on Wed Jul 27, 2011 4:39 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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roc2rol
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Re: Lapidary Hobby/Equiptment

Post by roc2rol »

Hello AndersT and Welcome to DUSA Forums !!!

Thanks for the compliment on my hobby :)

Do you rock hound? Polish?
Hope you take the time introduce yourself some more
post some pics, or just enjoy the varied subjects & folks on
Desert USA !
Ed
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