help on polishing cabs.

[marinedad]

i need advice on how you get a good high shine on cabs. after the 1200 grit grind on the cab machine. what type of polish etc. to use on buffing wheel. how many others out there cut and shape there own cabs? thanks for any advice.

[centfladigger]

hey marinedad, what kinds of set up do you have? I used to use an old Gem Maker with the 8x3 whells, and sandpaper belts until I got my genie a few years ago, but I get the same results with both. For me just spending the right amount of time on each wheel before I move on to the next is the key and I use a 10x loupe to examine it often as I make the cab through each wheel.

On the 8x3 I used a finally polish of cerium oxide, but with the genie I have a 3000 grit wheel I use. you can use zam or holy cow or a diamond paste, I have a tube of 50,000 grit but rarely need it.

I would avise you to come on over to this forum I have been on for awhile, its a lapidary/rock forum and you will find some awesome info


http://andy321.proboards.com/index.cgi its Rock Tumbling Hoby Forum

[marinedad]

thanks for the reply cfdigger, i think mine is an old 6" star diamond brand combo trim saw with100 and 220 grit wheel, and expandable wheel i use different grit sanding belts. a seperate buffer and a 14" slab saw. buffer runs about 3500 rpm's, is that too fast? nice pics. of your work.

[centfladigger]

I know the set your talking about, I just gave one away, it was an older model I had laying around. Nice machine to work with. When I used sandpaper from left to right my wheels were 80, 100, 220, 400, 600. On the far right end wheel I could just slide the sandpaper belt off and would always swap out with a 3000 grit polish and then a micro polish and then I could screw on the buffer wheel there and do the polish.

I dont think that speed should be a factor as long as you have clean water running on the wheels, does the water pump up from the tray or does it drip/spray down on the wheels? Also depends on your technique and amount of time spent on each grit. check out the RTH forum website I put on the post and there are guys out there who have old manuals for all these machines and could give you the ratio your looking for. Alot of good info for questions there. When you ever switch over to nova wheels you`ll be very happy, I was.

[marinedad]

cabber runs at 1725 rpm, the buffer, seperate unit runs around 3500rpm. cabber is a top drip system. what is the composition of your buffing wheels? wool, muslin, felt? i tried polishing a moss agate cab.on the buffer with the felt wheel, cooling occasionally with water and it ruined the finish to a point i had to redo, it looked like it blistered the surface.

[wheelerite]

beautiful cabs
ksmith

[Eu_citzen]

What polishing compound did you use on the filt wheel?

Also did the agate chip during polishing? That would cause scratches that are horrible!

[marinedad]

eu citzen, i was using cerium oxide to polish, and that is where it blistered. i have since reground the stone with better results. thanks.