making spheres today

[azdave35]

i've been busy making spheres this week..i thought you might like to see how they are made...
first step after cubing the rock is to put it in the lathe

 

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[azdave35]

then into the grinder where it removes the machine marks from the lathe

 

[azdave35]

after the grinder it goes to the three head polishing machine ..i use 6 of them...one for each stage of grit

 

[azdave35]

i tried to put up a couple videos but cant figure out how to do it

 

[Kray Gelder]

Interesting. Are you using some kind of template for your cuts. Surely you're not eyeballing it. Just curious. Any pics of your polished spheres?

 

[azdave35]

the traditional old school way of making a sphere preform is to select the rock you want and cut it into a square cube on a rock saw..it takes 6 cuts....then you have a 45 degree jig that you use to cut all the corners off the cube..ends up looking kinda like an octagon...from there you go to a diamond grinding wheel and round all the corners..try to get it as round as you can..then throw it in the 2 head grinder and it will grind it round...i have a rock lathe so all i have to do is make 2 parallel cuts..one on each end...then chuck it in the lathe and it does the work

 

[azdave35]

Interesting. Are you using some kind of template for your cuts. Surely you're not eyeballing it. Just curious. Any pics of your polished spheres?

.give me a bit and i'll take a pic of some of the finished product..i'm not much of a photographer but it will give you an idea of how they turn out

 

[worldtalker]

i tried to put up a couple videos but cant figure out how to do it

Are you uploading to youtube first?

 

[azdave35]

Are you uploading to youtube first?

no..i dont have a youtube account...

 

[Kray Gelder]

Very cool.

 

[Gambrinus]

Thanks Dave. I am curious like Kray is about how the lathe works.

 

[azdave35]

finished spheres...upper left..red jasper with metallic hematite..next going clockwise,,petrified wood..next is chrysocolla..gem silica..malachite and tenorite from the inspiration mine...next..biggs picture jasper ,,,next onyx from seven springs onyx mine (dick holmes old mine) and last is septerian nodule from utah

 

[azdave35]

Thanks Dave. I am curious like Kray is about how the lathe works.

the first pic is the lathe...it uses duplicator patterns for different size spheres...it has a diamond blade for cutting and it uses an auto feed system...you just chuck the rock in the lathe...make a few adjustments and let it rip

 

[worldtalker]

after the grinder it goes to the three head polishing machine ..i use 6 of them...one for each stage of grit
View attachment 1563857

Is that a hunk of turquoise?

 

[Oroblanco]

i've been busy making spheres this week..i thought you might like to see how they are made...
first step after cubing the rock is to put it in the lathe

Dave that is VERY COOL! I love your finished products too, so ditto to the comments on how cool this is! Thanks for sharing it!

 

[azdave35]

Is that a hunk of turquoise?

sort of....it is called block turquoise...man made from turquoise powder

 

[azdave35]

Dave that is VERY COOL! I love your finished products too, so ditto to the comments on how cool this is! Thanks for sharing it!

thanks roy..i figured you'd get a kick out of it

 

[audigger53]

I enjoyed them. Only question I have is how big were they.

 

[azdave35]

I enjoyed them. Only question I have is how big were they.

the ones i have been making lately are 3.5 inch...i can make them from 2 " to 6".....i have another machine that i could probably do a 12 inch sphere on but i have never used it

 

[Cubfan64]

finished spheres...upper left..red jasper with metallic hematite..next going clockwise,,petrified wood..next is chrysocolla..gem silica..malachite and tenorite from the inspiration mine...next..biggs picture jasper ,,,next onyx from seven springs onyx mine (dick holmes old mine) and last is septerian nodule from utah

View attachment 1563861

Photoshop a quarter beside them next time so we know the REAL size (sorry, just couldn't resist).

Seriously though, they look pretty cool - bet that's a good chunk of $$ invested in machines for all that work.