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Author Topic: Dry sanding  (Read 2890 times)

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lithicbeads

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Dry sanding
« on: April 18, 2015, 09:30:22 PM »

 Gergis and I began  using the " Richardson Ranch " dry sanding machine today. I have a few projects that I feel would be helped by this machine  so we got packlithic to set it up and began to familiarize ourselves with the use of the machine. It has been a decade since I have  had call to use it so I had a hard time remembering exactly what relationship dry sanding on this machine has to dry sanding using the same silicon carbide medium but on an expando belt. We ran through a number of types of rocks while using various grits and immediately came to the conclusion that many of the machines that had cut these commercially purchased slabs were either badly maintained or were cutting with a dished blade as the saw marks on the slabs were quite deep , too deep in fact for efficient sanding. I will post a solution later this week.
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55fossil

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Re: Dry sanding
« Reply #1 on: June 01, 2016, 07:29:04 PM »

Good to see the respirator.. I also have several of those sanders and hook up a vacuum to them. As for the deep marks in the slabs... I have an 8 inch wet diamond lap and a larger flat lap that I use to cut through the deep grooves. Before I had the laps I just used a 60 grit sanding disc and time with my Richardson's sander. I still use them today and they are 30 plus years old.   Even the best jaspers will burn or even explode if you get them too hot. Get a bunch of slabs and sand one until it gets warm. Put it in cool water and sand a different slab. Switch slabs until they are all ready for the next grade of sanding. Heat may be your friend at the polishing stage but at 60 or 100 grit it may also destroy your slab and remove pieces of flesh when it explodes from too much heat. The good news is 60 grit really works fast on removing the ridges.   Put on some good tunes and go for it.
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rockherder

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Re: Dry sanding
« Reply #2 on: March 20, 2017, 04:54:42 PM »

I purchased an old Richardson Ranch dry sander that is in really bad shape.
I'm planning to rebuild it.
This is what it looks like today:
BrokenSander.jpg
*BrokenSander.jpg (89.19 kB . 640x853 - viewed 585 times)

I belonged to the Shasta Club awhile back and they had a Richardson High Speed Sander that I used.
This was my first attempt (a Brazilian):
FirstDrySanding.jpg
*FirstDrySanding.jpg (59.46 kB . 800x600 - viewed 553 times)

Unfortunately, I kinda screwed it up.
I didn't realize how hot the dry sander was getting the stone until I felt the stone burning my hand.
By then, the stone had fractured (see fractures and chip).

The club also had a Richardson Ranch Polisher that I used for the polishing.
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-Doug in El Dorado Hills, CA

55fossil

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Re: Dry sanding
« Reply #3 on: March 20, 2017, 07:14:16 PM »

    I love my Richardson's Sanders.  My cure for too hot stones is:  I always have at least 4 stones to polish, especially on the coarser grits. Grind one for a little bit and switch to a cool stone and so on...   I also keep one sander set up with a coarse disc and use a different sander for lighter grits. If you have the good fortune to have a flat lap use it first. I put a lot of stuff on my flat lap and walk away while it does the coarse grind.  neal
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bobby1

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Re: Dry sanding
« Reply #4 on: March 20, 2017, 07:36:01 PM »

We utilize two of these units to have a geode polishing party at our local junior college's classroom.  The polished geodes are for our door prizes at our show. We sand on these units and polish on two machines with a carpet covered wheel.
Bob
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