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Author Topic: Bead drilling the not so old fashioned way  (Read 2473 times)

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lithicbeads

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Bead drilling the not so old fashioned way
« on: April 03, 2015, 08:40:47 PM »

 I have my ultrasonic drill all crapped up with about a thousand little granites and pendant preforms as you can see. The pile just seems to grow but I have been getting a lot drilled. I am going to turn this into an introduction to ultrasonic drilling  , at least ultrasonic drilling with this particular machine a Japanese Imahashi. The American machines start at about $ 30,000 and Imahashi's are closer to ten while the rather odd Chinese machines can go for a few thousand and Indian machines even cheaper. You pay for what you get up to a point. I have used the Taiwanese machine as well and I absolutely love the Imahashi. I have strong feelings for the other machine as well but they are not positive.On the left of the photo you can see the electronics package , the power supply, and on the right the drilling portion of the machine. The grit trough and water supply are in between.
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Minkos61

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Re: Bead drilling the not so old fashioned way
« Reply #1 on: April 03, 2015, 11:20:16 PM »

What aa set up NICE !!!!
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Ernie

Itsandbits

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Re: Bead drilling the not so old fashioned way
« Reply #2 on: April 04, 2015, 07:42:17 AM »

now that is a production line. All you need is another tray on the right to fill with preforms that will slide down to you one at a time LOL
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rocks and people have a lot in common; one persons "leaverite" is anothers treasure

lithicbeads

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Re: Bead drilling the not so old fashioned way
« Reply #3 on: April 04, 2015, 08:32:30 AM »

Back in the day when I was healthy I would drill all night at least once a week. The drilling is interesting enough to me to keep me awake . At times I would drill for almost 12 hours out of 24 stopping to solder new bits on the horns about every 6 to 7 hours. The nice thing about pendants is that an hour of drilling will yield enough preforms for two days of cutting but I miss the variety of beads I used to make so I am reverting to old habits for a number of months. This will have the added benefit of giving Gergis experience with those types of beads as well as providing non expensive pieces of rock for him to practice ultrasonic drilling on and it is a hard won skill that requires patience , understanding and practice.
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Phishisgroovin

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Re: Bead drilling the not so old fashioned way
« Reply #4 on: April 04, 2015, 12:39:51 PM »

i will get me a setup like this one day.
BUT i need a work shop before i can get more lapidary tools.
For now i will stick with a sharpie, bright light and translucent stones to drill with my dremmel in an old gold panning cleanup pan lol!
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