Lapidaryforum.net
Gadgets, Gizmos, and Dohickeys => SAFETY => Topic started by: Kaljaia on December 07, 2016, 01:29:03 PM
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The winter here in central Oregon tends to be clear and cold. How cold is too cold to run a mineral-oil cooled saw? Is ambient outdoor temp of 25-35 ok? (and yeah the cabbing machine is staying dry till spring at this rate.)
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Oh, about 10 above with - 9 wind chill in N.E. South Dakota. Is that cold enough ?
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The only constraint on running a saw in ambient cold temps is on the brittleness of your belts (probably not a problem, because your car has similar belts); on the thickness of the grease in the bearings (again if they turn they will warm up enough to keep themselves lubricated as they do in automobiles); the viscosity of the mineral oil if you are using a pump (if you are using a blade dipping into the oil, you should be fine as long as the mineral oil is a liquid (if you have a pump and its weak or uses narrow tubing, it may gag on thick mineral oil). One major disadvantage is that the mineral oil being thicker (at least until it warms up with friction) you will tend to carry a thicker film of oil out of the saw with the slabs (hence more cleanup, or just a longer wait in the cat litter before going to the soap bath). In my opinion cold mineral oil will cool and lubricate and bathe just as well as hotter mineral oil running at summer temperatures. My saw is in an unheated shop (at least until I fire up the wood stove) and the temp is usually around 40 when I get there in the morning, but the saw runs contentedly as the shop warms via wood stove and electrical space heater. One word of caution about cold weather and wood glues (wood glues don't hold as well unless they dry for 24 hrs at room temps. If exposed to freezing temps before they are dry they tend to release the stone. I've grown to try to keep my glue stubs from freezing (by taking them inside the warmer house). Obviously if you use wax to dop you will want to protect them from anything near cold until you are ready for them to release. My cab machine will run in winter months, but only because I use a gravity water system that I can feed from an electric tea kettle. Ah, warm water feels so good in that cold shop.
Horse laxatives are a lighter mineral oil than human stuff (at least the human version I buy at Walmart) and hence I prefer to use straight horse laxative mineral oil in winter but have no preference in the summer.
Given the need to do so, you could use a defrost heater from a refrigerator to heat your mineral oil above ambient but I doubt it would be necessary except for temps like Jake was discussing. Its not an accident that some folks live in New Mexico and not in the northern extremes.
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I live in western Oregon and I just shut it all down,except for the tumblers (till the temps drop to 25 and below.....)
Cold weather is just hard on parts and fingers.....
I do all my lapidary work outside too.....
When the temps hit 50+,I start cutting again.....
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If I am uncomfortable it is too cold.
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If I am uncomfortable it is too cold.
AMEN to that!!
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You'll know it's cold when the dog drops poopsicles in the snow. :laughing4:
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We're back up to a soggy 38 but still too much slush and drizzle for getting the equipment out. I can see the ground again on south-facing slopes though, so it's getting there! 30-year winter is almost over, but more snow in the forecast for later this week.
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Your brain will be frying out there soon enough.
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Your brain will be frying out there soon enough.
lol yep.
I can take heat pretty well and will still play outside up through 95, (with hat and sunglasses and lots and lots of sunscreen) but 110 starts to push it. I have three of the big nalgene water bottles and will trade water weight for rock weight as I hike. There's this really nice sweet spot from late March through early May, where the weather is gorgeous and the snakes aren't out yet. That's the best time to be out in the hills.
Made it to town yesterday on a road the consistency of peanut butter and there's still a good 8 - 10 inches of snow above 3500 ft. Our reservoir is about six feet from the spillway and there's still a lot of snow in its drainage, not including what's scheduled to fall this week. Going to be an amazing wildflower season!
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Yuppers,we are jones-ing for Glass Buttes and Hampton Buttes already too.............
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You'll know it's cold when the dog drops poopsicles in the snow. :laughing4:
Don is right,the Dakotas can tear a guy up with -45 below zero temps in the winter months!!!! I don't miss the winters at all my friend,not at all!!!!!!
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You'll know it's cold when the dog drops poopsicles in the snow. :laughing4:
Don is right,the Dakotas can tear a guy up with -45 below zero temps in the winter months!!!! I don't miss the winters at all my friend,not at all!!!!!!
That's the record here, but I think it was set in 1906. Not looking to break it any time soon.
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Cold is when your heater craps out in the middle of the night, & it's 2 above outside. :dontknow: Crew worked from about 10:00 this morning tearing out the old heater & installing a new one. :notworthy: They left here at 6:00 PM. House is just starting to warm back up. :Worthy: