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[jakesrocks]

Just spotted this on another forum. Hell of a good price for original Highland Park equipment. It could be refitted with your own choice of wheels. http://andy321.proboards.com/thread/77144/highland-park-cabbing-station-sale?page=1&scrollTo=898791

people still visit other forums after all the slaving Enchantra the rest of the staff and i did to make this lovely hole in the WWW? (kidding)

LOL. Not trying to promote another site. Just pointing out a hellofa good deal. I'd buy the machine myself in a heartbeat if it weren't for the shipping cost. That & the deadly looks I'd get from my wife if another machine showed up at the door. 

[Phishisgroovin]

I'm just s smart ass. LoL

Sent from my SM-G928T using Tapatalk

[Jhon P]

A Genie is a good portable machine and can do everything to make cabs. But if you look at used ones you may have to replace the wheels? Than you are back to the price of a new one. So if someone that is familiar with them can't inspect it than you are better off with a new one. I prefer the expandable drums, if you wear out a belt you slide it off and slide on a new one!
Hope we don't give you too much info. 

[Phishisgroovin]

if you can swing the $$
I would recommend getting a 6 wheel Diamond pacific Genie with Nova wheels on it.

[vitzitziltecpatl]

Yeah, Robin and I both bought our Genies second-hand. You WILL have to replace the wheels - sooner on some machines than others - and you MIGHT have to replace a motor a lot sooner than you'd like. Mine croaked pretty soon after I got the machine.

So, before you buy a used Genie, figure the cost of replacing the wheels and motor. Get a quote for a new machine from a Diamond Pacific dealer. Subtract the cost of wheels and motor from your quote, and that would be the top end of what you should pay for a used machine. If the used one plus replacements is anywhere close to your new machine quote then buying a new one would be my choice.

[mirkaba]

Just a thought.........My first machine was an old, used 8" Crown with silica carbide hard wheels, 2 expandos and 2 end laps. I used silica carbide belts and leather polisher on an end lap. Worked and still works great. Slowly added diamond wheels and diamond belts. It has made a lot of cabs, polished slabs and display pieces. I still use the sc belts with some stones and I cannot see replacing it in the near future. Good luck!

[Ryaly2dogs]

On the old HP units; if you can wait; they will continue to appear as they are virtually indestructible; outliving their owners. I acquired my HP-B50 for $325 A few years ago on Craig's List after watching for a few months. I wore through most of the worn SIC wheels and ditched the SIC sanding drum that came with it for diamond...much quicker and easier to work with for me. I joined a club and followed this blog to get oriented in the right direction. I now have 100 and 220 hard diamond and 280 and 600 soft diamond (nova) wheels on the unit (8 inch); acquired a separate arbor from an estate sale for dirt cheap and fitted those with 1200 and 3000 soft diamond wheels. Most stones don't need a polish once they come off the 3000 wheel. Love the results but the set up does take up a fair amount of space (Diamond Pacific Titan solution is much more compact). Just offering my opinion here, so you get a range of responses to consider.

Whatever you decide...have fun with it.  Lapidary is the best part of my day!

David

[Mossagatemac]

Thanks for all of the ideas!  I have some feelers out on Craigslist etc so we'll see what happens.  I'm not in a huge hurry but just wanted an idea of what to be looking for.  Sounds like people get the job done with a pretty wide variety of setups. 

[jakesrocks]

"  Sounds like people get the job done with a pretty wide variety of setups."

You have no idea. But stick with it long enough and you will. 

That equipment seems to multiply just like rabbits do.

And the rock pile keeps growing & growing until your storage area starts to tilt under the load.

[bilquest]

I think if there was one good way to cut cabs, someone would have figured it out and we would all be using the same machine. With that said, I think the original poster was looking for some foundational knowledge to build upon. It seems like we, the afflicted, all take different trails in our quest to cutting the widest range of material. However, I do think a basic cabbing setup can be distilled to this:

- trim saw
- 100 grit wheel (shaping)
- 220 wheel (removing 100 grit scratches)
- 600 sanding disk (pre polish)
- cerium oxide on leather buff for polish

Granted, the purists among us would argue the merits of a wide spectrum of abrasives, but let's face it... this simple setup will cut and polish a very big assortment of rough and provide much enjoyment. My first machine was a Rock Rascal Model T. It came with two wheels (100 and 220) and an end disk buffer that I could stick my sanding disks and leather buff to. I loved that little machine and it provided everything I needed to create my first cabs, start to finish. You have to change wheels, but I kept a wrench on my workbench and could swap out wheels in under a minute.

If you end up catching the bug you'll find yourself staring at lapidary catalogs and jonesin' for new equipment, but with a basic setup to work with, you'll have some context for deciding on your next acquisition.

Hope this helps and welcome to the club!

[Barclay]

If you are starting out and have sticker shock about having to lay out $1,800 - $2,200 for a Genie i would suggest an Ameritool swap top grinder  http://www.ameritool-inc.com/store/index.cfm/product/5_8/universal-heavy-duty-grinder-and-polishing-machine-complete-with-accessories-kit.cfm  For $659 you can get the 8" model which will take you from shaping the cab to final polish.  You may be able to get a better deal on ebay or from a vendor on this or the "other" board :)  In the beginning you are not going to be cranking out cabs at a production rate so swapping the wheels is not going to stall your production.  If you decide you love cabbing then you can still use the Ameritool for making sure the back of your cab is flat.  Stay away from the Inland Lapidary grinders.  They are poorly designed.  Water gets in the motor and it dies.  I have gone through 3 motors on mine and gave up replacing them.  The Ameritool swaps wheels without tools.  The Inland makes you use a hex wrench.  The Genie will take up an entire desk and is heavy so you will not want to be moving it around.  The Ameritool is light and you can unplug it and store it away somewhere else.

[jerrysg]

Hi everyone,
I'm pretty new to this and unfortunately there's no rock club in my area.  I'd like to start making some cabs eventually and so I'm in the planning phase of setting up a cabbing machine and need some advice on wheels.  Metal bonded, resin bonded, expando drums, 6+ steps of grit, belts, diamond paste, holy smokes! - could someone point me to, or give advice on, what I actually need to get going that will give decent results without too many headaches??

Here is a link (from our old forum) to one of the best homemade lapidary machine designs I have seen. 

http://gemstone.smfforfree4.com/index.php/topic,6282.0.html

Of course you don't have to go the whole 10 wheel set up. Most commercial machines stop at 6 wheels.

Jerry

[Mossagatemac]

One thing I didn't think to ask in the original post - complete noob question - do all of the types of wheels attach to the shaft in the same way?  Is there one method that's better than others?

[mirkaba]

Not too sure what you mean by method. I prefer wheels over flat discs.........some don't. I polish to 50,000 diamond and use mostly tin oxide.........There are other polishing compounds. All of the wheels attach in pretty much the same way but there are differing size shafts requiring inserts to fit the less than 1" shafts. Its been a month.How is your search going?

Ron (theimage1) built this outfit and posted on the old forum.  http://gemstone.smfforfree4.com/index.php/topic,2150.0.html

[bgast1]

May I jump in here also?  I'm looking and considering my options. Price not being the determining factor Genie or Titan?