Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[TheBishopSilversmith]

Hey all,

I recently picked up a used 5 Wheel lapidary unit on eBay for what I thought was a good price. It's my first lapidary unit and I couldn't really swing dropping a grand or two on a new unit. The main draw for this unit was it came with 5 6" Diamond Pacific Galaxy Wheels (with more or less 50% life left in them).

So it arrived this past Monday, and the whole unit appears to be a homemade job. The enclosure is clearly welded together (which is fine). The wheels seem to have less life left in them than I thought when I purchased it. In fact, it appears the wheels have been re-wrapped with strips of carborundum (one of the strips flew off when I hooked it up to my bench motor). Has anyone seen this before? Any advice on what type of adhesive to use to reattach the strip that came off?

The arbor itself was also in pretty rough condition. The pulley wheel and locks that held the block bearings in place (don't know the technical name for them), were very stiff and took a lot of work to get off. I hit the arbor with some sandpaper to clean it up, and now things slide on and off much more smoothly. The wheels on the other hand aren't separated by bushings/spacers, but are held in a static position on the arbor by some form of adhesive, so I am currently unable to remove them from the wheel. I'll include some photos of those in hopes someone can identify the adhesive and advise me on proper removal. As it stands, I can't take the arbor out of the enclosure, because there's not enough give in either side to slide it out.

What's more, when I hooked up my 1/3 HP bench motor, it very shortly started smoking when activated. Luckily, I don't think it blew anything and was just working too hard. The pillow block bearings are pretty old, and I ordered some new ones in hopes that will alleviate some of the strain on the motor.

Any thoughts and advice for a frustrated newcomer?

Thanks,
Daniel

[Slabbercabber]

Galaxie wheels are plated with diamond.  If they have glued strips they are worn out.  I would send it back.  If you want to keep it, use heat on the shaft to release the adhesive.  Most pillow blocks have a provision for relube.  I would try that before replacement.

[Felicia]

Suggest add up the price of new galaxie wheels and other stuff it might need, compare it to what you paid for it, look around at some other used machines prices. Help decide whether to keep it or send it back. Good luck

[lithicbeads]

Your better off buying a new poly arbor and some pans. In 40 years I have never heard of such a mess.

[TheBishopSilversmith]

Thank you all for the input. I ended up initiating a return through eBay. I asked another lapidary group on Facebook and the overwhelming response has been to get my money back. I think I'm going to get an 8" expansion drum and keep my set-up pretty bare bones for the time being.

[irockhound]

Also I might suggest contacting local clubs and see if anyone has a used Genie or similar, I have seen them sporadically from clubs I know, normally they are 300 to 600.  Last one I saw was 450 and came with several boxes of used wheels some still in very useful shape, I bought that one to have for my siblings to use.  I am sure as the price of new continues to rise so will used prices.  If they go on ebay the become more expensive but a lot of times a club member dies and leaves their equipment to the club and they sell it cheaper since they had no investment.