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[deekayfry]

Hi, I had purchased as a part of a suite of equipment a Vintage 1973 Diamond Pacific Genie. Likely one of the first ever made. I am trying to learn how to post images and could use some help. It has been nearly a decade since I have been on a forum.

I have already spoken to Don Shue at Diamond Pacific, and he has been extremely helpful.

This Genie is unlike any from soon after 1973 to today.

I won't bore you with the minute details and pictures will go along ways.

My plan is to restore this unit close to original, and I do plan on practicing on it until I upgrade. I had a handful of basic problems which were typical and remedied these. The single geyser on the left side after restoring it works very well.

As a whole, the unit cabs just fine but it is missing a key component or components on the right shaft. This shaft had a Loratone expandable and a SiC 600 grit belt, which was aftermarket rigged with a gravity water cooling system.

I have used it and gotten good polish on my practice stones. This wheel is a problematic customization to this equipment for several reasons at minimum requiring a spacer and bushing that forces the bushed wheel to ride on the existing threads. There are other generally technical issues as well. Avoiding this has restraint me to cabbing down to a 220 grit and stopping there.

I do plan on upgrading but not immediately. Being an old fashion, "WTHN, let's restore it!" buff, this thinking kills two birds with one stone. I may save some money to put towards an upgrade, and honestly this not the driving motivation, but also to satisfy this itch of bringing a vintage fully back to life. I think I know a couple of you readers know what I mean lol :)

Anyway, I came across this in an old post on this forum. These Benelex spools were included with an old 1977 Pixie per that post from years ago.

Does anyone know of these Benelex spools, have these, or can possibly point me to someone who may have these?

I think the spindle on the right side can spin with at least one, maybe two spools.

I do plan to ask DP about these as a long shot.

At a minimum I may just put a 600 Grit Nova on this side, rig up a hood, sink and, fish tank pumped Geyser and call it a day. :)

[vitzitziltecpatl]

Hi there.

Don't know about the spools you refer to, but do have one of the older style shaft adapters. When you spoke of bushings over existing threads it made me wonder if you might be missing the shaft adapter. It's a 1" OD "tube" that threads on to the motor shaft.

To post photos click the "Browse" button below where it says "Attach" beneath the text box. Then click "more attachments" to add an additional photo. Repeat up to the restrictions noted.

I've seen photos of the original Genies, but have never seen one in person.

[irockhound]

Not sure is the first name Dee?  I hate to use screen names to refer to someone.  I wanted to give an added tip on your water supply.  I have cut a lot of stones and I very much like a generous water supply to my wheels.  In the distant past I would move both spitters to whatever side I was working on, but this became a pain in the rear constantly moving from one side or the other.  The other is that although I LOVE my diamond Pacific units I always felt the spitter was a bit light on the spray.  What I did was buy 2 of the aftermarket universal Spitters from Kingsley North (can probably get them amazon or elsewhere - not endorsing any particular vendor) and I use one on each side of the grinder, double the water and no moving spitters back and forth.  The Spitters are independent and just plug into ac power and drop the spitter head under your wheel.  I just place the DP spitter on the back of the wheel and the other spitter directly in front of it.  I think it helps greatly carrying away the debris and lengthens the life of the wheels.  It really works great on my Titan I use the most.

[lithicbeads]

Old is nice in a museum but the abrasive technology today is light years better than that available in the 1970's. Very few stones back then could compare with an average finish now. I have been around for both times and now is vastly less frustrating.

[R.U. Sirius]

I agree with the observation by lithicbeads that the abrasive technology has come a long way, and recommend modern wheels and discs on any vintage machine. The advances in grinding and polishing have mostly been driven by the semiconductor industry in the 1970s and 1980s, and eventually found their way to lapidaries.

Motors, ball bearings, and metal forming, on the other hand, have all seen innovations in finding ways to making items cheaper to manufacture while hopefully degrading the quality "only slightly"... In fact, in recent years we started seeing the same happen to abrasive wheels manufactured overseas - the prices have dropped, but so has the quality.  There are exceptions, of course.

[kent]

Its better if you adjust your photo size before posting as there are restriction to the amount you can post. I use Pixresizer . You can download it for free here:

https://bluefive.pairsite.com/pixresizer_screenshots.htm

Its very fast and effective.
There is a tutorial on Youtube on how to use it here :  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vlzKQ6jXk_w

[deekayfry]

Thanks for the feedback.

With your responses it makes sense to take this old unit as a practice unit.

The galaxy wheels cannot be used in cold weather because the phenolic disks shrink and the rings fall off.

Went out there a few days ago in freezing weather and the rings were literally hanging in place with a quarter inch of daylight.

So I did for laughs reset the rings and ran hot water over all of it and as expected it all tightened up and was overall able to cab for a while.

Don’t try this at home! :) I do have experience with working on industrial glass edging CNC equipment. As I said I did this for laughs.

Anyway I plan to retire this museum piece and plan B is to cab on the HP E10 next to it. It still has the original SiC wheels on it which grooves and scallops just looking at it. The E10 may be older than the DP.

I just don’t get as good grind or grind control on the E10 and even with galaxies the way they are the diamond wheels grind so much better and faster.

My wife and I plan to purchase diamond wheels my guess is an 70/80, 220, 600 column. Any advice on this is appreciated.

As for screen handle. DK works.

[lithicbeads]

If you are referring to soft wheels the 60 grit ones are fabulous .If you have lots of arbors a great rotation is 6o , 100 , 220. 600 ,1200 ,3000 , 8000, and 14,000. When production cutting I found the 600 hard wheel to be extremely useful for getting missed scratches out and it is a surprisingly aggressive wheel for giving such fine finishes. For pieces like long narrow drops they are gold. Have fun.

[peruano]

I'm assuming no photos have been added yet to this thread. I'd like to see the machines. I'm in the process of restoring a HP B-12 which has mostly wonderful paint but there is some question as to the colors used in combination with each component. Any help there?

[deekayfry]

See this picture of the genie?

[deekayfry]

Hey it worked lol. Okay. Here are more pictures.

[deekayfry]

Here is the Highland Park E10 with the SiC wheels. Hate them but still they are likely 50 - 60 years old. I'd expect them to groove and scallop even under the best of circumstance.

I do love the machine itself with the 8" saw. I remove the blade to keep mineral oil from splashing everywhere.

I also have an ancient Frantom 14", I am restoring. I am getting help from Cigar Box Rocks with r/r parts namely the ring gear and the power feed split nut which they will have to reverse engineer and custom fab. I sent them the face plate this past Friday. They even called me to follow up on. Great Service!!!

[deekayfry]

I don't know if I said this. I restored the E10 which was actually in good shape when I bought around 4 years ago. The bearings were shot on it and the machine itself was coated in grit all over.

If you plan to restore your B12 which includes r/r bearings, get emery tape, PB Blaster. Go work out for a few year, I suggest workout that include developing your lat and forearm muscles, and get ready to spend a lot of time trying to lever the bearings off. Emery tape and PB Blaster helps here a lot!

You can look at a bearing pullers which I have never tried either at work or with this.

Or if you are in good with a machine shop they may be able to help.

My two cents, anyway.

I am planning and pulling it all apart again once I get modern day wheels for it. Dreading it, but should go well since it was restored recently.

[peruano]

Thanks for the photos added.  There is nothing wrong with the Diamond Pacific that better hood/tray configuration can't cure. Lortone sells both trays and hoodsl but plastics and custom fabs are possible.  Using the flat vertical discs is possible but in my eyes best for extremely fine work and small stones. Otherwise I need a wheel except of final polish.
The HP is basically a more basic version of a machine that I did reassemble and renovate serveral years ago and of another that I'm going to be going into in the near future. Mine has a longer arbor, and two motors with one devoted to the saw and hence allowing each half of the machine to be running or not independently. I know what you are saying about moving bearings on long shafts that have some smoothness issues.   Yes ditch the stone wheels if you can afford it. 
The Frantom is a great saw; some parts for it are offered by the new HP crowd, but Cigarbox is the most likely to meet you needs.  They are not afraid to solve problems for which solutions are not easy. 

Here is my HP with three Nova's in the middle bay, an 80 on the right  and a 220 on the left. 

[deekayfry]

Thanks peruano. Nice unit. What spacers are you using?