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[Greylinghunter]

Thanks to the forum advise I will not be purchasing the swap-top.
I am looking at a couple of different combo units. Kingsley North seems to have good choices and prices.
Looking at the Lortone lu6x-130 and the Covington 6 inch diamond combo unit.
Does anyone in this forum have any experience with these?

[jakesrocks]

I personally would go with the Covington machine. I base my choice on Covington being the oldest company still building lapidary equipment.

Keep in mind that with either of these machines, when it comes time to change the grinding wheels you'll practically need to dismantle the whole machine.

If you have the space for them, an arbor that will hold 6 wheels, and a seperate small saw might be the better choice.

[lithicbeads]

Lortone was a good company but I have had numerous problems with their products in recent years some of which included stupid things like putting the wrong sized parts on shafts , parts of the proper size could have been bought at any hardware store. Always head shaking problems. They are local for me and used to have a nice solid product. I hope they can find their way back.

[Greylinghunter]

Thanks to the posters and thanks to this forum I decided not to throw good money after bad. Going with a six wheel unit with a separate trim saw.
Who knew a hobby could take on a life of its own.

[jakesrocks]

Thanks to the posters and thanks to this forum I decided not to throw good money after bad. Going with a six wheel unit with a separate trim saw.
Who knew a hobby could take on a life of its own.

  This is only the beginning. Wait until you have to buy a storage shed just for equipment that isn't being used right now.

[Rockoteer]

I have the Lortone lu6x.  I use the trim saw because I like the shield and I like the reservoir aspect.  I had at one time used the end arbor for attaching discs to put a nice edge/end on my knife scales, but, I think I might look for a better way of doing this task.  When I got it the first thing I did was to replace the bearings and the belt.  I have had no problems with Lortone but then 95 percent of my equipment is Lortone so .......

[ToTheSummit]

Who knew a hobby could take on a life of its own.

When I got started in the hobby about 5 years ago an old timer told me "You'll know you got a rock addiction when you count your rocks in tons."  I thought he was being funny at the time.  Now I'm pretty sure I have about a ton of lapidary-quality material on my property and the piles are growing fast.

[finegemdesigns]

Covington.

[Rockoteer]

Lortone       Notice the blue as in Lortone blue?  lol

[johnjsgems]

They both are good.  Biggest complaint I hear about the Lortone is the lack of two grinding wheels.  You really need coarse and fine before sanding.  A lot of beginners start with the Lortone but move on to something better.  I had an old Frantom combination years ago.  I would never want another combo.  I used oil in the saw and had to cover the cab part when cutting and always had an oil mist.  It wouldn't be as bad with water soluble coolants.  I much prefer separate saws in a dirty area and cab units in a clean area.  If you are limited for space then a combo makes sense.

[Phishisgroovin]

a lortone LUX6 will do you well for years and years.
I have one.

[Phishisgroovin]

i have an 80, 150 and an expando drum on mine.

[johnjsgems]

Phish, did you replace 2.5" drum with 1.5"?  2.5" is against pan lip so hard to replace belts.  I wondered if the drum was narrower would 2 1.5" grinding wheels fit?  The old ones had a 1" SC wheel and a 2.5" 6" drum.