Greg , It is always good to see all Your stone manufacturing (cutting) and your equipment . Your controls are much more modern than mine . I , as You know went to the "Fred Sanford School Of Engineering " and also "The Fred Flintstone School Of Rock Manufacture " --Your approach is much more scientific and your computer controls are more precision and even though I am basically CNC illiterate ,that seems the way to go. Steve Cross akaSuperAX

Well done Beautifull finish

@GregsStoneYard

3 жыл бұрын

Thank you very much!

Greg, how many feet of cutting gray granite are you able to do before having to replace the diamond wire? I assume you built your saw, but is there an off-the-shelf wire saw you would recommend? I am wanting to cut 1'x1'x2' blocks, so wouldn't need a large "throat".

@GregsStoneYard

2 жыл бұрын

Diamond wire is usually marketed as "meters squared cut per meter of wire". The wire I use is marketed to get around 10 meters squared per meter (108 square feet). I don't do production work so I don't really keep track. Look up IdealQuarry.com and on youtube. They build a smaller portable saw, but I believe it's close to $50k. If you are handy, you can use either an old automotive hoist or a forklift mast for the updown. Then you just need some wheels which you can purchase from Hercules Abrasives (China) or I've seen others have even used trailer tires for the wheels. You don't want to go too short or use too small of wheels or the wire will break.

nice job :) ! i hope i will build diamond saw in this year. I have 900mm saw blade and it is incomparable to this...

@GregsStoneYard

4 жыл бұрын

Thanks. I think I mentioned this before, the best way to start is with an automotive hoist by either Hofmann or Ravaglioli. Look for the kind that uses a large threaded rod to raise lower. These are easier to control than the type that uses hydraulic cylinders and cables. For wheels, it's easiest to buy 800mm wheels from China and use 4, or you can use use the large ones like I did (1550mm). The hoist and the wheels will be your biggest expense. The hoist you should be able to find used for less than $1000USD, hopefully much less. 1550mm wheels are $800-850USD each + shipping, 800mm wheels are $400USD each. I purchased my wheels from Hercules Abrasives, contact susieweng@herculesabrasives.com . Then a VFD to control up/down motor on hoist and you are on your way! If you have any questions along the way just contact me.

@wacek500

4 жыл бұрын

​ @@GregsStoneYard I'm afraid that if I buy a used car jack it will be worn out and will have too much looseness, I want to build a new frame with 100x100x6mm square tube and trapezoidal screw they cost something about 30$ per 1m allegro.pl/oferta/sruba-trapezowa-tr-40x7-mat-ck15-l-1000mm-cnc-8571231461. I made initial sketch of the frame and the guides from PA6 poliamid boards and wheels from pallet jack www.cnc.info.pl/pics/08dcfaea4f3f714eec6093d6d8ed9e6a.jpg www.cnc.info.pl/pics/4fd9fcfd4e4f44c8bc96f24947469555.jpg Wheels from china are epensive. I want to turn 4 steel wheels on lathe 50cm diameter. You told me either the inserts in wheels are poliurethan in your old wheel there are polurethan too? or rubber? the have U shape or they are flat?

@wacek500

4 жыл бұрын

this saw looks nice kzread.info/dash/bejne/nHVplMSKdNOYeM4.html

@GregsStoneYard

4 жыл бұрын

@@wacek500 Sorry for late reply, youtube did not notify me that you replied. You are basically going to have to fabricate all the parts that a used automotive hoist get you for "free". If you use used hoist at most you will have to replace the nut (plastic Hofmann, bronze Ravaglioli), maybe a small bearing. I would go look at some used hoists first before spending the time to fabricate. 50cm is a bit on the small side, smaller wheels will put more stress on the wire, so the wire wont last as long (break more often). You could try with 50cm and see how it goes. All my wheels (except 200mm) use 42mmx8mm FLAT polyurethane strips, durometer of 75A shore for the 1550mm wheels, and 65A shore for 800mm wheels. You can buy the strips from fspu.en.alibaba.com/ I will take picture of groove in 800mm wheel and send it to you.

@stevensaxon8888

4 жыл бұрын

How fast will it cut?

During the end of cut it looks like smoke coming from the cut area - so why didn't you have any water directly on the cut area to cool the granite?

@GregsStoneYard

3 жыл бұрын

The cut was horizontal, it's hard to get water into the cut area.

@x.y.8581

3 жыл бұрын

@@GregsStoneYard HUH? Don't understand; why not? Of course if the results were AOK, then it doesn't matter - on the other hand is the smoke being given off by the granite or the wire? The latter could mean wear & tear on the wire which I'm sure you wouldn't want. Or am I missing something?

@GregsStoneYard

3 жыл бұрын

@@x.y.8581 The "smoke" is not smoke, it is dust. The wire has small beads that have diamonds in them. The diamonds 'grind' the stone, creating dust. Normally the water keeps the dust from being visible. In this case, it was hard to direct the water on the wire, so you see the dust. For short periods of time it is ok to not have water on the wire. The water is used to cool the diamonds and to keep the dust down.

@x.y.8581

3 жыл бұрын

OK then but like I asked on another video: Is the wire configured as a bonded loop like a band saw blade (and if so, how were the wire ends joined) or is it just a long wire? If a long wire, it must reciprocate somehow? Am trying to understand as I wish to built a much smaller version myself to cut another material.

@GregsStoneYard

3 жыл бұрын

@@x.y.8581 The wire is a loop like a band saw, a 'crimp' connector is used to join the wire. This video shows how: kzread.info/dash/bejne/e5itr66xfKvSZbw.html

forgive me, but I don't understand why you make horazontal cuts requiring all the wedging? Can you not feed on you z axis?

@GregsStoneYard

2 жыл бұрын

Yes I can cut either way. In this case positioning the stone so that I could cut vertical would have been much harder.

@mtraven23

2 жыл бұрын

@@GregsStoneYard ahh, ok that makes sense. Even after I ask, I started thinking, how would you catch the drops? It would be a nightmare. Commercially, I have seen them do it vertically, but they don't finish the cut, no idea how they get them apart from there, maybe they just break em. Gotta say, real impressed by the machine you built. I've just started to play around with cutting rocks, all I have is a 10" wet saw at the moment. Considering building a smaller version for myself. Do you do any grinding / polishing of the slabs you cut, or is a roughish finish more desirable for your applications?

@GregsStoneYard

2 жыл бұрын

@@mtraven23 Yes I think they just break them. That's how I started... yes I have a video where I show polishing. The 4" grinder/polisher are really only good for small surfaces. See my video where I use a floor polisher for larger areas. Ideally I'd use an automated machine, because I don't find polishing all that fun :) Feel free to contact me if you start to build one. You can start pretty simple.

@mtraven23

2 жыл бұрын

@@GregsStoneYard i don't find polishing fun either, given I've been doing it with a hand block. I do love the transformation of the rock during that process though! I am gonna watch some of your other videos before I go asking a bunch of questions, but I have a few about the diamond wire for now: --how rough is the surface finish? It was hard to tell in the video, but it looked pretty damn good to me....I was expecting something more wavy -that looks to be ~10mm diamond wire your cutting with, how much rock do you loose on a cut (including what needs to be ground to make it flat)? 12, 14...20 mm? -my version would be smaller, maybe 1/3 size.....I'm considering using 4mm wire, thoughts? -->looking at products, seems to be a HUGE difference in price. Here are 2 different 4mm diamond ropes, both 10m in length, but one is 10x the cost of the other, why? www.ebay.com/itm/132936172093?_trkparms=aid%3D111001%26algo%3DREC.SEED%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D20180816085401%26meid%3Db28de244e9624458922f78abb6328634%26pid%3D100970%26rk%3D1%26rkt%3D9%26sd%3D132936172093%26itm%3D132936172093%26pmt%3D1%26noa%3D1%26pg%3D2380057&_trksid=p2380057.c100970.m5481&_trkparms=pageci%3Ad4df6df0-e9ca-11eb-b3c3-c64f1c4288ee%7Cparentrq%3Ac6e1507517a0ab8e2cb80556ffffdb1c%7Ciid%3A1 www.ebay.com/itm/132936172093?_trkparms=aid%3D111001%26algo%3DREC.SEED%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D20180816085401%26meid%3Db28de244e9624458922f78abb6328634%26pid%3D100970%26rk%3D1%26rkt%3D9%26sd%3D132936172093%26itm%3D132936172093%26pmt%3D1%26noa%3D1%26pg%3D2380057&_trksid=p2380057.c100970.m5481&_trkparms=pageci%3Ad4df6df0-e9ca-11eb-b3c3-c64f1c4288ee%7Cparentrq%3Ac6e1507517a0ab8e2cb80556ffffdb1c%7Ciid%3A1

@GregsStoneYard

2 жыл бұрын

@@mtraven23 If you look in my polishing video you can see close ups of the finish. I get a bit of a ripple, either a diamond cup wheel (medium grit) or some 30-50 grit pads are needed to even it out. I hate using the single cup wheels on a grinder because I always seem to catch an edge, which means doing the whole surface over again to get rid of the deep scratch created when the cup wheel edge digs in. But they work the fastest. When doing larger surfaces the floor polisher with several aggressive pads is much better. I use 8.3mm wire. Kerf is slightly larger than that. On the polishing video you see where I had to take the surface down an additional 1.4mm to remove a mark left by the wire where I stop/started. Otherwise I'd say you are not taking the surface down much after the cut. I haven't tried the really thin wire. It is primarily marketed towards companies cutting thin slabs on multiwire saws. Also the one you linked to is vacuum brazed, which means it is only good for softer stones. The other type is called "sintered" and is used for harder stones. Your second link is the same as the first, so I can't tell you the difference :)

How much does this machine cost?

@GregsStoneYard

2 жыл бұрын

Hello Saeed, I made this machine just for myself. I think I spent around $8-$10k US. The biggest expense were the large 1550mm wheels, $800USD plus shipping each.

@saeed6811

2 жыл бұрын

@@GregsStoneYard that’s impressive man. 10K is nothing compared to what it can do. Thanks.