Friday, October 12, 2012

My Vibrating Tumbler

It will be hard for anyone to build one of these and make it work without the books chapter, but this will show the buyers of the book a larger sized quickie version of the tumbler I developed for my book and work.  It is a monster, and works well, and can easily be constructed anywhere.  A 50 pound capacity vibrating tumbler is worth a few thousand dollars at least if you buy it new, so one can begin to realize the savings when building your own equipment.  as with any equipment, one must constantly monitor production and quality, adjusting the machinery to wear of many types, and variance in loads.  If one sticks with it for just a few hours, one may gain an advantage extraordinaire.  The smaller version of this tumbler, as explained in the book, is good for a few pounds of rock, but the size of the machine is limited only by your resources at hand.  Most of this is made from salvaged parts, if not all of it.




Some Work I Have Accomplished With My Home Made Equipment



How To Build A Diamond Saw On The Fly










A picture essay of a saw I recently built to handle a 14" blade which I already owned.  The blade is the hard part of this project, the bigger they are the higher the cost, and I needed something to cut with fast.  I found the arbor somewhere, and it runs nice and true. This is my first real wood project, and Gunn Cues was right, vibration was nearly eliminated.  This thing cut like a hoggy dog.  I made the blade spacer/bushing  for the shaft from a slice of pvc pipe that was then cut and adjusted to make a perfectly round run on the saw.  That takes some practice but is critical and it can be done if the time is taken.












Thursday, October 11, 2012

The Ad For My Book On Building Lapidary Equipment


Now with FREE SHIPPING WORLDWIDE !!! 

Save Big Dollars all the way around on this killer resource. $ 49.95 per book.


How To Build Diamond Trim Saws, Large Sized Diamond Drop Saws, Vibrating Tumblers, Giant Rock Saws For Cutting Decorative Tiles and Facings, Great Flat Laps, Bench Grinders, A Portable and Trouble Free water source for all Lapidary Operations, and much more.

This Self Published book is comprised of five plan sets which have consistently sold for 20 dollars each over the last three years or so, plus one plan set usually priced at 10 dollars, PLUS quite a few tricks and tips concerning other bench tools, methodology, and efficiency in the Lapidary Shop which have never been offered before.

These plan sets have been entirely redone with computer drawings and rewrites to the text which incorporate new information from R & D over the last 7 years. The book is over 45 pages of cut-and-dried and easy-to-understand How To Build Better Lapidary Equipment information, which will save the buyer THOUSANDS of dollars in equipment costs. I have many many happy customers who have purchased this information as individual plan sets, and do not even consider the cost of the plans themselves, because of the money they saved. Now, you can possess the entire inventory of plan sets as the book How To Build Better Lapidary Equipmentby Bill Gallagher, for a savings of over half, and with this information you can set up a full service lapidary shop for literally pennies on the dollar. With this information you can go into production, if you desire.

My diamond saw plans are the easiest, safest, and most effective plans for this type of equipment anywhere. The Vibrating Tumbler plans introduce a whole new way of achieving vibratory energy for abrasion, and unlike so many of the manufactured competitions machines, my design lasts and lasts and lasts. AND it is a lot simpler than anything out there. Over 3 years of long-hours and self-financed R & D went into that design, and it is a better way. The Flat Laps and Bench Grinders are two good chapters with three or four different designs for the grinders, some mine, some gotten from seeing old timers machines. The Giant Rock Saw is a machine I had only heard about 15 years ago, but I built one about 4 years ago, and it worx. These plans tell how to make the Giant Rock Saw, as well as my improvements made to the basic idea. The only thing not in the book is a facetor plan set, and that is because you would need a machine shop to build a facetor, whereas all the machines included here can be built from salvaged parts and lumber easily, safely, and with very little hassle, and they WORK well for a LONG time! Here is the Table of Contents:

I. How To Build A 6" 8" or 10" Diamond Saw

II. How To Build A Better Vibrating Tumbler

III. How To Build A Flat Laps for Grinding Sanding Polishing

IV. How To Build Bench Grinders From Old Car Parts

V. How To Build A Giant Rock Saw

VI. Trouble Free and Portable Water Source For ALL Lapidary

VII. Abrasion Theory and Application

VIII. Lapidary Shop Tips, Mounting Motors, Motor Attachments, Stone Holders and Jewelers Vise You Can Make Easily, Obtaining Free Abrasives, MORE.

IX. NEW! Build a nice large sized slabbing diamond blade drop saw. Excellent and easy design. Perfect for many things, including splitting geodes, preforming spheres, slabbing larger sized materials. Save big dollars by building this awesome saw.

X. Bill Gallaghers American Jamb Peg Faceting Configuration.  A better way.

This is a book of plan sets which usually sell for 20.00 each.  Special attention has been paid throughout the book to highlight sourcing of materials by salvage, and modification of the plans to match the particular materials at hand. Building these machines is not hard to do, and do right, for anyone with good mechanical and electrical aptitude. Once you have built a machine you never need worry about breakdown again, because you will know it inside and out, and repair is a breeze. 

Please see my other auctions for more.  Write with questions. FREE SHIPPING WORLDWIDE.



My Art Training

I have traveled for the last 15 years, seeking out teachers in areas I needed help with, concerning my art, my sculptures.  Right now I am serving somewhat of a wood apprenticeship with Terry McEniry of Seffner FL, learning about exotic woods and their workings.  It is the end of the teachings, and I am grateful to all involved.  I have studied with Daniel Lopacki (7 years), Ed Sankovich (2 years), Clarence Taylor (1 Year) and I avail myself of Tim McCreights work a LOT, which makes up the training in the media I require to create sculptural art.

Leather metal stone and wood.

There is strength in diversity and flexibility too.  I like to mix the media above.

I began casting metals as a way to make leather hardware, later I met Ed and read Tim, and those two helped me with my metal work big time.  Stone I have always been into, and Danny Lopacki sponsored my work with guidance, money, and tooling for 7 years out in NM.  Leather I learned in jr. high school under the tutelage of Clarence Taylor, and

Using Wood To Build Lapidary Machines

Terry at Gunn Cues here in Tampa (tampabilliards.com) and I were talking one day about construction of machinery.  He is adept, and a long time user and constructor of many machines, mostly woodworking, because he is a world class cue maker.  He advised me to start using wood to construct the frames and boxes for my lapidary machines;  it would be a lot easier, less expensive, and it would vibrate a lot less.  I had almost always seen lapidary machines in metal, totally metal, angle iron, sheet, bar, all welded and watertight.  This idea of wood flew in the face of my experience, but it was a great suggestion, and one that will be incorporated into the next edition of the book.  There is some leakage, and that can be overcome with fibreglass, but overall, I operate outside most of the time anyway, so the leaks were not a problem, as I drained the machines after use anyway.

I was able to construct things a lot more easily from wood, and yes, much of the vibration was nixed.  Very nice.


Introduction To This Blog

This blog is based on my book of the same name, which has been selling rather steadily now for over 5 years.  I sell the book on my own sites, on ebay, and on Bobs Rock Shop Classifieds.  The book is a compilation of many plansets that I have developed over a long period of time, and sold individually until assembled in this book.  Most are my inventions, or things I have seen and rebuilt, improved.  Several are gifts from some very gracious people, and those are appropriately labeled, and thanks again you guys.  I also took the opportunity, while making the book, to polish things up a little, heh heh, and to add some chapters as well.  Nearly all buyers have been happy with the information, and if they build one of the machines it will save them several times the cover price.  Anyone can build these machines and the bigger or more they build, the more money they will save and make.  This blog is being written as a place for buyers of my book to connect with me about questions or suggestions.  There will be pertinent discussion and writing on up-to-the-moment developments and new discoveries.  Thanks for reading, and good luck always.