I know a little about this topic…our shop consumes about 15 5" Turbo blades, at least 1 10" tile blade and 1/2 of a 14" bridge saw blade PER MONTH!

Blades go out of round or get dull for many different reasons…why…not important..you cant do much about it…it happens. (happens less with softer matrix and more with a hard…eg porcelain blade.)

Most folks in the biz know that running the blade thru concrete, carburundum or similar medium will de-glaze and sharpen a blade…this method does not do much for solving the out-o-round issue…you simply wind up with a sharp blade that cuts a little better. Remember an out of round blade will only be cutting at 50% or so if its out of round.

Another common issue is the face of the blade will become shaped like a bullet…this can cause the blade to "travel" as they cut. Diamonds grind there way through stone & tile.

Ever notice that a new blade always cuts better when it is new? Why? The face of the blade is square and the "grinding action" simply works better.

This is how we rectify out-of-round and bullet leading edge shaped blades:

1. Put on some serious eye protection!

2. Get a variable speed grinder with a 120 grit (or so) carburndum stone..go visit a slab shop, they can show you what I am talking about we call em "stones" or "big wheels" (see if they can give you one that is mostly used up…they are alot smaller than a new one)

SAFETY NOTE: Stones have a lower safe RPM than most grinders! DO NOT exceed safe rpms…the damn things can blow up!!!!

3. Turn the water off on your saw and start it up.

4. Take the grinder with the wheel and hold it ninety degrees to the face of the blade. If your blade is out of round the tool will bounce like mad at first. Be smooth and steady. You will find it interesting if you stop after a few seconds and closely examine the blade. Part of it will start to square up and the other part will still look like a bullet. You will also notice pronounced comets on the newly exposed diamonds…those babies are ready to cut some stone! Keep grinding until the entire face of the blade is square and true. You now have a blade that will perform at its best. We rectify blades on a regular basis….they don't last as long…but who gives a damn about that?

To dress turbos…do they same process…put a grinder blade on your 10000 rpm grinder and have some one hold it steady and run it 90 degrees to the face…same system different tool.

I hope you have found this helpful…It really does work amazingly well.

BE SAFE!! PLEASE WEAR SAFETY GEAR..I WAS DOING THIS AND HAD TO GO TO A HOSPITAL TO REMOVE A PIECE OF CARBUNDUM OUT OF MY EYE..THAT SUCKED! WEAR YOUR EYE GEAR OR DON'T TRY THIS…NO JOKE! dont forget the dust mask…and be sure to decontaminate your equpment…carburundum grit will scratch about anything.

Mark Lauzon

www.stoneadvice.com

slab fabricator heaven

OH! one more thing…you can corrrect a chattering stone with a turbo blade on a grinder…same process…sharp true blade and a non chattering stone at the same time!

how the hell does one spell carburundum correctly?

Mark, here is a edge profiler I built.  It works really good.  I rented other profilers from local dealers and am surprised on how well this one works.  I'm still working out a couple of modifications.  The good thing about it, if anything goes wrong I can repair it rapidly.  I haven't used it long enought to see how long the router will last.  However, if I have any problems, I can go get a new router and keep on trucking.

 

I got the idea from a local tool store that rents them out.  I changed some of the design and integrated the water in thru the base.  Saved me a couple grand.  Hope I can show it off on stoneadvice.com

United Countertops

Rey Rodriguez

832-236-0896

united_counters@sbcglobal.net

Thanks for the submission…I love it…dont know how long it will last if you keep running that 4cm full bullnose bit…This entry is what this site is all about!

Mark

Our reviews are based on our direct experience with tools & services that we use every day. We don't get free tools to test, we're just simply telling you what we have found to work well for us. You may have something better….If so, Let us know. Write a review, send a few pictures and we will post your article here and give you the credit.

MIA EDUCATIONAL ON LOCATION SEMINAR

Fabrication Shop Efficiency, Productivity, Safety, OSHA & More

Speaker: Kevin Padden

 

My lead fabricator and I went to this seminar (which happened to be the first of many) and found it to be very informative. In the first part of the seminar Kevin talks about scheduling and day to day operations. In this section you learn a lot of ways to "cover your assets".  I thought that we had most of our bases covered but we came away with a lot of new ideas and procedures. My office manager was thrilled (LOL) when I handed her my notes and said "ok, now I want these changes made".

During the second part of the seminar Kevin spoke about OSHA and the EPA. In this section you learn what OSHA and the EPA write the most common citations on. For example, did you know that it is against OSHA regulation to have anything three feet to the left of, right of or out from your electrical panels? We sure didn't, guess we have to move the fridge and microwave. If this seminar is anywhere near your area, I strongly urge you to attend, you are bound to learn something (even if it is just what a "Dixon" fitting is and is used for).

I give this course 5 Diamonds. (our of Five)

Brian Briggs

Granite Guys Inc.

If you have specific questions, please post them in the forum and Brian will answer them for you. Blog on!

Giovanni from Ghines submitted this item for us to learn about.

SECTOR MULTISPEED

Electronic portable shape-milling machine

It shapes and polishes any type of stone material.

NEW FEATURE!

GHINES has further improved the SECTOR portable shape-milling machines!

GLIDING WHEELS + AQUAPLANING = AQUAWHEEL

Gliding system on a set of lubricated rollers

Now SECTOR can glide on a set of nylon rollers, individually lubricated with a constant jet of water. Meanwhile, the AQUAWHEEL system keeps the working area free from chips & slurry as it washes down the rollers ensuring a well balanced level to the operating head.

HOW SECTOR WORKS

The shaping and polishing process is realized into a number from 5 to 7 phases, according to the kind of material. Thanks to the adjustable rotation speed and the quality of GHINESTOOLS, achieving a perfect polishing is fast and easy.

The spindle starts by default at the speed of 3000 rpm, in order not to compromise the vulcanized wheels with an excessive rotation speed.

The rotation speed can be finely adjusted from 2400 to over 10000 rpm through two buttons marked +/- and is visualized on the digital tachometer. These features allow to exploit the properties of every single tool to their maximum: the diamond wheels must operate at maximum speed to obtain best cutting performances and longer lifetime; whereas the polishing ones must not exceed 3000-3500 rpm, according to the kind of material.

This simple process keeps the same schedule and costs both on “simple” profiles (full bullnose, bird's beck etc) and on of bigger complexity.

SPECIFICATIONS

- Spindle (stainless steel)

Rotation speed: from 2400 to over 10000 rpm

Digital tachometer

- Rise and fall: 35 mm

- Framework: die-casted aluminium

- Power: 2 kW

- Electronic vectorial inverter

- Supply tension: 230V/50-60Hz singlephase

- Thermal overload safety cut-out

- Operating head: 350 x 550 x 350 mm, 34 kg

- Power unit: 430 x 470 x 230 mm, 18,2 kg

Editors Note: We set up this portion of the blog to allow makers and suppliers of equipment and supplies to showcase thier products. This is a free service. www.stoneadvice.com does not endorse these products specifically, nor have we tested them.