Gaetan, I cut a lot of small slabs for preparing petrographic thin sections for the section machine. I cut meteorites, as well as terrestrial rocks and minerals. You can't beat a thin kerf diamond blade in a rock saw with an auto feed (either mechanical feed or the old weight on a string method). You lose a little material because of the kerf. 4" and 6" lapidary saws (for jewelry making) can be had for about $100-150 without a motor (any old furnance motor will work). It's the blades that cost a lot over time. Bigger saws are a major investment. I do use a Dremel Moto-Tool with diamond burrs for cleaning up jagged edges which may occur if one does not catch the slab as it breaks off of the main piece near the end of the cut. But it is not a tool for cutting slabs. They do make saw blades for the Dremel, but do not work well on wood or plastic if you freehand the cut (and these blades are not designed for petrographic use). Diamond discs are available, but usually it is faster to just grind a jagged edge than to try to cut it with a disk. Grinding and polishing flat faces can also be done by hand with Eze-Lap diamond hone files or with DMT diamond sharpending stones (both are plastic impregnated with industrial diamonds). If I have to polish a specimen by hand, I use the DMT diamond stones and water to remove saw marks (if any). For a super-fine polished surfaces, I use lapidary grits (aluminum oxide, cerium oxide, corundum, etc) on plate glass squares. A piece of thick plate glass costs about $5.00 and you'll pay less than $10 for a good size can of grit. You'll need several types of grits, working from coarser to finer. Hope this helps, Steve ---------- From: Maison de l'Astronomie P.L. Inc.[SMTP:rlotte@InterLink.net] Sent: Saturday, February 14, 1998 8:14 AM To: meteorite-list@meteoritecentral.com Subject: Cutting stones with Dremel Hi list, I have a very simple question. Did anyone ever cutted some stone meteorites with a Dremel tool with a diamond tip blade attach to it. The reason I'm asking is because a diamond tip saw machine is very expensive, but on the other hand a Dremel is quite cheap, so I was just wondering if it could do the job. Waiting for your responses, Gaetan Cormier
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