[meteorite-list] Inland Flat Lap Combo for Small Meteorites

From: Gary K. Foote <gary_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Tue, 06 Mar 2007 07:58:43 -0500
Message-ID: <45ED1F33.21779.2AECF7_at_gary.webbers.com>

Mike,

I bought one of these last week and have used it a few times already. First, the
negatives. You will need a waterproof area to work in. I use a medium sized plastic
tub. The case/stand doesn't contain all the water coolant. It gets splashed thru the
side joins between the cutting surface and the stand. Also, the coolant is supposed to
drip thru a tube into nipples provided in the saw guard and in the lap cover. But the
problem is that with the saw guard it doesn't drip, it runs across the inner surface of
the guard and drips away from the blade. The solution is to put your coolant in the saw
blade's lower chamber and stop every once in a while to replenish it. You have to remove
the table top to do this. With the lap saw it drips on the work surface but you can't
see the rate of drip, so I re-routed the tube to drip from above where I can see it. 2-3
drips per second is about right. Last negative is the stock blade that comes with it is
.020 thick and takes a lot of material with it. It also leaves green paint from its
surface on your specimens. This is easily removed both before and during the flat lap
action so really isn'yt a problem.

The good: Its pretty easy to convert from saw to flat lap. Takes about 5 minutes. So
cut a bunch then flat lap a bunch. Its small so can by used almost anywhere there is
electricity and room for your drip-catch tub. [I also have a backsplash added to keep
the wall clean - lol]. It has a two year warrantee... never a bad thing. It cuts well.
 The lap blades are diamond coated and hard so you don't need a backing plate. Seems
like they will last a good long time. It comes with 4 laps, 170, 350, 600 and 1200.

Beware of nicking your arbor shaft. If you do you'll have to sand it back to get the
arbors on and off. Don't ask how I know this. Use a bit of vaseline to lube the shaft
to keep the arbors from binding.

Once I replace the blade I'll be quite happy with my new toy. I'd recommend it if you
can live with having to operate the drip system a bit differently than recommended.

Oh yeah, unless you leave the saw guard in place you'll get REALLY wet, so it impinges on
your cutting vision a bit. You have to look from the side to see what's going on.

Gary

On 5 Mar 2007 at 19:05, Mike Bandli wrote:

> I am curious to know if any of you own or have used the newer Inland SwapTop
> 6" Flat Lap and Trim Saw for small meteorites. I am considering buying one
> and would love to know your experiences and/or feedback regarding this
> product. Basically, is this a good choice for smaller meteorites slabs? The
> price seems great and I heard great reviews from gem and mineral junkies in
> Tucson, but would like to here from my meteorite peeps.
>
> Kind regards,
> ?
> Mike Bandli
> www.Astro-Artifacts.com
> A Destination For Space Related Artifacts
> ?
>
>
>
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Received on Tue 06 Mar 2007 07:58:43 AM PST