On 9/20/2024 12:48 AM, Richard Smith wrote:
Hello all
Thanks for all help.
Volunteering at local museum and hobby mines, benefitting from advice
on things here, and hopefully starting work again as a welder
imminently.
Grinding flat surface on granite samples to make visually well
presented samples of geological features - eg. the "contact" between different types of rock...
Find is true a diamond-plate like for eg. sharpening plane-blades when on-site produces a beautiful find shiny smooth grind on the rock
samples.
Problem - the removal rate is tiny - need a flat sample to start with
if going to do that.
Advice here is glide tools over the surface and go through finer and
finer grits getting a surface which is polished though not necessarily machine-flat. Comments
* this is the voice of experience
* is there really the need for the sample to be machine-flat?
Anyway, I was thinking how it might be possible to produce a flat
surface.
In the steelworks labs. there was the "swing-grinder" which had a
vertical spindle and you swung it back and forth over a sample in the
chuck, lowering it a bit per pass to produce a flat surface to start
going through the finer and finer emery grits with until you could diamond-polish it to mirror finish.
I thought of base and column of a bench-drill, clamp a collar on the
pillar at height of finishing plane, and have angle-grinder on an arm
you swing back and forth. Letting the grinder ride-up for light
"cuts", but eventually stopping at the plane dictated by the collar
locked to the pillar (column).
Anyone got a better idea / know how it should actually be done - if at
all?
Regards,
Rich S
Making flat surfaces from rubbing surfaces together IS a slow process.
I can't imagine doing it. The way I understand it is that it can be
done to near laboratory or at least machine shop tolerances, but it
takes three surfaces with swap of mates and orientation. If I were to
get into it I'd look at some of Robin Renzeti's (spelling?) videos on
YouTube for the basic process. He really goes down the rabbit hole on
the subject I think. There is also a dentist who got into precision
grinding as a side business, but I don't recall his name or if he even
has a YouTube channel. Abom79 on YouTube (Adam Booth) worked with the
guy on some stuff. Might have just been making precision bench stones.
I don't recall. While they are not necessarily anywhere close to what
you want to do, they may give you insight into how to do what you want.
That being said, the one thing you seem to catch my attention about was
time and material removal rate. I am always sensitive to time, and I
don't know how you could improve that except by employing mechanical
means to assist in at least the rough/coarse part of the process. The
problem I see with mechanizing the fine finish is you might need fairly
fine mechanical bits.
--
Bob La Londe
CNC Molds N Stuff
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