[Jewelry making - Article 00334] - Re: [Orchid] [Source] Opal cylinder

[Ian W. Wright]

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Hi Kevin,

>     Mark at 'fourth axis' suggested the 'Centerless Grinding'
>     process ..........First, of all, I'll preform the cylinder on my
>     faceting machine 

    You may like to take a little care in preparing the cylinder before
    attempting to centreless grind it as the process of centreless
    grinding does not necessarily produce a perfectly round cylinder.
    Because of the way the process works, it only produces a piece of
    material in which the 'diameter' is constant - however, this may
    easily be a tri-lobed shape. The effect is sometimes measureable in
    centreless ground steel even though the manufacturers start with
    round wire - I think it depends upon how well the machine is set up.
    Could you not use a lathe, however crude, to grind your piece? This
    could be as simple as an electric drill set on a slow speed and held
    in a vise to rotate the work and a dremel or foredom with a mou=
    nted grinding wheel to act as a cutting tool. You could probably
    arrange some form of simple guide to traverse the grinder along the
    stone ( I have in mind using a Dremel and making a wooden guide by
    nailing a couple of lengths of wood to form an 'L' shaped tray and
    then running the Dremel a= long this. The Dremel could be advanced
    towards the work by using shims between the tool and the tray). This
    way would probably be easier to set up than a centreless grinding
    system and would produce a true cylinder. 

Best wishes,

Ian
Ian W. Wright
Sheffield UK
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