Agate – A Drop Saw for Cutting
Working with rock is an adventure in itself. Tracy's parents worked with rocks (I still have some of Dad's cabochons) and they went hounding in Eastern Oregon while their health was good. We've spent many evenings walking the Oregon beaches hunting for agate.
Now we're hunting for desert Agate and having a great time. Originally, Tracy wanted to do the 2 hr session with Joel to have access to the rock saws in Cedar City that belong to the Southern Utah Rock Club. That hasn't happened, yet. But he'll still do that when we get moved over. In the meantime, he decided to build his own.
He purchased a drop saw from Harbor Freight and it worked well, for a time. But the usage he wants and the ability of the saw didn't match. After the motor went out, he decided it was time to build his own. When we were in San Diego this spring helping my Mom get back into her apt. after her broken shoulder rehab we went to one of the huge swap meets. He found a couple of motors that would work just fine. Then he wanted to provide for expanding the size of the blade to 12" so he revamped the blade, new arbor and all. That resulted in having to rebuild the shields, the feed tray and creating new clamps.
When we travel this coming weekend we'll stop at Harbor Freight and purchase two flexible tube grease cans ($3.45 each) so he can get his water set up and point the water exactly where he wants it Then watch out. He'll start cutting the hundreds of pounds of rock we've collected the last 8 months. Some cabs - some yard rock.
