| dave t. |
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| #1 |
After 6 years with my Lortone 10" saw and many on-the-run repairs I am now taking time to give it some serious work. Would appreciate any tips some of you may have to offer in altering, repairing or modifying this unit.
Has anyone ever looked into speeding up the power feed? It certainly is sloow sloww slo, even agate should cut faster.
I have reversed the cut off switch and rigged a heavy fishing line to the power feed with notched adjustments to act as a cut-off. Also found the main arbor bearings are common and found at most bearing supply houses. A lot cheaper than Lortone's.
This unit has been a constant companion in our lapidary work and I would highly recommend it to anyone. dave t. 
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| John Oostenryk |
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| #2 |
Hello Dave T!
I bought an old 10" from a friend's estate- The family were very kind in their price... I know he used it a lot I seem to remember he got it late 60's? early 70's?
It was starting to rust and the old fluids were smelling BAD!
I stripped it down 100% and yes, found out it was really tired- new bearings/bushings /shaft etc. Lortone was very helpful in providing a parts blowup and info for the parts I replaced. I was impressed with the service. I know they are expensive new. I was sure the major pieces would be painful- ah surprise-very affordable! Whew! (keep in mind the units have been upgraded since this one was made, so I needed to go with factory parts)
I degreased and sandblasted the whole thing. Degreased again and Epoxied the seams and then (industrial)epoxy-painted the shell. Future clean up will be a breeze! I am going to fab a new cover from plex-the old one is opaque and that was kinda expensive-
That is as far as I have got... Now to reassemble!
As far as I know, the autofeed works fine. But I haven't found out how slow it is???
I am thinking there is a relationship between heat-buildup and blade life as you push harder/feed faster?
If you can increase blade speed and coolant volume- would that compensate? I have the stock motor-1750rpm I think- but I also have a 1hp at 3250... Too much power was my understanding?
I have about 15 gallons of Montana Mossagates I am dying to mess with so I am VERY curious too about easier cutting of the hard stuff.
Could you post a pic and explain what/why you did with the cutoff?
This lapidary adventure is all new to me-I am planning on getting mine running dang soon, I am hoping others will advise their experiences.
Thanks y'all - KOR 
John O |
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| richard |
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| #3 |
to speed up the saw all you need is a smaller pulley for the feed. i have one that screws from large to small for easy speed changing, although changing a pulley is about the easiest thing to do. now you just need to find the correct size. i also have the same machine. it was my grandfather's and all it really needed was a good cleaning. it's not my only saw though. i also use two 18'' and a 10'' trim saw. i mainly use it to open up my small and medium sized brazilian agates one after another, so i know it can handle alot of hard cutting. it just has such a small oil pan that it needs changing alot. good luck with yours. |
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| dave t |
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| #4 |
John - Loosen and rotate power switch 180 degrees - used large fish hook to attach heavy mono line and placed over the carriage adjustment screw - ran line thru slot of cover (heavy plastic storage tub) - tied mono line to plastic strap 1/2" X 8" with adjust holes drilled at 1" intervals (holes slightly smaller than toggle of sw.) - determine travel length of piece you are about to cut - lock down nut of worm drive rod - put on cover - turn on - walk off to do something else while remaining withing earshot of saw. After a long, long time decide it is taking too long to complete cut and determine you forgot to lock down drive nut. LOL Also tied small weight to other end of strap to keep it taught.
Richard - Are you running your saw at a faster speed?
Thanks for your input - dave t.  |
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| jay bates |
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| #5 |
John those old saws were designed to be run by motors running at 1750 rpms. To use a motor running at twice the speed means you will have to change your pulleys to cut the speed in half. I would stick with the existing speeds for both the blade and power speed. You do not want to speed up the power feed if you are cutting material as hard as Montana agate. Try cutting some of your Montana agate before you decide about changing speeds. If anything, with that hard Montana agate, you may want to slow down the speed of the power feed. Trying to change the speed of the power feed is usually pretty difficult unless it is run off a pulley arrangement. I don't recommend tinkering with any of the speeds until you have quite a bit of experience actually using the saw. The people who designed those old saws knew what they were doing. Most of today's blades are not as good as the blades used on those old saws and can sometimes cause problems because they just don't cut as well. |
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| Tom K. |
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| #6 |
Dave,I'm not sure speeding up the feed is a good idea.
I just started cutting slabs of porcelain jasper out of a hunk which is as big as I can fit in my vise on my 10" Lortone.
It took just a tad under an hour for the first cut.Too slow???? I don't think so.Any faster and either the blade would get worn down a lot or the blade would just jam.
The reason for that fine threaded feed rod is to keep the feed slow to avoid problems and premature blade wear.
One thing I found totally ridiculous was having to remove the whole saw from the oil pan to clean the unit.I did it once and came up with the following:
http://imageevent.com/tcknkk/slabsawimprovement;jsessionid=2tvnxqu5e3.panda_s
With the saw elevated I can clean,inspect and repair anything without having to find a place to put a filthy saw.
I also had my son make me a deeper oil pan with a 1-1/2" drain with a valve.The pan holds more oil which keeps the blade cooler.
I've done a LOT of cutting with this saw and I know it needs new carriage shafts along with new bushings.It also needs work on the carriage itself.
It started cutting "out" so I replaced the arbor bearings,realigned it and even with the wear on the old bugger it still cuts slabs to within 0.003" - 0.005" in all directions but,,,,,
I run my feed as slow as I can.
I use food grade mineral oil as a coolant and have had no problems so far after several years of using it.
I guess if one has the money for new blades or is in production for sales purposes one could speed up the feed but I'm retired and this is a hobby so speed doesn't matter but the money does.
I like to make gadgets so I added a light and a wind shield wiper to my saw!! lol
My wife CAN NOT resist pushing the wiper blade across the plexiglass cover I made every time she walks by the saw!She grins...looks at me and shakes her head,,,,silently,,,,
Maybe I should install a wiper blade on myself???? Do ya think that would keep her silent? lol
Good luck and if I can help PLEASE just ask.
Tom K. |
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| richard |
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| #7 |
dave t- i run my lortone at normal speed since i cut mostly agate with it. also, my mistake but the lortone dosn't use the same pulley system for the drive like my other saws do. i cut alot of obsidian with my 18'' saws and i speed them up for it. sorry for the confusion and incorrect advice. i've just never paid any attention to the drive on the lortone because it's always worked great for me. |
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| Jack Cole |
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| #8 |
Jay`s RIGHT do not speed the feed up! Do Not Change from 1750 RPM`s.
You`l all right about the feed speed, Good saw blades cost !..........
The engineers got most of the saw, Lortone Right though you`l fine in the equipment lines of some manufacturers their are some up grades that need attention.......
I have the 1967 Lortone LS-18 since new.
Lortone`s Feed is to fast on my saw and i changed the 3sp pulley.
All slab saw`s with feed, Screw feed / Hydraulic / Gravity Wt.
All should cut on slow feed rate at about 7 - 8 minutes to the inch..........
on medium and high speed i dress the blade and get in some Rainbow, gold sheen Ect. cutting time in.
I just changed the 1/2 nu on the Lortone LS-18 last night and found the set screw loose. New 1/2 nut was $32.50 new spring $3.50.
Jim at Lortone know`s the parts will.
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| dave t. |
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| #9 |
Thanks for the speed input - my runs 1" per 6 minutes. Of course it is the same wether for a slab or a thick piece. So guess I'm okay.
Will need to seal up a lot of leaks, lot of wear in line with blade back at the hinge joint. 6 years of tossing grit infused oil have worn away some metal. Good ol' JBWeld ought to hold some flashing in that area.
Mike Streeter recommended mineral oil from Tractor Supply. They quit selling it here, but hardware/feed store has it. Does a great job. dave t.  |
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| Jack Cole |
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| #10 |
Dave t;
That`s a good speed ( 6+ Minutes )
I have been using Chevron Shingle Oil ( Flash Point 361 F. ) when a bought the 55 barrel it was $197.00 a can. Three Yrs. ago.
Very low Odder, and sticks to the blade, The coolant tank need`s to be up on the blade, on large slabs saw`s 14" - 36" at least 2" so your throwing around in the hood area as the excess oil drains an drip`s down in the tank this helps to cool the tank fluid, I had a Aquarium temp stripe on the tank though it lasted about a year.
Dave i have used 20-W Food grade Hydraulic oil, Though i did`t buy it. then $20.00 a Gallon.
Speed Kill`s. ( Diamonds )
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| dave t. |
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| #11 |
Well folks, gotta admit I'm losing it! Instead of Lortone, I've got a Raytech! For you older guys out there, don't welcome me to the club - I've been in the club for several years already!
Anyway, all the advice applies for both machines even tho I didn't recognize Tom's saw on his image event site. duhh!
One last item to pass on, hope it helps someone. The brass travel nut on my RAYTECH has eventually worn down and a replacement requires a small mortgage to get. I have found that just removing a small amount of metal between the two brass pieces and then clampling them into a vice and running a 5/16" X 24 tap thru it to redo the threads it is like new. Of course a little playing with the adjustment screws is required to get back into operation, but after that you're back into business.
My doctor told me to keep a diary to record my memory lapses = I told him "how the heck am I supposed to remember putting in the entries". What the hay, each day is like a new day!
dave t. 
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| John Oostenryk |
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| #12 |
Evening everyone!
I mentioned I got my gear from an old buddy- He was downsizing to move (his mobility was slipping away,  ) Anyway the family asked if I wanted his old magazines- Lapidary Journal from 1969-70ish - early 1990's. Not every issue present but long story short- I almost filled a 4drawer filing cabinet. I spent that whole winter reading them all almost cover to cover. They sure did change style! Anyhoo I learned a ton and took notes relavent to the saws and grinders/polishers and so on. I was pretty confident that info hadn't changed with time but as Dave T asked, I thought I would ponder the question too. Thanks for the confirmation!
Dave T, I'm glad you squared that away as a Raytech- I was really puzzled over the switch flip-over. My unit is totally disassembled right now so I didn't go look- geez, that is funny as I woulda been really hmmmmm....
Tom K: You rock! Thanks for the picture show-xcelent! Stupid drip pan-I agree-I was at the chiro when I was helping drag endless boxes of rocks and equipment out of a tricky sized basement. No complaint on the moving- Labor of love really. I was hurtin with that saw though! I really like the wiper idea too. lol, your wife...lol. I was pondering the drainsetup too- I have a friend who does HVAC industrial applications- I'm thinking of conning(somehow?) him into a stainless pan-deeper- with diagonal crossbreaks. That way the center will be deeper and I can drain there. I had a stray thought of a parts washer pump(got it/not using) for a coolant spray line- I used to babysit CNC machines- gotta love high pressure coolant! (Except when you forget to shut it off and open the door-yuck!) I dunno- just thinking and typing for now... Again- Thanks for the inspiration (It was really good seeing it whole as mine has been parts for longer than I shall admit-but she is clean and ready to reassemble!)
Richard, Jack , and Jay :Thank you for taking the time to pitch in with the pointers! I agree on all points, I will get er going and go from there.
-As somebody said stay in ear distance- My friend ran a twin 20mm cannon in WW2 and was a hunter too naturally. His hearing was pretty bad to say the least. I think a lot of the wear I repaired was due to his not hearing the change in pitches from loose stuff-I Thank God for earplugs in loud situations...
I would ask THE question about 10 inch diamond blades. I will be cutting agates (Yellow River and Lakers), I am not cabbing I understand the cost vs durability issue and different purpose blades(thin-thinner)etc. I was looking for testimonials on blade utility/brand/cost?? Also, do you need to dress the blade (or flip it) in regard to what I'm cutting? I know my 4" side-grinder diamond for concrete(works great on dolomite and the occasional geode too) is directional. I seem to remember discussion in LapJour about reversing some blades if they were in need of tuning(my term). I appreciate all commentary!
Thanks and KOR!
JO |
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| Tom K. |
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| #13 |
John Oo,,,
As they say"Where there's a will,there's a way".
Some time ago "someone" (tawk about forgetting things)had a problem with a Highland Park feed locking mechanism and had put out queries for someone to make a new one or fix the old one as the ones he found were either worn,cost too much or whatever,,,,I really can't remember.
I told him to send it to me and I would see what I could do for him.
Well what a job that ended up being.
The internal threads were non-existent at best so I had to start with the thinking cap.
I got a piece of brass flat stock about 3/4" thick x 2" wide,cut off a piece about1" long.drilled and tapped it to the same thread as the feed screw,brazed it onto the existing pieces and split it i half with a hack saw.
As far as I know it's working OK.
LOL,,,Now that i THINK ABOUT IT i DID 2 OF THESE ,,,SIMILAR "RUBE" JOBS BUT THEY BOTH WORKED.
darn caps lock!!!!!
Tom K.
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| Joel J |
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| #14 |
I bought a used 12 inch Loritone about 8 years back. I have run Lopacki's Chinese blades on it and they have worked fine..they are about 50 bucks and last quite long. I even cut with them when they have a wobble and they still cut straight
I use Pela oil on my saw and it has worked fine. I never clean my saw I just remove some mud and keep adding oil..I am an occasional users, keep that in mind.
I hooked up my saw motor backward and ran the blade backwards for a whole year when I first started out not realizing my mistake.
I have replaced my shut off chain with stainless steel cable available at fishing supply stores.
I never have tighten the set crews when I cut and the saw cuts a perfect slabs.
Another thought is the smoother the slab the less time it takes to polish, so it does not pay to cut fast and polish slow.
I belong to the Boeing Club in Seattle and we have just lost our shop as Boeing is cutting back. |
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