Setting up a cold working studio

[strappedbelts]

I am looking for advice on how to set up a cold working studio - and on the cheap.

I would like to buy some equipment but am wondering if anyone has good ideas for used glass working tools.

Items I am looking for....

Wet Belt Sander, floor model
Wet Tile Saw
Lap Wheel

Any other suggestions?

I can travel to pick them up, based in Jackson Hole Wyoming.

Thanks
John
www.strappedbelts.com
http://www.strappedbelts.com

[Lynn g]

Depends on what you want to do. I got a tile saw at Sears (during their Sears Days sale) for about $80. I'm debating getting a smaller saw (I thought I'd be doing more pattern bar-type stuff and would need the larger blade, but that is turning out not to be the case.) If I decide to keep the big saw I would definitely invest in a better blade; I talked to the guys at His Glassworks and they have a blade for glass which will work in this saw.

You can adapt a potter's wheel to make a flat lap. You can use it with diamond pads, or loose grit. If you're a capable do-it-yourselfer, there are also instructions available online to build your own flat lap.

Lastly, they are offering a class at the Glass Craft Expo in Las Vegas in April, called "Innovative Coldworking on a Budget". It's geared toward smaller pieces. I've signed up for it; don't know if it's full yet, but you can check at www.glasscraftexpo.com.

[morganica]

If you visit HIS Glassworks, they have free plans for making your own lap wheel, and it's relatively inexpensive (of course, the diamond discs are NOT...but you can also built a grit wheel that uses silicon carbide and is much cheaper).

My favorite sources for cheap coldworking stuff are (in order): Online, lapidary stores, dental supply places and stone masons. Frequently I can pick stuff up in those places, used, for less than I could fabricate it myself.

Online, start with craigslist and ebay (be careful with ebay, especially if the equipment has to be shipped, which can wipe out your savings). Many glass coldworking supply places online will have a "used" section, although stuff goes pretty fast. In lapidary stores, make sure you visit in the first quarter of the year--that's when people get rockhound stuff for Christmas or Valentines, use it two or three times and get bored with it.

Dental supply houses will carry stuff to blast grit and cerium out of bubble holes, small tools for poking sandpaper and grit into details, water delivery systems, etc. And stone masons (or stone carving supply houses) use exactly the tools we do, but often better-priced and sometimes used.

The big thing is to be patient, visit these places fairly often and work up a relationship with the store owner so that he knows what kinds of things you want. In a couple of cases owners have accepted used equipment on consignment figuring that I (or a glasspal I knew) would buy it, when otherwise they would have turned it down.

And keep an open mind--just because it's not a Merkur lathe doesn't mean you can't make it do many of the same things with a little modification.

[Buttercup]

I am looking for advice on how to set up a cold working studio - and on the cheap.

I would like to buy some equipment but am wondering if anyone has good ideas for used glass working tools.

Items I am looking for....

Wet Belt Sander, floor model
Wet Tile Saw
Lap Wheel

Any other suggestions?

I can travel to pick them up, based in Jackson Hole Wyoming.



Thanks
John
http://www.strappedbelts.com
http://www.strappedbelts.com

Hi John, check out these links: More than enough to get started.
http://www.warmglass.com/phpBB/viewtopi ... a&start=40

http://www.warmglass.com/phpBB/viewtopi ... =2&t=34545
Good luck, Jenny

[Jerry Jensen]

Sometimes if your application is small you can look at Harbor Freight stores or online for cheap diamond saws, small diamond bits in sets and they have an inexpensive pnuematic die grinder pencil that I have used for carving.