WAMS Oly Lapidary Equipment Inventory

Here are photos and descriptions of the lapidary equipment WAMS has either purchased or has been donated to us.

1. Lortone 12″ Slab Saw. This saw was purchased from Sonny whose wife Jenny was a former WAMS member many years ago.  The saw was mounted on a very heavy duty metal shop stand when we bought it and the motor was mounted on a shelf below the unit. I wanted it to be as close to what the modern day Lortone 12″ saw looks like so we bought the green motor mounting plate and attached the motor where it should be. We also bought the red belt guard. I added the automatic power cutoff chain that goes from the power switch to the carriage. The power cord and the motor to power feed cord are new. It runs very well and is quiet.                                                                                                                                                                 
2. Next is the Lortone 6″ cabbing machine. This great vintage machine was donated to us by Bob a former member. This is a popular cabbing machine. I stripped the old paint off and repainted to match the Lortone blue color as best I could. This machine is ready for use. It uses a “spitter” for irrigation to keep the wheel wet.                                                                                                                                                                           
3. The Star Diamond GP-8, an 8″ grinding and polishing unit. This was a popular machine back in its day that current machines are modelled after today. This is an all around lapidary machine that grinds, shapes, and polishes all in one. It originally had expandable wheels for sanding belts, I thought of adding steel grinding wheels in their place. It would be simple to buy the expandable wheels and install them if you wanted to. It uses a “spitter” for irrigation but a pump fed system could be ingeniously installed if you have the ability to do so. It is very heavy and requires two people to move it, so wherever you decide to put it in your home it would probably stay there.  I repainted this one, added a new power cord, and mounted it on a pine base. The leather polishing disc the end of the machine is nice.                                                                                                                                                                  
4.  This is the Lortone TS-6, 6″ trim saw. We purchased it with the 12″ saw, and the Star Diamond GP8. I repainted it and mounted it on a pine base. It’s a great vintage trim saw.                                                                                                                                                                                         
5. This is a vintage (1950-55) Highland Park 20″ slab saw which was graciously donated to us by Laurie. She had gotten her use out of it and contacted us to see if we would be interested. It took five of us to load it onto the trailer. I am in the process of stripping the paint off, removing and cleaning all the parts, and figuring out what other parts it needs to get up and running. It is in very good condition given its age. It mostly needs a new paint job. Here is a list of items it will need: 3/4 or 1 HP motor, on/off switch, splash guard for the blade, motor belt guard, feed pulley belt guard, handle for the hood, gearbox gasket, cutoff catch tray. There’s more but I don’t have the specific names for them. I estimate those parts will cost a little over $500 depending on their availability and what store we buy them from. I have contacted the Cigar Box in Bend Oregon for advice and questions.                                                               
6. Lortone Rotary Tumblers- we have a Lortone 12 pounder, and the 33B double 3 pound barrels.                                                       33B photos to come