How I made a flat lap machine for $250

[@scottpresson2553]

Sweet DIY, simple and well thought out. I use treadmill motors for all my home brew lapidary with good results.

[@chrishince8947]

Very nice!!! Yours is better then most store bought ones!

[@arongstone]

Very nice😮😮

[@rogerharris8081]

Thanks for the share and you did a great job!

[@DanielMillerlife]

Great Job making the Homemade Flat Lap. I am a Lapidary Artist made a few machines while I was in Texas. Moved to the Philippines about 2 years ago and have the itch. Going to start looking for supplies to make my own equipment. They use 220v here so need to check on motors and light specs before I buy. Keep on Rocking!

[@cb175s]

Thank you 👍❤️👍 I plan to do a full rebuild on this machine. It was a great idea and works but in my opinion the motor is overkill and needs to be changed from direct drive for my fingers safety. 👍 I'm definitely interested to hear any ideas or about other people's builds. I'm always looking for more inspiration

[@Reflect744]

Awesome build mate. Also on different voltage over here In Australia it's 240v here. Would love to see the rebuild video?

[@gemstonegma]

Very nice...thank you for sharing this beatiful job .

[@peterwiley4383]

Awesome. Will use this as my guide. Thanks.

[@cb175s]

I plan to rebuild this using a pulley and belt also changing the motor to a slower turning speed . It's a bit too powerful and kinda scary. Lol It's a good idea but definitely needs modifications 👍👍 I would love to see what you end up building. I'm always looking for new ideas.

[@quenbycarter9390]

Fantastic. Thank you for sharing with us.

[@jimedgar6789]

I THINK I can answer the question @wadeyates9943 posted some time back. Without a schematic, and just looking at the parts and wiring. That looks like a typical 3.5HP 130VDC treadmill motor, so it is not going to the AC mains directly. The gentleman has disemboweled the PC power supply and re-purposed it for his control center. The 120VAC is rectified to DC and kind of pulse-width-modulated to the motor from 0VDC to I am guessing max 90VDC? If you are in 230VAC land you might want to get a different motor. The pot is used to control the rate of the PWM, hence changing the speed. Very good build, my friend!

[@cb175s]

Thank you And thank you for all the information. I felt this to be a good try at a homemade flat lap machine in idea. However I definitely plan to remake the entire machine. #1 change will be the motor. Making it not direct drive and changing it out for something else. It's kinda scary. Lol 😆

[@Spark-Hole]

Thank for all the efforts

[@trevorallen2274]

Really nice job.

[@templarzrise5086]

Thanks for sharing!

[@omadesala384]

yay! thank you.. great vid :)

[@omadesala384]

This guy show these jigs. Might be help full for your table :) kzbin.info/www/bejne/Z5DJnqSNd6eIms0

[@opalbadger9367]

Amazing work, well done!!! Thanks mate! This also makes me feel very frightening about my actually plans of building one 😅. This balance disc seems to be a must have to save my life right 🤣

[@hipsygypsyintuitionreader9101]

Do you have any advice on the disc's. I am struggling to get a good polish. Got my disc's from Amazon 60 - 3000 and well I am not getting the polish I hoped for. Thank you

[@zimmermansworkshop9394]

That is a very sturdy design and I may borrow a few elements for my design. This video was posted 4 years ago, how is this machine holding up?

[@cb175s]

It still works but definitely plan to remake it with several improvements. 👍

[@lylelay]

NICE!

[@wadeyates9943]

Awesome video!! Thank you for sharing. I was wondering if you could go a bit more into detail about how you used to the power supply and what kind of potentiometer you used. Thank you and keep posting

[@sumidibolang]

Terimakasih mister atas ilmunya🙏🙏

[@termlimit]

Can you provide an amazon url for the different grit discs, as well as where you purchased the metal backing for $50. Thanks for the inspiration.

[@evanmcgeorge9942]

Let me know if you found a good brand. I'm not sure what I should buy either

[@constantindanieltira]

Nice 👍

[@burhanuddin1204]

Many many thanks

[@Chris65018]

great job!!!!!!!

[@jimedgar6789]

And I believe those blue wires are thermal shutdown protection?

[@willvegas702]

What did you use on the arbor to hold the backing plate and grinding plates?

[@cb175s]

The arbor is bolted differently to the motor shaft. The arbor has reverse threads and a nut to hold the backing plate / grinding disk in place. I have plans to rebuild this entire build. After building it a couple years ago I realized many things I want to correct. The main thing I plan to change is the arbor being directly bolted to the motor shaft. It's too dangerous, I plan to add a couple pulleys and change out the motor to a less powerful motor. It works great in design but it's a bit scary. 👍 Lol

[@templarzrise5086]

What is the size for the arbor to be?

[@qaharhasan4994]

Which grit is the best for polishing stone

[@cb175s]

It depends alot on what kind of rock or mineral you want to Polish. For example on agate I like to start with 100 grit to shape 220 grit to further shape and remove scathces 600 to Finnish removing scratches and smooth the shape 800 grit is where the shine starts to happen 1200 grit will further shine And then buff with diamond paist or other chosen compound. You can keep going after 1200 grit up to 2000 grit but that mostly depends on the material. This is only an example of a method I use. Good luck KZbin thankfully is full of professionals I'm learning all the time. 👍

[@qaharhasan4994]

@@cb175s Thank you very much🙂

[@geoffgeoff143]

What type of motor do the treadmills use?

[@cb175s]

The treadmill DC motors have a lot of toque. They can run forward or backwards with same results . In the future I plan to rebuild this project using a less powerful motor and a belt vs the direct mount arbor. The machine works great nice and smooth as the treadmill motors are well balanced but scary powerful. Makes my fingers nervous. Lol 👍

[@crystalminerrocks6122]

is that a 6in or 8 in grinder?

[@cb175s]

They are the 8" Amazon wheels You can get a set of 6 for cheap now. Under $70 👍 I had to pay $15-$25 per wheel. Lol

[@joelazidragon3255]

Where do you buy your grinding discs

[@cb175s]

Amazon and eBay $15 - $25 each Made in china but work great.

[@nathanielhartsuff2336]

Wild question but what keywords would you use for finding your metal spout to adjust water flow? Im running a small electric water pump right now and its wayyy too much water and and gonna resort to making a geyser.

[@cb175s]

2 way valve for fish tank Or Air valve for fish tank 👍

[@carydbman]

Do you ever reverse the direction while using it? If I used an old table saw motor which only goes one direction would that work okay or should I get a two-way direction motor ?

[@cb175s]

I can run it in reverse but the Barbour is threaded for directional use only. I tryed to run it in reverse once ant the balance plate interested itself and flew off like a frisbee...😅😅😅 Any motor would work great, just make sure the bolts holding on the balance plate / diamond plate tighter up as the motor spins rather than loosen. You can order arbours in either thread direction. Left or right 👍 In the near future I will be making a smaller table top flat lap machine. Maybe add a manipulator arm for facete work.

Top

[@247chiranjeevi]

Is this meant for producing faltness to sub micron level or for aesthetically smooth surface. Other lapping machines I saw are way too complex. Ex. Lapmaster. Trying to figure out how these things are different.

[@cb175s]

I built this mainly so I can smooth out small rock slabs and remove saw marks. So yes mainly for visual aesthetics. Unfortunately the end result is I built a machine that scares me . Lol I plan to completely rebuild this different motor/ arbour set-up. I would like to make it able to have a manipulator arm facets and drop the speed way down. 👍

[@rufaelsolomon6184]

which motore did you used ?

[@Engineering_Science]

Whats its used for?

[@templarzrise5086]

I am now looking on eBay about treadmill motors. What horsepower is your motor?

[@cb175s]

The motor I used is 3.5hp I've got all my treadmill motors from Craigslist free adds. Trying to keep my cost down. I got hooked by watching everyone's videos and had to try it myself. I'm sure a real handy wood person could do a knock out job and make a primo machine. Mine works but I need better wood working tools for next time. Lol 👍

[@bobweiram6321]

You need to get rid of the vibration. I would balance it by adding weights or by drilling a divot n the underside of the plate.

[@cb175s]

Part of the vibration problem is the wood frame not sitting flat on my garage floor... Lol Fixed now Thank you for the idea's I plan on a full rebuild in the future After the build was finished finnished I thought of so many things I could have done differant... 😅😅

[@LBCAndrew]

the vibration appeared to be due to the diamond plate or backing plate not having a tight enough fit to the arbor.

[@5eZa]

cool but way too much vibration at that speed. you would have to slow it way down to get any kind of decent surface flatness

[@cb175s]

I agree, it was a fun build but needs to be rebuilt with a slower motor that is not directly connected to the arbor. The motor was from a high end treadmill so it's smooth and quiet but the torque / speed makes it scary. 😁 I plan on a complete future rebuild, better video, better idea. Thank you for the input 👍❤️👍

[@ronhauser4284]

Where did you get the backing plate?

[@cb175s]

I ordered it from Amazon 8" backing plate $45

[@mikeplitnick5051]

Nice rig, I just got a 60s B&I Gem maker I was thinking about getting these wheels for, Do you like them?

[@cb175s]

They work great so far. I figured for the price they would loose grit fast but they seam to be doing better than expected. 👍

[@osman_oncel]

Ben bu makinadan ve malzemelerden istiyorum

[@MrHellspawn4]

What did you use for your arbor? Great build btw!

[@cb175s]

I bought a small motor arbor head. It's attached right to the motor shaft. I plan to rebuild this machine. Different motor / arbour and add a pulley with belt. The directly bolted to the motor is too fast and powerful. It works but just a bit scary

[@jeanclaudedibetta8237]

bonjour quel moteur vous avez mis est où c'est que vous avez acheté merci de me répondre

[@ЛеонидОбъедков-й3я]

Огромный лайк и подписка! 👍И большая просьба поставьте пожалуйста перевод субтитров Украинский или русский. ( очень интересно но непонятно 🤔 ) Расскажите о станках как Вы их делали? Удачи. 👍

[@ronaldfranck6960]

Well, we know who Aunt Vivian and cousin Jackie are but no mention of the diameter of the backing plate or grinding discs. ??

[@Coolglass22]

De domde es la amquina y cuanto cuesta los discos

[@cb175s]

I made the machine from an old treadmill motor with a variable speed switch. Homemade... Lol The diamond disc's cost about $20 each on Amazon / eBay. 👍👍

[@yesilbursa8007]

Nasıl satın alırız

[@sylmen1111]

It’s beautiful but u lost me, your way smart I got to save my money to sadly buy one already made.

[@cb175s]

I completely understand You can pick up some real nice flat lap machines for $300-$400. I just enjoy making stuff. Some things work out great and some not so great... Lol 👍

[@larrymoremckenzie3029]

-they getting cheaper!

[@Curious_as_cats]

@@cb175s I love what you built, but can you let me know which machines cost 300 - 400? I’m having trouble finding anything under $600. Thanks so much!

[@Reflect744]

​@@Curious_as_catsSecond hand is the go if you don't wanna build anything. Maintained Old machines are better than new ones these days