Bench Grinder to shape/polish stones

Are you able to polish/shape rocks with a bench grinder?

yes if you have a diamond wheel and a drip feed so you don't get dust and a box around the bottum to cach the crap at the end quit simple really

Awesome, thanks so much for your advice!

no props

Just be careful guys, It is unsafe to operate a bench grinder with water where the motor is not seperate from the grinding wheels.
This is because of the possibility of water entering the motor and causing electric shock.
The USA machines directly attached to the motor run on a much lower 110 volts.
I think it is Illegal to sell such a machine in Australia.
I run all my lapidary equipment via a belt drive, seperate from the saw, grinding or sanding unit.

The local hunter valley lapidary club has a number of 8" grinders with 2 grades of lapidary stones on them. They all have water plumbed to them and have no issues with water ingress due to the water being thrown away from the shaft. It is also important that the water is turned off before the grinder is stopped to stop one side of the stone getting heavy with water and causing imbalance in the grinder.

Richard

Keen Ken said:

Just be careful guys, It is unsafe to operate a bench grinder with water where the motor is not seperate from the grinding wheels.
This is because of the possibility of water entering the motor and causing electric shock.
The USA machines directly attached to the motor run on a much lower 110 volts.
I think it is Illegal to sell such a machine in Australia.
I run all my lapidary equipment via a belt drive, seperate from the saw, grinding or sanding unit.

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The USA equipment runs on 110v/60 hertz, in AUS, Asia and parts of Europe ,they run on 230-240v/50 hertz..a 60 Hz machine regardless of voltage will not run happily or for very long on a supply of 50 Hz.
also, if the supply voltage is lower, it will require more current to do the same amount of "work", and its the current that will kill you,not the voltage!..believe me,i know! (7000v bug zappers hurt!)

i have rubbed a fair few opals with a bench grinder for an initial shape and "rough" polished all with a circular sandpaper, the velcro backed one for padding. And as fine a grit as i can get 1200 or so, attached to the side of the new stone with no issues at all. For practice stones and roughies its great and very affordable. For the water i use a trough (plastic 3lt milk bottle cut at the bottom to keep the water flying everywhere, and a squirty bottle of water to keep the wheel wet. i dont run a guard. The water stops the stone getting hot and cracking more than any dust issues. it isnt in the same ballpark as the 12000 grit Diamond laps at the lapidary club for that final polish and gleam and i recommend anyone interested in cutting go at least once. Its awesome fun. The above is for rough material i dont care too much about, or have less than 1% chance of cutting a gem. Its practice material. Not gemmy.

I also agree, in the name of safety. having a belt drive the other wheel would be v advantageous.