Restoring a classic

Ive never owned a new car because I have always considered myself as the last owner of a vehicle before it heads off to recycling heaven. I am not a restorer.
So when my brother sends me a picture of an ancient cabbing machine in pieces, saying its mine for free if I want it... and hell deliver it to me, I immediately think Im signing up to be the middle man in a trip to the tip.

Before agreeing to accept the pile of rubble I contacted local rock toy/mechanic enthusiast, Dihusky, to see if it was worth the trouble. His reply, Hell yes.
For someone who precision cuts gem stones, he is very capable with a hammer, and after a fairly heavy beating the old Gemmasta finally separated into its component parts.

Everything got cleaned up, sand blasted, refinished and reassembled with new hardware... and its just like a new one.

That is awesome!

I'd go one further & say that it's probably better than just anything currently available new. Great job!

Great Job

No trip to the tip now.

Great restoration there fellows, plenty of work coming it's way shortly I would think. :Y:

Cheers

Doug

I like that. Good job.

nice job

you didnt score that from a South American guy who lived at Annandale NSW by any chance ?

Im not sure where Annandale is CS.
My brothers mate bought a house out near Uki and the machine was abandoned in the shed.

Bloody ripper Martyz :inlove: what a great score....and refurbishment.

My brother picked up one of these machines at a clearing sale and we cabbed a few stones when I was up there last year. It is a great combo, and like yours could do with a refurbishment. Will need to share your outcome and sit in judgement, {) if he gets an 8/10 in comparison Ill be impressed.

What size diamond wheels did you choose ?

Top job Marty erfect: :clap: :clap:

Thanks Wally and everyone else who liked the finished product. To be honest, I think that if I didnt get Dihuskys opinion, then assistance with the breakdown and sandblasting I probably wouldnt have it or Id still be sitting there trying to figure out how to separate all the main shaft pieces. :Y: :Y:
The wheels are all about 6 inch with the 2 main diamond coated wheels being 260 and 600 grit. On the polishing wheel I took the guys advice from Gemcuts and glued on a cheap steel cutting wheel onto the alloy vertical wheel so that I could use the set of 4 magnetic nova disks (260,600,1200 and 3000) and polishing pad. The whole set up has been working great so far with the boulder opal and labradorite that Ive had a go at.
It was a job definitely worth doing and Im hoping itll keep going long enough to pass onto my son one day.

Good score Martyz, I have the same machine that I bought new in 87 while opal mining at Lightning Ridge, cost about $1k with 2 diamond wheels. Plastic lawn mower fuel taps should screw to control water flow to each wheel. Still have the machine as I was always going to go back opal mining.

Currently have a house in the Ridge and setting up mining equipment, tipper, blower, agi, digger and drill rig. You are not too far away from the Ridge, why not have a go at black opal mining. To see what proper opal is like do a search of Justin Thomas's YouTube channel "best of the best", he is an opal dealer and does very good opal videos, see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0WanLinyi-I

Thanks Rodking. Now that Ive got the old Gemmasta up and running I realise that it was a good score.
Im just learning but Ive been doing a bunch of opal on it, mostly bits of boulder and a bit of stuff from Lightning Ridge. Just so happens that Justin Thomas lives up the road from me so I bought a bit of rough from him. Very addictive.
As far as mining opal goes, with a seven year old boy at school its probably a bit far from my reality at the moment. Ive seen a bit on opal mining and it seems that its a serious undertaking and the people who do it are pretty committed to putting everything into it. If youre going to give it a serious crack then I wish you all the luck and hope you find some of those amazing nobbys full of colour. It would be great to find and cut any gem stone but with opal you get to discover it twice, and thats the addiction.
Who knows, maybe one day...
Just curious, are many opal miners 6 foot 4 or would this above average ceiling height.
Heres one of Justins I did.

Nice little stone, Justin sells some good rough.

I still remember the first good opal I found, a pocket of 6 top quality blue green opals, $2000 a carat. I was mining with a gouging pick and chipped off a small piece, the blaze of brilliant green is still in my head, that's why I'm going back. You never get over opal fever.

Lots of reasons for the height of a mine. Early opal miners kept it low, getting rid of dirt was the hardest part. These days minimum roof height is a bit over 6 foot. If a miner is using a digger they may need more height.

Opal forms when silica rich fluids flowing down faults get trapped in an impervious layer. Opal is normally found in the top couple of feet of the opal level, but some times its deeper down. Miners will often take the whole opal level to the sandstone floor, this could be 10 foot or more. Sometimes the top opal level had only trace, and the opal fluids travel deeper to make on the second level. Opal never follow the rules.

In Outback Opal Hunters series 4, about episode 10, Chris Cheal broke in to an old drive, he has a large digger and had to remove the floor. Chris found a good pocket under the floor of the drive, the previous miners was walking on it.

The roof in my mine is 6 to 8 foot high, started at just over 6 foot, then hit a fault that dropped the roof. As I'm using a rickshaw, a mining wheel barrow, I had to drop the floor down to keep it level.

When he gets a little older your son will love opal mining, it doesn't have to be expensive and it's not dangerous if you do it right.

Good on ya Rodking. 6-8ft has restored my hope in maybe going underground one day.
As for my young fella, I reckon he would love to find an opal. He already has a small but growing collection and at 7 he knows the difference between common, boulder, crystal, white and black opal. As Im learning how to use my machine Im even letting him have a bit of a go.
We might have to put Lightning Ridge on the adventure list and head out there.
Thanks for all the info.
Marty

Good on ya Rodking. 6-8ft has restored my hope in maybe going underground one day.
As for my young fella, I reckon he would love to find an opal. He already has a small but growing collection and at 7 he knows the difference between common, boulder, crystal, white and black opal. As Im learning how to use my machine Im even letting him have a bit of a go.
We might have to put Lightning Ridge on the adventure list and head out there.
Thanks for all the info.
Marty

I think that just bloody terrific. You don't see that type of skill these days in a throw away society.

GT :trophy:

Thanks Goldtruck. As Ive explained, I did get some help along the way... well, most of the way.
The best thing is that they were well made in the first place. So the parts I replaced were what you would expect to wear with time and use. The rest is just cosmetic.
Most importantly, it now works and I love using it. :Y:

Unbelievable! Just like on the American restoration shows. Youd swear it was just pulled out of its packaging. Love it erfect:

Great job. Looks amazing.

Martyz can I ask what this cost to have restored, where dihusky is located and how to get in contact? I have this exact same machine and would be very interested in having it restored also.