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I saw a video about someone that was making his own rubber lab with silicon carbide grit and flex seal liquid clear, seem very economical and could be used for the 80/180 grinding. cannot source flex seal liquid in my country tho : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NPOmJwgH6TQ
That's a coincidence, I watched that same video a week ago! That Flex Seal rubber is actually not bad stuff, if you can get past the bad TV commercials, lol. It is composed of styrene butadiene copolymer, which is basically car tyre material. Looks like we can get cans of Flex Seal paste (rather than the liquid) here in Australia, a bit thicker than the gunk in the video, but should also work in a lap I reckon. I've prepared a piece to measure grinding speed and will take macro shot of the result of each steps to compare once I get all of them. but metal being softer maybe the red/brown ones are not suited for gemstones
Looking forward to your results, RC
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I saw a video about someone that was making his own rubber lab with silicon carbide grit and flex seal liquid clear, seem very economical and could be used for the 80/180 grinding. cannot source flex seal liquid in my country tho : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NPOmJwgH6TQI got more info from the brown and green laps : me : Hello, what is the difference between the green disc and the brown disc? is one of them better for some materials? (I'm going to use them for gem faceting, topaz, cubic zirconia, amethyst)
JY HQ tool store : The red disc sand thickness is 5mm, most of our customers used the red disc grind metal material, but can also try to grind high hardness material, the specific use effect we are not sure, depends on the actual situation of customers.
Green disc sand grinding plate is suitable for grinding these material you mentioned. I've received some of the green ones, not all of them yet, and still waiting for the red/brown ones. I've prepared a piece to measure grinding speed and will take macro shot of the result of each steps to compare once I get all of them. but metal being softer maybe the red/brown ones are not suited for gemstones
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« Last post by Clarky on May 04, 2024, 10:19:48 PM »
We were up there last weekend. The roads down into the mine site area are now like highways with ballast under road base all rolled in & turnaround bays every couple of hundred meters. We had to walk in leaving the vehicle up near Hanging Rock old quarry. A Hallstrom employee had no worries about us walking in. He unlocked the gate for himself to drive through & do some checks further down. None of us had been into the site before so we actually missed the turnoff to the mine as all the trees holding the track markers had been pushed over due to the width of the upgraded road. Its a couple of hundred meters down to the mine off the new road & nothing has been done to the access from there. There hadn't been much traffic on the old track recently, just a motor bike by the look of things. There is a fan of tailings on the slope below the mine down through the bush that is visible on google earth if you are looking for it but its not a recent photo as all the new work isnt on it. I googled up Hallstrom when we got home to find they are an earthmoving company. Interestingly the second item that came up on the list was the NSW state tenders site with Hallstrom on it in the tenders for the Hanging Rock fire trail system. There were a number of companies participating in the project which will span 2022 to 2026 with a total of over 6 million dollars of works to complete it. after we walked out we visited the old rec ground that the trail comes back up to. It had gates fitted to as well as steel bollards concreted in either side to prevent access. I guess NSW state forests would be the ones to approach re whether vehicle access will be available again. It was a good weekend all round as we ended up with some nice prase samples from the mine, some good crystals from near the lookout & some nice zircons from further out in the forest. Theres good camping at either Sheba Dams or Ponderosa.
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« Last post by tinker on May 03, 2024, 05:55:16 PM »
Mate was up there in May 2021, there was a fella there with a small what looked like a battery driven Jack Hammer, with another fella helping him load the split rocks into the back of a white Toyota 4x4 Land Cruise ute, he left when I arrived but had a couple of large lumps of Prase that he left behind. I didn't think much about it until I went back to following year and the entrance to the mine had been gated.
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« Last post by opal light on May 03, 2024, 03:26:28 PM »
Tinker,
be interested to hear when that was?
I was told access was closed due to 4wd groups destroying tracks making it difficult/impossible for fire crew access and why forestry/crown land installed the gate.
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My test step cut didn’t need any cheater adjustments from 70 to 20 deg, which is good. Made some minor adjustments to make the machine more user friendly and have a couple more to do later. 
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« Last post by Jimnyjerry on May 01, 2024, 10:30:40 PM »
I really feel for you Peter AUS.... We are in a simular situation here on the Gold Coast... We pay $1100pf in rent out of our Pension and are living on Air..... It sucks big time... Next year, We will be forced out of the Goldy and Will be living on the road. At least what we get in a Pension will be ours to travel with... Im at a loss at what to do as We need to stay in our Health District for Hospital Treatment... Life when you enter the twilight years should be easy going, not a battle everyday... I have even thought about a move to the Victorian country as rents seem cheaper, but im worried that it just might be a step backwards as everyone from down south has moved up here.. I hope you do find somewhere to call 'Home'... Its very hard out there ATM...
Gemster....
Sorry to hear of what you are going through. That really sucks 
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« Last post by Jimnyjerry on May 01, 2024, 10:25:49 PM »
Vale Wal of Wal&Liz, With yesterday's passing of Wal the fossicking community has lost a person ever willing to tutor the beginner in the field or many who have watched their U tube video"s on gemstones,gold and fossicking all over Australia. Wal can swap yarns with Woofa around a camp fire in the heavens.
Another keen fossicker gone, too many lately
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« Last post by JBK on May 01, 2024, 07:06:40 PM »
Yes, very sad news. In January this year things looked positive for Wal and we have organised a trip to Tibooburra this Jun. condolences to Liz and family.
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« Last post by tinker on May 01, 2024, 04:44:04 PM »
Thanks guys will post some pictures of my finds, back end of June, then off to a mates Opal claim at Allawah, north of Lightning Ridge for a week. 
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