Notifications
Hallo Denise,
You can build a wet-grinding machine very easy and cheap by yourself. In case of need a tinkerer can help you. The cost for the machine and for the accessory is about 100 US$.. Costly are the diamond belts. But for that, they have in a hobby-workshop a lifetime of some years. Since many years all my cloisonné, from jewelry over boxes up to panels up to 10 x 10 inch are grinded with this machine. For jewelry I need less than 20 min, for large panels approximately 1 hour. And you need really no power, because you should press the work piece only very light against the diamond belts. From my own long-standing Enamel experience I can recommend this machine only very highly. If you have it once, you want never missing it.
The construction manual you’ll find here:
discussions/1-1000/317-grinding.pdf
Edmund
I have a complete Jool Tool (barely used) for sale. Contact me at javb2000@aol.com
Hallo,
I'm not sure, whether the question is still from interest for you. I find it very pity, that nobody; with the exception of Jean has an idea or answer. Therefore here my assessment for using the Jool-Tool machine.
Beforehand! I have not seen either the machine; neither have I worked on it!!
I had a look into “You tube” and found this Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N917k-g_ZRU
After I had watched the Video I think, Jool-Tool is usable, to grind small Cloisonné- or Champlevé jewelries. But! The accent is on SMALLISH Items!! The reason is that in my estimation at hand of the video, the working area is not larger than about one to one and an half inch.
Apart from that, looking at the whole Video, one can see that enough different Diamond-wheels are available. And also a polishing wheel, with Cer-Oxide coated, and also felt- or wool-wheels for the finish seem to be present. There seems to be lacking in nothing.
An explicit advantage is compared with other grinding machines is, that the wheels are slotted. For this reason, and by the high speed of the wheels, you can watch the grinding-process all the time.
Altogether I would say, the Jool-Tool is quite suitable, if one want to grind only small objects. What I do not like is the relative high speed of the wheels. As a result, I believe it is not possible to grind the enamel wet. In my opinion it is very important, to grind enamel surfaces wet. For my feeling the surfaces become smoother and, that is a fact, the diamond-wheels and -belts have a longer lifetime.
Because you in your question told that you have problems with your hand, I digged in my old PC an older forum article out. You will find this input as a PDf file on the bottom of this thread under "Dopping Grains"
It describes a simple "handle" which makes it easy, holding the work pieces during the grinding process.
Edmund
Hi Denise,
I viewed the JoolTool video and how it works - I didn't particularly care for it - I think it moves way too fast for enamels and is expensive, and I don't see how you can see your enamels that well while working with a small piece. I use Diapads - which are sponge blocks wrapped in diamond sanding paper made by 3M- they come in several grits, and work incredibly well - even with a problem hand, its very easy to sand your enamels with a bit of water in record time, and the cost is minimal.
The probable reason no one has answered is that most enamelers I know on the site, don't use a Jool Tool - its either diapads, grinding machine, or a small hand held dremel with diamond pads.