VOTE: Diamond Ring Saw and Repair Parts for Donated Diamond Band Saw - $2000

General
1

Hey everyone! I’ve been considering posting a vote for a wet diamond saw for the hot crafts area for a while, and with the space nicely fleshed out and getting lots of use, I figure now seems as good a time as any.

Wet Diamond abrasive saws can be used to cut any number of hard materials, most notably Tile, Glass, Ceramics, Tool Steels, and Natural and Synthetic Stones. There are MANY different types of wet diamond saws, varying from the common tile saws many people are familiar with, to bandsaws, ring saws, scroll saws, etc. Each has it’s own set of strengths and weaknesses.

I think a Ring Saw would be a great option for the hive’s wide variety of use cases, as there are different blade cartridges which can be interchanged and which each excel at different types of cuts. there are blades that are perfect for cutting straight lines like a table saw, tight curves like a bandsaw, and even blades that can cut in any direction like a spiral blade scroll saw.

After doing a bit of research, checking reviews, and talking to folks who own them, I think the Gemini Apollo Ring Saw would be an excellent high quality, durable option for Hive13. The saw has excellent reviews, is reputed to be one of the most reliable ring saws, and has a great assortment of blades available for huge versatility. I the saw, 4 blades ideal for making common types of cuts needed in the hive’s stained glass, lampwork, and ceramics areas, and a spare drive belt (the belts are a wear item). These items fit comfortably in a budget of $1500.

In addition to the above ring saw, Amphay recently donated a Diamond Bandsaw. I did consider if the bandsaw would be sufficient to preclude the need for the ring saw, but I really think the ring saw would be necessary still, as the bandsaw would be GREAT for curvy scroll cuts (particularly in thick material), but terrible for straight cuts or thin slicing. I think the two will make good companions for each other.

After inspecting the saw, I found it does work, but there are several parts that are missing or damaged, including the water pump and work table. It also has many rusted screws and needs new blade guides and some general TLC. I propose we spend $500 on the replacement parts and a spare blade for that saw.

If this vote passes, I also plan to build/modify a table at the hive to be a wet saw and wet grinding station, with water spray shields on 3 sides, waterproof tabletop, and a gutter on the front edge to catch the grinding/cutting water to minimize the mess that can be associated with wet saws and wet grinding glass and ceramics. I think that everything needed for this is either already on hand, or will fit within the budgets I mentioned above. my plan would be to replace the small black shelves by the hot crafts sink with this table/station.

thanks for reading, and please vote yes to expand out capabilities! I’ll leave this vote open till the 2022-06-12 Tuesday meeting.

Thanks,

Kevin M.
Hot Crafts Warden

2

I vote yes (obviously)

On Fri, Jul 1, 2022, 1:33 PM Kevin McLeod via Hive13 Discussion <discourse-noreply@hive13.org> wrote:

Kmcleod
July 1

Hey everyone! I’ve been considering posting a vote for a wet diamond saw for the hot crafts area for a while, and with the space nicely fleshed out and getting lots of use, I figure now seems as good a time as any.

Wet Diamond abrasive saws can be used to cut any number of hard materials, most notably Tile, Glass, Ceramics, Tool Steels, and Natural and Synthetic Stones. There are MANY different types of wet diamond saws, varying from the common tile saws many people are familiar with, to bandsaws, ring saws, scroll saws, etc. Each has it’s own set of strengths and weaknesses.

I think a Ring Saw would be a great option for the hive’s wide variety of use cases, as there are different blade cartridges which can be interchanged and which each excel at different types of cuts. there are blades that are perfect for cutting straight lines like a table saw, tight curves like a bandsaw, and even blades that can cut in any direction like a spiral blade scroll saw.

After doing a bit of research, checking reviews, and talking to folks who own them, I think the Gemini Apollo Ring Saw would be an excellent high quality, durable option for Hive13. The saw has excellent reviews, is reputed to be one of the most reliable ring saws, and has a great assortment of blades available for huge versatility. I the saw, 4 blades ideal for making common types of cuts needed in the hive’s stained glass, lampwork, and ceramics areas, and a spare drive belt (the belts are a wear item). These items fit comfortably in a budget of $1500.

In addition to the above ring saw, Amphay recently donated a Diamond Bandsaw. I did consider if the bandsaw would be sufficient to preclude the need for the ring saw, but I really think the ring saw would be necessary still, as the bandsaw would be GREAT for curvy scroll cuts (particularly in thick material), but terrible for straight cuts or thin slicing. I think the two will make good companions for each other.

After inspecting the saw, I found it does work, but there are several parts that are missing or damaged, including the water pump and work table. It also has many rusted screws and needs new blade guides and some general TLC. I propose we spend $500 on the replacement parts and a spare blade for that saw.

If this vote passes, I also plan to build/modify a table at the hive to be a wet saw and wet grinding station, with water spray shields on 3 sides, waterproof tabletop, and a gutter on the front edge to catch the grinding/cutting water to minimize the mess that can be associated with wet saws and wet grinding glass and ceramics. I think that everything needed for this is either already on hand, or will fit within the budgets I mentioned above. my plan would be to replace the small black shelves by the hot crafts sink with this table/station.

thanks for reading, and please vote yes to expand out capabilities! I’ll leave this vote open till the 2022-06-12 Tuesday meeting.

Thanks,

Kevin M.
Hot Crafts Warden

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3

I vote no. Why don’t we start with fixing up the donated saw first? While I’m fine with buying specific parts for it as needed, an arbitrarily mark up to $500 is not necessary.

Minor note: assume you mean 2022-07-12 meeting, not 06.

4

I’m not sure what you mean about arbitrary? I listed the relevant parts in the spreadsheet, they total $433, so I rounded up to $500 for tax and shipping

5

As to why not just fix the saw we have - purely because it doesn’t serve the needs I have for a saw at the moment. The ring saw can do more.

I only dug in to the band saw now because I figured I should get what we have running.

6

TLDR; I vote yes.

I want a roadmap and wish list for some of our areas so votes are a little less out of nowhere. Having said that, Kevin is an outstanding warden and has curated a fantastic space that attracts a lot of attention and participation. I think we should keep the momentum going. I don’t always share Kevin’s idea of buying the best of the best but he has never steered us wrong, so what’s a couple thousand from our flush budget. I vote yes.

7

Thanks Dave! As an FYI, the hot crafts are does have such a wishlist on the wiki, that we developed during the hot crafts committee meetings, and both these saws are items from it

On Mon, Jul 4, 2022, 12:49 PM Dave Schwinn via Hive13 Discussion <discourse-noreply@hive13.org> wrote:

braveness23
July 4

TLDR; I vote yes.

I want a roadmap and wish list for some of our areas so votes are a little less out of nowhere. Having said that, Kevin is an outstanding warden and has curated a fantastic space that attracts a lot of attention and participation. I think we should keep the momentum going. I don’t always share Kevin’s idea of buying the best of the best but he has never steered us wrong, so what’s a couple thousand from our flush budget. I vote yes.

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8

I vote yes. The hot crafts area is so popular… having a reliable way to cut stuff like geodes I think is a great addition to the space.

1 Like
9

I abstain.

The research is clearly there - I mean, Kevin is always meticulous with research - and while I think this would be a cool fun toy, I don’t feel ready to vote yes at this time

I do however, wish I could vote yes on the replacement parts to see what we could accomplish with Pi’s donated saw. Depending on how much use that gets, I would be inclined to vote yes on the ring saw at a later time.

10

I vote No for the Ring saw.

Note: I would vote Yes to buy replacement parts for the donated diamond band saw.

11

THIS VOTE HAS CLOSED.

Final totals:

5 yes, 3 abstain, 2 no.

The results of this vote are held to the old standard for votes because it was in process when the new voting procedure was approved.

12

(this vote passed my apologies lol)

13

FYI to anyone who has wondered what the status of this vote is - This vote closed one day after a board meeting in which the board adopted a new purchase vote procedure which requires a minimum of 10 yes votes for a vote to pass. I left that meeting assuming it applied to this vote, as the rule seems reasonable to ensure there is sufficient member buy-in to warrant spending money.

After seeing the meeting minutes/posts that stated this vote was not to be held to that requirement, I was surprised and initiated a discussion with the then-board, and we all generally agreed it would be better if this vote was withdrawn and re-posted following the current policy requiring 10 yes votes.

Consider this purchase vote cancelled, I will re-post this vote soon as separate votes for the diamond bandsaw parts and for a ring saw.