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Vintage Crown Lapidary bead mill

Posted: Sun Nov 13, 2016 11:55 pm
by jakesrocks
Scored this the other day. Super fast shipping from the seller, and in almost new condition.
Need to get busy cutting bead blanks so I can give this puppy a spin.
Came with a spare set of brand new grinding plates.

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Re: Vintage Crown Lapidary bead mill

Posted: Mon Nov 14, 2016 4:50 am
by PinkDiamond
Nice score! I can't wait for you to get the bead blanks made so we can see what you can do with this little guy. :)

Re: Vintage Crown Lapidary bead mill

Posted: Mon Nov 14, 2016 6:56 am
by kjsspot
Very nice! How do you work one of these things?

Re: Vintage Crown Lapidary bead mill

Posted: Mon Nov 14, 2016 3:49 pm
by jakesrocks
LOL. Fun job. First you cut a whole lot of cubes from your stone of choice. Then you grind all of the corners off until you have a rough sphere. There's a groove in the bottom plate that you load with the rough spheres. Sprinkle in some silicon carbide grit & enough water to just cover the bottom plate. Put the spring loaded & also grooved top plate on. Turn the machine on & walk away. The bottom plate turns while the top plate remains stationary. The little spheres turn between the 2 plates until they're perfectly round & all of the same size.
Works just like grinding a cab. Clean out the old grit & move through smaller grits until about 600 grit. Finish polish the beads in a vibrating tumbler. Then the fun begins. Drilling the beads. :shock:

Re: Vintage Crown Lapidary bead mill

Posted: Mon Nov 14, 2016 4:46 pm
by PinkDiamond
Cool! How may cubes can it do at once? ... and I assume there's a size range, so it would depend on what size you're cutting? And one more thing; what kinds of rocks do you plan to make into beads?

...Inquiring minds want to know. :mrgreen:

Re: Vintage Crown Lapidary bead mill

Posted: Mon Nov 14, 2016 5:44 pm
by jakesrocks
Haven't tried it out yet. Don't know how many preforms it'll hold.

Got nearly a ton of various agate & jasper types laying around here. I'll just pick out a purdy one that looks to be free of cracks & go from there.

Wonder if there's a market for undrilled beads ? I really, really hate drilling rock.

Re: Vintage Crown Lapidary bead mill

Posted: Mon Nov 14, 2016 5:51 pm
by PinkDiamond
jakesrocks wrote:Wonder if there's a market for undrilled beads ? I really, really hate drilling rock.


I don't know if there's a market for them, but for the right price I would imagine some would find them appealing, but if you do have to drill them yourself, make some only drilled halfway through for earrings to match necklaces and bracelets people will make out of the beads. :idea:

Re: Vintage Crown Lapidary bead mill

Posted: Mon Nov 14, 2016 5:59 pm
by jakesrocks
Sounds like a plan. I have bunches of ear wires & up eyes stored away. I'll just drill them deep enough to glue up eyes in them. Got lots of bales & a bunch of chains too.

Winter project for the annual late spring craft sale. :D

Re: Vintage Crown Lapidary bead mill

Posted: Tue Nov 15, 2016 1:34 am
by kjsspot
jakesrocks wrote:Wonder if there's a market for undrilled beads ? I really, really hate drilling rock.


Marbles? Don't lose 'em! :lol:

Re: Vintage Crown Lapidary bead mill

Posted: Tue Nov 15, 2016 2:43 am
by jakesrocks
Gotta find them again, before I can loose them. :roll: