My Homemade Lapidary Arbor // Better Than Store Bought 

Did you enjoy this video and find it to be informative? You can help ensure that more videos just like this get made by supporting the project on Patreon. www.patreon.com/currentlyrockhounding

Look at you bouncing on your toe tips with happiness! 😄Your well deserved sense of pride shines and your finished arbor shows you have great stick-to-it-tive-ness. Thanks for sharing with us

You might want to check out a pool noodle instead of the pipe insulation for that lip. They're a bit thicker, plus you can have a choice of colors.😁 I utilized several of them along the edge of my roof to protect the tarps. Worked really well. Great rig, love that you put all that extra space there to get the belts on and off.

And there it is! Man, it looks awesome! It works awesome too i see. That thunderegg polished up beautifully! You put in the work, and now its time to reap the rewards! Its beautiful and you did an awesome job. Be proud! And i was thinking a pool noodle or pipe insulation for the arm rest. Thanks for sharing your awesome machine!

Pipe insulation will be a great addition. If you cannot buy just one piece, perhaps look for a "pool noodle". Glad to see the sanding belt issue is resolved. I guess any problem can be fixed.

You should be proud. It looks great. I like all the room next to the wheels. I use pipe wrap. It's just enough and cut a wedge so one piece goes on the side too. Now be happy and have fun.😷⚒

Awesome job, and great that you're sharing the how-to with members. May it be the first of many!

Wow! That's fantastic Jared. Great job. We're happy for you.

Always love when a project works out, can’t wait to see what you do with it!!

Looks like a unit you would buy. You did an amazing job fabricating the spray guard. I love the belt you used. Very quiet too. Proud Papa I wish you the best with it. Impressive.

I would put a piece of garden hose over that edge and then the pipe foam. If you use just pipe foam, that edge will cut right thru it with your arms moving around. Looks great!!

Jared, you are truly a man of many talents. And it shows in everything that you do my friend. Thank you for bringing us along on your journey. Your arbor looks and sounds like it functions flawlessly and I'm sure you will get a lifetime of use out of it. Great job! You will be a master of your craft in no time my friend. Congrats. 😁

I get the same sort of excitement whenever I build my own custom whatever; especially when it exceeds even my inflated expectations, which are extremely high as is, lol. EXTREMELY well done, if I say so myself. I mean, good lord it looks professionally built, it's that nice. :-) Also, it's absolutely amazing what things people can find online nowadays. It's like a variable who's who on what one can build from just finding things on Craigslist, google, Amazon, eBay, Facebook, or even to an extent RU-vid itself. With just those few examples alone, lol, it's no wonder Radio Shack went under, ya know?! Keep up the awesome work, and as always, give is an update a few months from now and let us know how the arbor is working and how you feel about it after it's had time to kinda break itself in. Take care!

Old disabled house bound dusty rusty rockhound here: I'm truly impressed with your fabrication skills. My Dad was a machinist who built most of his own lapidary equipment back in the early '70s. Some of it still exists and is in the custody of my younger brother. You remind me of him! Love your lapidary laboratory by the way!

Buddy, I am super stoked for you. That is an absolutely fantastic build. I picked up an old bench grinder that I found at a thrift store and this gives me a ton of ideas. Thanks so much for sharing.

Congrats on the finished project Jared! It's been awesome watching progress on the members' side over the months.

That's an amazing build! I've been working on restoring an ancient two wheel grinder/cabber myself. Your happiness is infectious -- can't wait to get back to the garage to work on it this weekend!

That arbor turned out awesome, I`am proud of it and i did`nt even lift a finger to help LOL, your fabrication skills are admirable, have a great one and see ya on the next one.

Congratulations on the build. This is so cool. I also want a cabbing machine set up. Maybe I should build my own as you have. Thanks for the inspiration.

Wow, beautiful work. Now for the fun!

Fabulous!! Awesome job! Stoked to look at your design for DIY. Stay Crystal 💫 Mari

Omagerd! I was thinking you really did a number on this. If more people used the items they design it would be easier for everyone. The extra space that doubles to remove the belt and room for larger rocks was great but when you turned it on, it was so quiet I felt like Encino man with a lighter.

For the arm rest, just buy a pool noodle and cut it in half. It's hollow in the middle so you can just slide it on I believe

I love it! I love the space! I just got the cabling for Christmas and have caught 2 fingers on other wheels already..

Wow, you are awesome! Can't wait to see what you do.

GREAT JOB!!! So proud like a Daddy with his first child.😊

Awesome work there. Nice job on the frame/body It's obvious you've spent a lot of time thinking about this. Congrats.

Outstanding accomplishment! I recently had a bearing failure on my cabking 8, which cabking is sending me a new motor to replace it. They are a really good company and I would definitely recommend them. Great customer service and they stand behind their products. They even sent me upgraded hoses at no cost. I couldn't be more pleased with their company. I'm kicking the idea around to build my own just as you have. I don't have a warm space to build, that may have to wait until I move to a better location. I hope your holidays are festive and filled with joy, thanks foe sharing. Aus opal is a channel that I have recently found. I enjoy his content and would love to see his channel grow, as I do yours. I've just purchased a much better phone, Samsung s23. I'm familiarizing myself with it and really like it. I need a tripod and a bit of lighting to get my channel up and running. Thank you for the encouragement. It's boosted my confidence Mahalo

Hell Yeah!!! That is an awesome setup and those drums look great for doing some big pieces!!! Well done bro!!!

For the hand rest, I would get a 1" wooden dowel and route a slot to fit the basin edge, then cover it with pipe foam

That is awesome!!! Your work is top notch!!!

Very nice!! If you haven't heard of them, you can send a cad file to sendcutsend and they cap cut it and bend it, so that you just have to worry about assembly. Invaluable for members who may be thinking about building their own!

Well done and congrats sir. Looks great. 👍

Thank you for the legwork. Will use this knowledge to expand my lapidary workshop. 🍻

Awesome! Awesome to the MAX!!!

Congrats! Amazing, I am new and you teach me alot. Love your videos! Thank you for sharing your knowledge with us! ❣

At 09:15 the Budding Inventor is very pleased with his Creation.

Wonderful!! I'm glad to see you so happy with it.

That looks awesome! Nice work👍👍

Well done! It looks great!

Very well done!

Very well built

You did a really great job Brother Well Done👍👍

Hurray!!! Congratulations on taking and making it your own sir, looks awesome!

Fantastic job!!!

Thanks! Congrats! Brilliant!

That looks perfect 🤩

Fantastic job!

Looks awesome!!

Heck yeah man! I can only imagine the shop you'll be able to build when you move down south!

Very cool, nice job!

Thanks!

Great work...hope it works well for you!

Congrats!

Looks good man, thumbs up!

Gonna have to figure out how to make all this DIY stuff. i want to get into lapidary stuff with all my rough material. Ive got an old 6" bench grinder 🤷‍♂️

Love it! I found a double arbor grinder setup complete with pillow blocks and small v- pulley The rogue crew are in the house PS My tumbler is rattling along Got all the bugs out of the motor setup etc

Awesome build, much more satisfaction when you built it yourself as opposed to buying one. Especially when you consider the cost of a Geni at around 2300 smackers. I have plans to build my own cabbing machine and my own small slab saw. Completely agree on the sizing issue with Genies, use one at my clubs shop and you're limited in the size you want to cab. Expect to see some cabs now!

Impressive! I’m wanting to do something similar but I’ve never built a machine from scratch. Belts are smarter I think than wheels. Less waste and cost.

nice....i am almost done building mine.....1 side has 1 expandable wheel, other side has an 8 inch trim saw and a 6 inch felt polishing wheel

Wow. That looks great 👍 i think the same way, if you can, make it yourself 👍

This is a great build I built one similar, however my bends were not as clean as yours. Good job I built mine so I can have an 80 grit and 100 grit for shaping larger stuff without rubbing knuckles. Lol

That's awesome! Could you use a cut pool noodle for your armrest? Thanks for sharing!

A pool noodle for a buck or two will be perfect and waterproof

Great Job bro! Your starting a Fire that’s going to be hard to put out. Trailblazing

Nice!

Nicely done. I was thinking of a similar getup for myself(only for cabbing though), might use sponge wheels pressed by 2 steel plates. Only problem I see is that Ill have to prep the sandpaper manually....

Impressive!!

That is built to last! It says a lot about your whole approach to lapidary when you take the time to go over every detail until it's right. Since the shop is so cold right now I'm delving into investment casting for jewelry then after that casting faceting machine components from zinc alloy, surprisingly equal to iron in tensile strength but much less corrosive. And melts at a much lower temperature! Not sure if you've seen the Popular Mechanics segment from 1970 or so but it contains plans for building a faceting machine. While I wouldn't say build that exact example it is a great educational resource for what goes into one. I remember you saying you'd like to start faceting so research is going to pay off big. You've seen the cost of what is on the market, it's insane.

A fine job 😉

You Rock!

That's awesome, I want to try to do a 32 in saw build .

A ‘water noodle’, kid’s swim toy is solid plastic foam might work better than hollow pipe insulation

Nice! Well done. I just bought a used Raytech with 6 inch expandable drums. Based on serial number (139), it must be quite old. However, looks almost like new. Must not have been used much. … Didn’t realize how expensive diamond belts are!

Pool noodle is a better rest in my opinion. Yes you have to cut it straight but it's bigger in diameter and lasts longer then foam insulation.

Get CLOSED CELL FOAM for the padding....its waterproof

one dayIll have to talk you into coming North to Ogden. I now have the lucky lapidary life that I have been able to buy Equipment. However I started out in lapidary by making my won DIY equipment. Like my first facet machine. It was a box fan and a pie pan. Im going to make a flat lap today becuase I dont have enough time to order one. Your arbor is amazing. I was getting ready to have to buy a 8" because of a order... I love all rocks but turquoise is my drug of choice. Anyways thanks for doing the work and putting it out there... PS my first year with DIY equipment I di 200K my 3rd 1/4 so cant say it cant be done... Lapidary is life LapidaryJet_385

Love your videos Jared, just wanted to say thanks for all the help and advice you give Do you think there's much advantage in having 2 expanding drums over just one? I'm considering switching to expanding drums to my 2 wheel arbor, not sure if it would be better to have 2 expanding ones or one diamond and 1 expanding. Thanks again :)

We use dollar tree pool noodles they are 2 bucks at Walmart also..

Oh... your drums are small enough so that the belts just slide off. Mine have to be worked off a little at a time. That's so much nicer. I'm a little jealous.

A pool noodle cut to fit over the edge would be an inexpensive way to rest your arms.

I just picked up an arbor and am looking to build something similar. Where did you pick up the pan/base?

Where did you buy your parts? Do you have a prefered manufacturer? Looks like my ancient, new-to-me Raytech Gem Lab 2 lapidary polisher (aka cabbing machine) needs new bearings on drive shaft. Never had to replace bearings before (looks straightforward).

How was I not subscribed? 😮 problem fixed

Could you please let me know where you bought the wheels and sanding/polishing wheels. Thanks

That looks great 👍 I found here in Finland old Raytech a-6” lapidary machine. Do you know anything about these Machines? Is that worth to buy and make it running again? It doesnt have motor, but thats not problem. Not found much information on internet bout raytech machines…Thanks for the video👍

also recommendations on a motor for 30'' plus slab saw build

ever heard of cutting rocks with diamond wire ? i want to build a mini version, any tips ?

How do I become a channel member???

Nice job, I had the same arbhor, tried to sell it on Enay, no interest, in the trash it went. Then I see yours….Nooooooooo.

Can I buy one from you?