[Steve Ellsworth]

Sooner or later I suppose this happens to a lot of people who cut on softer metals with rotary diamond tools.

I have managed to plug quite a few detailing coins

Typical cleaning rubber and stones don't do any good. I have been trying ferric on them with some sucess but there has to be a better way.

TIA
Steve

[tsterling]

I soak mine in oven cleaner for a couple of hours when they get really loaded up - of course, that's for ivory, antler and wood carving, but you might give it a try.

[wunderlich]

Steve Ellsworth, on May 10 2007, 11:19 PM, said:

Sooner or later I suppose this happens to a lot of people who cut on softer metals with rotary diamond tools.

I have managed to plug quite a few detailing coins

Typical cleaning rubber and stones don't do any good. I have been trying ferric on them with some sucess but there has to be a better way.

TIA
Steve

Hi Steve,

I know this problem especially on copper. To reduce this try to use your burrs on lower speed.
To clean them rub them on low speed and low pressure (to avoid damage of the diamond layer) on a piece of steel. This should scrape the copper or nickel layer out of the burr.

regards

[wunderlich]

PS. A short time ago I saw in a jewellery suppliers cataloge a kind of grinding stone. This one should be used to clean diamond burrs. But the burrs used in this case are diamond all through.

[Karl Carvalho]

Aloha Steve,

Don't know if this helps, but have you tried:
1) reversing the bits' rotation (if it is not directional) while cleaning it;
2) tumbling it in an organic media like walnut hulls;
3) putting it through a sonicator in a liquid cleaner or lubricant;
4) and/or using Crystalcut (by Crystalite) or a comparable? Lapidaries use it while running their diamond shaping tools to cool and clean the abrasives.

Obviously you should test this out on a lesser bit.
Good luck.

Karl

addendum: It does not help your particular problem, but I noticed that Crystalite offers their PBS series shaped points described as no-load. Price seems reasonable. Maybe someone else has tried them.
I use Bostik's Dri-Cote (available from Woodcraft) to coat my bits and cutters almost daily. Best started on new tooling. Their claims of non-contamination seem to hold up. Be careful; the propellant is butane/propane.

[dondougan]

Hi Steve,

I'm a stone carver and use diamond blades & tools a good bit. Recently I cut a bunch of aluminum pieces with one of my dry-cut sintered diamond blades — 'gumming' it up a good bit with aluminum deposits on the surface. I just turned around and cut up some travertine (spring-deposited limestone about as hard as medium-hard marble), and the aluminum was completely gone in less than two minutes of cutting.

Whatever it is worth,
Don

www.dondougan.com

[Steve Ellsworth]

Thanks for all the good ideas
I'll givethem all a try.
I have gone the route with Ferric - probably close to oven cleaner
three different stones for diamond cleaning - but I'll get some differnt rocks to see if they grab it out
and i have hit the steel plate.

I think all of these work for the rougher grit diamonds - the onesi have been going nuts with are thetype they use for final work and polishing - very fine grit. The lowest being about 1200 and up to 2500 in a gold plated tip.

Appreciate it!

SLE

[Mark Strom]

I am about to carve a copper bracelet and was told on this forum from numerous sources about the clogging problem. Did a little asking around and was given this suggestion for the more open burrs... dip them in dishwashing soap or hit them on a bar of soap before grinding, repeating frequently.
This information was passed on to me in a round about way. An "old timer" that worked in a shipyard and ground alot of aluminum used this to keep his burrs clean.
Have no clue whether it works or not but I am about to find out and will pass along the results.

Mark

[Bob Duncan]

While I have no first-hand experience with it, I've heard very good things about the ultra sonic jewelery cleaners, such as the one offered at the following link by Gesswein
http://www.gesswein.com/catalog/catalog.cf...FTOKEN=25668422

I'm in no way trying to endorse the Gesswein model; it was simply to illustrate what I was talking about.

Bob Duncan
Technical Editor
Woodcarving Illustrated

[pegasus]

Steve Ellsworth, on May 10 2007, 06:19 PM, said:

Sooner or later I suppose this happens to a lot of people who cut on softer metals with rotary diamond tools.

I have managed to plug quite a few detailing coins

Typical cleaning rubber and stones don't do any good. I have been trying ferric on them with some sucess but there has to be a better way.

TIA
Steve

Steve, you might try high speed burrs for this job. Also available in carbide. Many sizes and shapes. Available from any jewelers tool supply. Lubricate with bee's wax. D

[Don The Carving Glove Guy]

Steve, I have used a brass brush to clean my tools. I purchased a flat disk brush. Then I mounted it so that it would be able to rotate on a shaft. When I put my tool against the outer edge of the disk and turn on my power tool the brush rotates and cleans my bits. This works great. If you enclose 80 percent of the diameter of the brush in a wood case then when you use the brush you do not get brissles in your hand.