3M FX wheels on stone or glass?

Jewelry Discussion
1

Has anyone tried the new 3M FX wheels on stone or glass? I’m curious
if they would be effective.

Don Friedlich

2

I was gonig to use the new green wheels on turquoise but chickened
out at the last minute. I figured that unless you could run them wet
they heat up too fast. I can see then thermal cracking quartz in
short order with out water and burning turquoise in spots rather
than the whole stone. The greens do have the feel of foam backed
lapidary wheels because they are entirely foam based. I bet under
water they would work well in final polishing.

Sam Patania, Tucson
www.patanias.com

3 
    I was gonig to use the new green wheels on turquoise but
chickened out at the last minute. I figured that unless you  could
run them wet they heat up too fast. I can see then  thermal
cracking quartz in short order with out water and burning turquoise
in spots rather than the whole stone. The greens do have the feel
of foam backed lapidary wheels  because they are entirely foam
based. I bet under water they  would work well in final polishing.

At the recent MJSA show in NYC, I asked Rich Bohr from 3M about using
these wheels on stones. Yes, the wheels can be run wet but he said
they had not used them with a water feed as for lapidary and he has
no data on that usage. Right now, “wet” means soaking the wheel in
water. The good news is that they are running the wheels through
lapidary testing and they should have results fairly soon.

Elaine
Elaine Corwin

Gesswein Co. Inc.
The Right Tools
Tel: 1-800-544-2043 x287