[meteorite-list] wire saw cost

[mail at mhmeteorites.com]

The optimal wire thickness for cutting stony meteorites to produce the straightest cuts and longest wire life is about 250 um (that includes the diamond coating on the wire). This is from my own experience. I can cut with 150 um wire, if needed. I stopped cutting irons and pallasites on the wire saw since it wasn't very cost effective for me or the customer. Plus they are a total pain in the butt.
Matt

------------------------
Matt Morgan
Mile High Meteorites
http://www.mhmeteorites.com
P.O. Box 151293
Lakewood, CO 80215

-----Original Message-----
From: "Marcin Cimala" <marcin at meteoryt.net>
Sender: meteorite-list-bounces at meteoritecentral.com
Date: Fri, 11 Mar 2011 03:11:41 
To: <meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com>
Reply-To: Marcin Cimala <marcin at meteoryt.net>
Subject: Re: [meteorite-list] wire saw cost

Hi List
I like to pay Your attention that diamnond wire saw is not best method for 
irons. Much better idea how to cut irons (exclude pallasites) is EDM - 
Electrical Discharge Machining
http://www.wireedm.com/wireedm.htm
http://www.mech.kuleuven.be/pp/research/edm
This can cut everything what conduct voltage, so graphite, iron or diamonds 
:) I remember photo of Canyon Diablo badly cut around nano diamond rich 
nodule, becouse it was impossible to cut using conventional methods. For EDM 
it could be easy.
Also in diamond wire saw You can't use very thin wires for irons becouse it 
will simply tear off very fast. Maybe Mr Morgan can tell what thickness he 
usualy use for most irons vs stones? In EDM equipment I use wolfram wire 
have 0.12mm thickness. In diamond wire saw u can't even think about this 
thickness.

Diamond wire cutting is perrfect for stony meteorites or pallasites. But for 
irons I want suggest EDM as a preffered method.
Ofcourse there is alvays one "but"...

What material You want to cut (how expensive and how big).
Becouse cutting 5kg Campo will be also expensive and take many hours of 
cutting, and every hour cost. Anyway I dont see a sense of cutting campo not 
matter why :D
In EDM You can very precise cut thick slice of historic iron into two 
thinner slices or cut small (lets say up to 500g) irons all types.
There is also problem how to find good place to cut becouse this equipment 
is much more expensive than diamond wire saw, so not everyone will like to 
waste *expensive* time of his machine to cut strange piece of crap that some 
freak bring to him.....

Anyway from my personal experience, if I can choose cutting iron for free on 
my diamond saw (not wire) or pay for EDM I choose ofcourse second option. I 
have less cut loses not only from cutting , but also from grinding becouse 
slices are much more flat than from typical diamond blade. Ofcourse diamond 
wire saw will make same flat surface as EDM but for me is much more 
expensive, something like 5x :) so calculations are simple.

-----[ MARCIN CIMALA ]-----[ I.M.C.A.#3667 ]-----
http://www.Meteoryty.pl             marcin(at)meteoryty.pl
http://www.PolandMET.com       marcin(at)polandmet.com
http://www.Gao-Guenie.com      GSM: +48 (793) 567667
--------[ Member of Polish Meteoritical Society ]--------


______________________________________________
Visit the Archives at http://www.meteoritecentral.com/mailing-list-archives.html
Meteorite-list mailing list
Meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com
http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list