Taurus III Diamond Ring Saw
January 6, 2007
So the other day my glass saw exploded…
Admittedly I’m doing the panel versions of the Emergents series and needing a LOT of intricate cutting that probably stressed the saw. But…exploded?
Yup. I was in the middle of a cut, the saw gave a jump and a screech, and I stopped. The little plastic gears on either side of the blade needed replacing (a kinda tedious, grubby task), so I did that, snapped everything back into place and started again.
Screeeeeeeeeeee, clunk, bang. Pieces of saw housing flew all over the place, the blade fell sideways and I got mightily splashed. I’m still not sure what happened, but I know now that part of the Taurus II ring saw is held together by silicon caulk and double-faced tape, not the sturdiest of materials in a waterbath. That’s about all that’s left of the right side housing.
There aren’t all that many things that can make tiny inside cuts like this in glass:
So to finish the piece I needed a new saw. For probably obvious reasons I didn’t plan on getting another Taurus II, but what about the Taurus III? I hit up some websites, played with the saw downtown, and got one.
There’s not much to setting it up. You take the saw and its red plastic waterbath out of the box, take the standalone bottom housing off the saw, stick the saw in the bath, slide the tabletop on the bath, and plug the thing in. Then you fill the bath to the waterline with water, and start sawing.
The manual’s a bit confusing and hard to read, but Gemini (the company that makes the Taurus saws) has put together a DVD that explains things well, is well-organized and (moreover) fun to watch. In fact, I got such a kick out of it that I watched it twice. (I admit I have an odd sense of humor)
I learned quite a bit as well; I hadn’t realized that these saws can also cut granite although if I’d thought a bit it shouldn’t have surprised me. You can also remove the saw from its waterbath, soak the sponges filling the until now-unused lower housing in water, and take the saw to the work.
There appear to be fewer opportunities to wear the saw to bits as I did before, and since the beast uses the same blades as my old saw I can use the spare blade I already have.
I used the Taurus III this afternoon and overall am pretty happy with it. It’s got a wider table and deeper throat so that I have less trouble using it. I was told it was much, much quieter but I can’t tell the difference (except that this one isn’t screaming and exploding).
The saw moved easily through about 5mm of fused glass and I controlled it pretty precisely. One of the big problems I have with wet saws of any kind is that any cutting lines you draw on the glass tend to shiver off in all the water and vibration. The DVD suggested painting the lines with rubber cement to waterproof them. It did make them waterproof, but it didn’t make them stick to the glass. Instead, the entire line stuck to the rubber cement and lifted off when the water hit it. It was kinda neat but not particularly useful. I think I’ll go back to using vaseline, which seems to make the line waterproof AND stick.
The Taurus cuts pretty thick glass slowly but well. I’m in the process of carving the “pods” for Hostabowl right now, and the first step is sawing the rough shape out of a casting that’s an inch thick at the center. Did pretty well, actually:
Anyway, the III works, appears to be a bit sturdier than its older brother and it’s letting me get back to work. Is it the world’s best glass cutting saw? Probably not–I don’t like the lightweight plastic, the motor too easily chokes and the throat still isn’t deep enough (or tall enough) for much more than handheld pieces. OTOH, I have neither the bucks or the maintenance skill (right now) to own a regular glass bandsaw–tried one at Doug Randall’s place and fell in love with it, but during the week I was there it was down at least once each day.
So the Taurus may be the next best alternative. Prices on this saw vary widely (I found everything from $435 to $319) so it pays to shop around. The cheapest prices were online, the most instant gratification (naturally) is local.
Addendum (2/21/07): Tried the Taurus today as a standalone saw, out of its stand. Hostabowl came out of the mold with some biggish flashing, and I decided to try “taking the saw to the work,” as described in the video. Took about 3 minutes for the saw to let out a groan and stop. The blade had overheated and bent, despite my following the directions (you soak the foam-filled cover with water, screw it onto the machine).
I found it extremely difficult to control the saw, which probably contributed to ruining the blade. There’s no really good place for a handhold, especially if you have small hands. The saw needed two hands to control it, which meant I didn’t have a hand on the work. All in all, it was a precarious setup that made me uncomfortable (and I guess should have, because it obviously didn’t work).
So…that little lesson cost me an $80 saw blade. From now on the Taurus stays in its water tub (assuming there’s nothing else wrong with it once I get a new blade installed) and I’m going back to using the Foredom diamond tools if I need to cut off mold flashing.
–sigh–
Bad glass day
January 3, 2007
It strikes me that I’m generally posting news of glass problems here instead of glass victories. I do have plenty of the latter, but for some reason I’m finding the problems more interesting. Maybe as part of my New Years resolutions I’ll start posting the successes, too…
Anyway.
One of the things I like most about glassblowing is the ability to attach “bits” and “cookies” and such, i.e., auxilliary hunks of glass that become part of the work. It’s harder to do that with kilnforming, and most people who try use “cold fusion,” i.e., glue, to make it happen.
I decided to see if I could do one of the most basic operations–putting a foot on a piece–during the slumping process. So I chose Bullseye’s square glass bowl, a fairly deep slumping mold, built a foot at the bottom of it, and slumped a blank over it.
