FILENAMES: WIRESA1.JPG WIRESA2.JPG WIRESA3.JPG WIRESA4.JPG WIRESA5.JPG DESCRIPTION: These are pictures of a stone cutting wire saw. Posted by Peter Drumm . Peter provided the following description: ================================================================= These are some pictures of one of the wire saws at the AB&J Rose Red Quarry. I've been running it for the last week, it was shut down for over a year prior to this. It uses 1000ft of twisted steel wire(metalworking content :)) and Silicon Carbide grit to do the cutting. The stone being sawed is ~7ft long x 4ft high, it takes a little over 2 hours & 150 lbs of SiC to make one cut, this wire is on the sixth and last cut in this stone. The pics are wiresa1.jpg thru wiresa5.jpg, a brief explanation of each; 1- A close shot of the wire entering the stone 2- The slurry tank, top is 20ft above the floor. The SiC + water mix is pumped up here and gravity fed to the wire, it then collects in a trench under the floor and is recycled constantly. 3 & 4- The exit end of the wire from 2 different angles, also showing one of the cutting wheels. 5- Opposite side of the stone, entrance end, and the 30,000lb forklift. If you have any questions, post them to rec.crafts.metalworking or send e-mail. Peter Drumm, pdrumm@dwave.net