Lapidary / Gemstone Community Forum

In the process of cleaning this (new to me) saw (thanks again Frank!) I discovered it contained a quantity of stones and a very high level of oil. Is this standard? The TS-8 manuals I found on line suggested only enough oil to cover the lower 1/4th inch of the blade, while this level seems to cover quite a lot more than that (and tends to foam everywhere when the blade is in use.)

Oil is hygroscopic. It can, will, absorb water from the atmosphere. The oil and water will become emulsified. That might account for the depth of the oil. The rocks in the oil will also increase the oil depth.

Try this; take two 5 gallon plastic buckets. Drill a bunch of holes in the bottom of one. Then place that bucket inside the other one. Place a paper grocery bag in the one with the holes. Pour your oil into the bag and let gravity do it's job. That will get the grit out of the oil, but not the water.

Our club equipment manager believes the emulsified oil will still do it's job of keeping things cool and lubricated. Others might disagree, but it seems to work just fine.

I'd go along with the instructions and keep the oil level from a half to one quarter inch of blade, or less.

If you put too much oil in you will get sprayed and get  wet. If you are short of oil, you can put a brick in the bottom of the pan. I try to get my oil up about a quarter inch on the bottom of the blade whether it is a small saw of a big slab saw.

Thanks for the advice! There's a lot of sediment in the oil but it seems to be relatively settled, and there is also little to no rust inside; I've dished out some of it and will get a little more out, then put the lid back on and cut! I'll be seeing about getting a belt guard for sure.

Hydraulic oil is hygroscopic because of additives.  Those same additives make it nasty to your health.  Water intrusion from rain will emulsify when the saw is run.  Milky foam is a good indication of this.  Get it out. It will grow bacteria and get really stinky and hard on your skin.  If it is just dirty, then for sure filter and reuse.  If you read through the archives you will find all kinds of places where people have sourced plain mineral oil.  The most easily obtained is baby oil from Wally World.  1/4" is a good number.

One note on the paper bag filter method - any small shards left in the oil may tear the bag and ruin the filter process (happened to me). I switched to just pouring the mud into a 5-gallon bucket and setting on a bench in a warm spot. After a couple of weeks the sediment settles out and clean oil separates on top. I siphon it into a jug to re-use.

-Jeremy

Jeremy, I will try this next time.  I know if I let it sit in the saw that it will settle out.  Leaving it in the saw makes for a hard clean up.

You can get rid of the water in the oil by putting the oil in a jug and putting it in the freezer for a day or two. The water will freeze and you can then pour the oil off and leave the water behind.

Tony

That's a very good idea. Thanks!

Ok my next question is how to dispose of the sludge. I took a flat-head screwdriver to the measurable levels of cemented sediment because it was causing the table to sit over too far and foul the blade. There's a notch in the table where it was fouling with the old blade. The new blade is smaller and thicker and was rubbing behind the notch, so I raided the house screw cabinet, cleaned up the table and rim of the box and made sure the table was wedged as far over as possible before screwing it back down. The blade spins freely now.