I like to use cork but it needs to be sealed if you want it to last. After you cut the gasket out then coat it with silicone on both sides, put a sheet of saran wrap  on both sides and put it in the saw to cure, finger tighten the top on but don't crank it down, let it cure for a day or two, then pull the saran wrap off and you should have a gasket that is good for a few years.

Tony

Looks typical of agate sitting out in the hot desert sun for a long time before someone found it. Almost everything in Arizona has the reddish coating, commonly called desert varnish.
I have seen it on lots of material in SE Oregon. Not sure where the carnelian came from but it may be natural.

Still pretty cool looking.
Tony

It was great to meet both of you!
Pretty sure we will be meeting up again...................Tony

Nice find!

As many places as I can make it to.

Tony

Bruce Markus told me that when they hit the vein with the white and red they pushed about 40 tons of it over the side. He kept a little cause he liked it but didn't think  it would sell. He told me where it is if we feel like going and digging it out from underneath several hundreds of tons of overburden. He was an amazing man. There used to be a website with pictures and the whole story of how he found and mined the Owyhee Gem but alas, last I checked the domain had expired and it is gone.

Tony

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

Any hydraulic oil will work, you can even put clean  mineral oil in it.
The hydraulic only works as a dampener so that when you hit the end of the cut your carriage doesn't slam into the back of the saw. If you have the auto shut off attachment still on your saw you can also use that instead of the hydraulics to accomplish the same thing.

Good saw, you will like it.
PS- the most common mistake with that saw is to keep adding weight, that will make your blade glaze over and quit cutting.

Have fun with it.........................Tony

I wish for you many many years of trouble free sawing!

Thanks!
Tony

I always run a fairly thick electrical cord through the pulleys and then make a mark across both of them, stretch it out and measure from mark to mark, it will be fairly close to your belt length.

Welcome!

Tony

I have done it also, but I just cut the slot a little bigger and had not problems with anything except I had to shim the bottom of the saw up so the blade didnt cut a hole in the bottom of the water tray.

I then ran onto a batch of 7" lapidary blades so I have about 100 of them to go through now so I am back to the 7" blades.

Tony

Welcome!

I hear Yuma is a good place for what you are doing.
Good luck with it.

Tony

Take the bearings out and measure inner diameter, outer diameter, and width then go here

www.gotbearings.com/

input all the measurements, it will give you a part number.
You then input the part number into Google and pick out which ones you want to order.

Tony

The EZ Cab is a good machine also. I am a distributor for them also. They do use chinese wheels and the last time I talked to them you had to provide your own drip system, they were working on getting a drip system set up that you could add to the purchase but I dont think it is done yet. Making your own drip system is relatively easy so if you are up to that then it is a good choice.

Tony

I am not sold on the upgraded baseboard, I have sold a couple of genies with the upgraded baseboards but they are still plywood and still have the same problems after being wet for a few years. If I were to get myself a new one I would buy the regular one and then get a piece of Corian to replace it with, it will never fall apart due to being wet. Makes for a lifetime baseboard.

Tony