GB> Crystal Grinding Abrasives

[Brian AF4K]

Hi Fritz - Speaking of crystal grinding...

I had wondered about the compounds... someone called me this 
week wanting to know why he was destroying his crystal blanks by 
grinding them with a grinding stone and no slurry!

I told him he had better read up on grinding techniques!
I also told him about  Hans Summer's ink "penning" method to 
move them DOWN in frequencyt, as he may have several 
that are just above the ham bands too.

That being said - if anyone wants to experiment, I have quite a few
boxes of quartz crystal blanks here, many with holder plates,
springs etc. if needed. A number are in the AM Broadcast band
and can be used as-is or moved up to 160m.

If anyone would like some - I have a bunch of blanks that 
are in the 4 to 9 MHz range. These  are in boxes of about 100 or 
about 200 each. I can sell them or trade them for other ham parts 
and goodies that you don't need.

http://www.qsl.net/n6ev/ft243.txt
http://www.electronics-tutorials.com/oscillators/crystal-grinding.htm
http://www.subdevo.com/radio/crystal%20grinding/crystal%20grinding.htm
http://www.af4k.com/Boatanchors_Directory/Crystals.htm

QTHR

73 from AF4K, Brian

On 2 Nov 2005 at 23:52, Registered User wrote:

> I've been using Dremel polishing compound as a coarse abrasive to
> grind crystals. Recently I purchased some more and noticed the new was
> not as coarse as the old. A second purchase from a different vendor
> showed the same difference. The product still does a FB job but a
> coarser abrasive works better for moving a crystal's frequency several
> hundred kcs. 
> 
> This evening I tried using valve grinding compound as the coarse
> abrasive, specifically Permatex 34A. This product is very abrasive but
> is too thin to use alone as a slurry. A suitable mixture can be made
> by combining the two products. It took about an hour to move three
> 3237 kcs crystals into the 80 meter band.
> 
> The grinding compound is inexpensive, a 1.5 oz. tube lists for $2.99,
> and can be found in a blister pack at an auto parts jobber. This
> particular product does use ethylene glycol as a lubricant but with
> reasonable precautions there should be no safety issues.
> 
> 73 de n4jvp
> Fritz

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