Cutting Granite

[sergei@larsen.com.ua]

Dear Colleagues,

Could you please share your experience on machining grnaite with Shopbot routers. Is it possible? Are there any special tools, etc.?

Thank you

[Mayo]

Unless you have isolated the electronics from the spray of water you will need to direct onto the diamond cutting bits and the surface of the granite, don't even consider it.

I have seen granite counter top installers cut out the sink cut-outs using dry cut, diamond bladed grinders, and it goes fairly quick, but I'm not sure if there are router bits you can use to dry cut granite.

I visited a large granite fabricator in Chicago and looked at their machinery and in my opinion, in comparison with machinery that is specifically designed to cut stone, the Shopbot just isn't capable of cutting granite (for production) in its current configuration. Maybe for an occasional use if you can find the right bits.

The whole machine would need to be much stronger - the rails, the table, the motors, everything.

The diamond router bits this company uses cost over $1000.00 each. They have water constantly flooding the bit as it cuts/shapes the stone and the water goes into floor drains where it is then filtered and recycled and the "sludge" gets removed.

Serious major investments involved in getting the right equipment that can handle slabs of granite. Computerized cutting saws (water cooled) with concrete lazy-susan tables that allow you to turn the slab any direction on a horizontal plane.

It was a very cool place. I took pictures.