How to Cut Gemstones With Dremel | DIY Rotary Tool Water Tank Dropper

With electroforming, I use a lot of gemstones. I buy them already cut and polished or rough. Sometimes they need to be adapted to the project that I'm doing and, especially, the rough ones, need to be cut.

Cutting stones is relatively easy, but inconvenient because of all the dust they produce during the process.

Breathing silica dust or other kind of mineral's is not good for your health. Using a mask could be a solution, but the result, in the long-term, will be a lab cover with a layer of dust even if you clean every day, and you don't want it in your electroforming bath.

The best solution that every gemstone worker knows is WATER.

Water will prevent all the dust from flying everywhere, but I don't have all the machinery to work with stones, so I needed to do something cheap and fast.

Since I already have a rotary tool with diamond discs, I decide to do some adaptation to it.

Tools I used in this project:

• Rotary tool
• Diamond cutting disc
• Marker
• Knife
• a sharp metal stick
• Scissors
• Electric drill
• Cone drill bits or any other kind of drill bits

 and materials:

• Plastic bottle
• fish tank water pump
• rubber hose
• zip ties
• Epoxy resin (must be water-resistant)
• aluminum wire or any kind of soft metal wire
• Duct tape (if you mess up)

I recycled a plastic bottle as a container. The bottle needs to be large enough to make room for the rotary tool.

 I marked the design I needed with a marker and then cut with scissors. I left 5 cm on the bottom to hold the water, and I kept the handle to hold the hose that comes from the pump.

With the cone drill bit, I made a 1.8 cm hole for the rotary tool to pass through.

At first, I drill the hole on one side, but the next day I change my mind and make the hole a bit bigger (2 cm) on the back. In this way, I didn't have to hold the rotary tool with my hand and there was less splashing water. I covered the previous hole with duct tape.

With epoxy resin, I glued the water pump on the bottom, and it was a mess. The next day, the pump got detached, I didn't have waterproof epoxy, so I decided to secure it with zip ties.

I mounted the rubber hose on the pump and make it pass through the handle of the bottle. I also add a smaller piece of hose at the end and choke it with a zip tie. Furthermore, I pierced a hole for the spillage of the water.

On the handle, I putted a piece of aluminum wire with zip ties to hold up the hose and make it adjustable.

This was an easy project, fast and cheap. It's not supposed to be used to slice big stones, but only to cut sharp edges or small pieces.

 I hope you liked this project, please check the video on YouTube. 

Thank you all! CuForming.