Getting granite countertops installed in your home is a relatively simple process when looked at from the perspective of what you as the consumer can see from beginning to end. Simply put, you call us, select your slabs, & agree on the particulars, then a couple of weeks later they are installed. There is however a lengthy process involved in getting the stone from its natural state in the earth all the way to your kitchen countertop. The process of turning stone into decorative and functional building materials has been more or less the same for centuries. On the other hand, the equipment has changed dramatically in that time, and the production time greatly reduced.
When deciding to use a grinder or a hand held grinder, look at what you are about to grind. If it would be easier to hold the object and move it around the grinding wheel, then use the bench grinder. If the object is too large for this, a hand held grinder is recommended. The bench grinder can be fitted with the same discs that a right angle grinder can be fitted with. This includes diamond studded discs for cutting, hard stones for removing abrasions, and polishing pads. One of the most common use for a grinder is to sharpen the tip of an old screw driver, but this is not all it can do.
This first step of the process requires very large and heavy equipment to get the granite blocks from the earth and ready for shipping to the "gang" saws. When the blocks arrive at the gang saw operation, the entire block is cut into some 40-60 slabs simultaneously. These blocks are not a standard size, however a rough average would be 6 feet by 6 feet by 10 feet. This would yield 72 one inch thick slabs less the cutting blades, so around 60 slabs. The blades on a typical gang saw are not really blades, they are flat steel material 3" x 3/16 inch thick. They have no teeth or diamond in them. They are mounted on a large rack 2cm or 3 cm apart depending on the desired slab thickness. The rack is wider than the 6 foot wide slab. This rack in turn is mounted to an arm that is attached to the outer side of a massive flywheel creating a back and forth motion of the rack as the wheel is turned by powerful motors.
Once the block has been turned into slabs, the cart holding the 60 slabs is driven on its rail cart to the polishing line. The polishing line is another massive machine with multiple heads driving various grits of grinding and polishing wheels progressing from rough to polish. These heads drive horizontal grinders as the rough slab goes on a horizontal plane slowly through the machine on a conveyor belt. When the slabs come out the other end of the polishing line, they have become polished from their rough state. They are then loaded onto A frames for shipping to the wholesale warehouses throughout the world. At this point the slabs enter our world here at Alpha StoneWorks, and our turn in the process begins. We come to your home and make an accurate template of your countertop areas. This can easily be done on new cabinets or on top of your existing countertops without disturbing them. After we have made the template, we like to meet with you at our shop for a layout review so we can agree on which portion of the various slabs will go on the different sections of your counters.
Once we have agreed on the layout, we go to word cutting and Stone Polishing Pads
your countertops. The surface has already been polished or honed, or brushed as the case may be. We cut the counters to match the templates on what is known as a bridge saw. This is a large "upside down" table saw. The sawing motor with the diamond blade are suspended above the saw table on the "bridge". This bridge in turn is sitting on two rails some 18 feet apart with rack and pinion drive to move the entire bridge east and west. The motor with blade runs north and south on the bridge via another set of rack and pinion gears. This entire apparatus allows the blade to be positioned anywhere over the 6 foot by 12 foot slab of granite. The saw motor only moves in one straight line, so the table beneath that the slab is laying on rotates in order to allow cuts at any angle needed. The rotating table has positive lock stops at 90, 45 and 135 degrees, and can be locked in any other degree for other cuts as needed. The table on our saw tilts up to nearly vertical via hydraulic cylinders. This makes loading easy and safe for both our workers and for your material. Once the countertop pieces have been cut to size, the edge polishing process begins.
When deciding to use a grinder or a hand held grinder, look at what you are about to grind. If it would be easier to hold the object and move it around the grinding wheel, then use the bench grinder. If the object is too large for this, a hand held grinder is recommended. The bench grinder can be fitted with the same discs that a right angle grinder can be fitted with. This includes diamond studded discs for cutting, hard stones for removing abrasions, and polishing pads. One of the most common use for a grinder is to sharpen the tip of an old screw driver, but this is not all it can do.
This first step of the process requires very large and heavy equipment to get the granite blocks from the earth and ready for shipping to the "gang" saws. When the blocks arrive at the gang saw operation, the entire block is cut into some 40-60 slabs simultaneously. These blocks are not a standard size, however a rough average would be 6 feet by 6 feet by 10 feet. This would yield 72 one inch thick slabs less the cutting blades, so around 60 slabs. The blades on a typical gang saw are not really blades, they are flat steel material 3" x 3/16 inch thick. They have no teeth or diamond in them. They are mounted on a large rack 2cm or 3 cm apart depending on the desired slab thickness. The rack is wider than the 6 foot wide slab. This rack in turn is mounted to an arm that is attached to the outer side of a massive flywheel creating a back and forth motion of the rack as the wheel is turned by powerful motors.
Once the block has been turned into slabs, the cart holding the 60 slabs is driven on its rail cart to the polishing line. The polishing line is another massive machine with multiple heads driving various grits of grinding and polishing wheels progressing from rough to polish. These heads drive horizontal grinders as the rough slab goes on a horizontal plane slowly through the machine on a conveyor belt. When the slabs come out the other end of the polishing line, they have become polished from their rough state. They are then loaded onto A frames for shipping to the wholesale warehouses throughout the world. At this point the slabs enter our world here at Alpha StoneWorks, and our turn in the process begins. We come to your home and make an accurate template of your countertop areas. This can easily be done on new cabinets or on top of your existing countertops without disturbing them. After we have made the template, we like to meet with you at our shop for a layout review so we can agree on which portion of the various slabs will go on the different sections of your counters.
Once we have agreed on the layout, we go to word cutting and Stone Polishing Pads
your countertops. The surface has already been polished or honed, or brushed as the case may be. We cut the counters to match the templates on what is known as a bridge saw. This is a large "upside down" table saw. The sawing motor with the diamond blade are suspended above the saw table on the "bridge". This bridge in turn is sitting on two rails some 18 feet apart with rack and pinion drive to move the entire bridge east and west. The motor with blade runs north and south on the bridge via another set of rack and pinion gears. This entire apparatus allows the blade to be positioned anywhere over the 6 foot by 12 foot slab of granite. The saw motor only moves in one straight line, so the table beneath that the slab is laying on rotates in order to allow cuts at any angle needed. The rotating table has positive lock stops at 90, 45 and 135 degrees, and can be locked in any other degree for other cuts as needed. The table on our saw tilts up to nearly vertical via hydraulic cylinders. This makes loading easy and safe for both our workers and for your material. Once the countertop pieces have been cut to size, the edge polishing process begins.
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