Quarry & Extraction
Diamond Wire Saw
A diamond wire saw cuts stone with a steel cable threaded with small beads that carry diamonds, kept apart by springs or by a plastic or rubber coating, and cooled with water. It cuts marble, granite and other stones in the quarry and in the plant, faster and with less waste than the abrasive methods it replaced. The type of bead, the speed of the wire and the cooling are chosen for each stone.
Each bead is a small steel sleeve with a layer of diamonds, either sintered in a metal powder or held by electroplating, and the beads sit on the cable at a fixed spacing. The wire is twisted before it is closed into a loop, so the beads turn as they cut and wear evenly all round. Water runs into the cut to cool the beads and wash out the stone dust.
Wire life is counted in square meters cut per meter of wire, and it depends on the stone, the bead and the speed. Hard, abrasive granite wears beads faster than marble. A worn wire is changed and a broken one is joined again with a crimped connector, so quarries keep track of when each wire went on and what it cut, to know its real cost.
In Noria Strata
In Noria Strata a diamond wire change is logged as a service on the wire saw, with its hours and fuel, so you see what the machine produced, what it burned and when it needs service.