grizman
freely admits to licking rocks
Member since July 2011
Posts: 878
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Post by grizman on Nov 15, 2014 11:58:47 GMT -5
I was gifted a brand new Inland flat lap that I am just unpacking. I think it will get well used by me in getting some of my cut slabs and tumbling rough ready for the vibe. It comes with a 170 grit diamond lap, as well as finer grits. My question is how course of a diamond lap can I use to take off the excess material on my agates, jaspers, etc. without destroying the stone with major chipping? Will the 170 be course enough, or can I get something even courser for rapid, efficient excess rough removal for my pre-tumbling? I see that the courser the lap the more expensive, so I am wondering what I need or can settle for? Besides Inland, is there a better (cheaper) source for 8" diamond laps?
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grizman
freely admits to licking rocks
Member since July 2011
Posts: 878
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Post by grizman on Nov 15, 2014 14:44:10 GMT -5
OK folks, I just showered, shaved, and put on "stink-em". Is it me or what's wrong with my request? Hasn't someone out there used something courser than the stock 170 diamond lap plate on an Inland lap machine? I know, it's the week-end, there is college football on the tube, and some of you are busy shoveling snow! I'll just wait and see if someone has some kind of response. Have a great week-end!
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Post by Drummond Island Rocks on Nov 15, 2014 17:06:50 GMT -5
Back in my flat lap days of cabbing I started with a 100 grit diamond plate with no issues. On the vertical wheel machines I use an 80 grit to pre-grind agates for the tumbler but mine go in rotaries for a few weeks even after pre-grind so I do not worry about small chipping.
Chuck
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Post by deb193redux on Nov 15, 2014 17:53:26 GMT -5
If you need to go from uniform slab to domed, that is a lot of material to take off. A 100g or 120g could be useful. But, play with the 170 and see how aggressive it is. You may be OK with it for a while. It may get more like 220 over time.
If you have even rougher surface and/or matrix to remove, you might even want a 60g, but that is really done better on a wheel (or the side of a saw blade).
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Thunder69
Cave Dweller
Thunder 2000-2015
Member since January 2009
Posts: 3,101
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Post by Thunder69 on Nov 15, 2014 19:16:20 GMT -5
I have an Inland myself...I ordered an 80 grit lap disk from John at Jsgems...It eats agate pretty quick..It has been a little while since I ordered it and it is still cutting fine.......JOhn
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Post by pghram on Nov 15, 2014 21:46:16 GMT -5
I agree 80 or 100 will be much faster for initial shaping. I use 80 grit 8 inch diamond wheel for initial shaping, then go the inland. 170 is slow, but in the beginning, just learning, slow is good.
Rich
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Deleted
Deleted Member
Member since January 1970
Posts: 0
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Post by Deleted on Dec 11, 2014 11:29:57 GMT -5
Greetings [grizman] I use the following 80, 220, 600 and 1200 diamond steel laps for shaping then 3000, 8000, 14000, 50000 on foam laps for sanding and polishing, I got mine from Hans Lapidary Club in China, also available on Hans Lapidary Club (Amazon USA). The 80 grit steel lap eats Quartz and Chalcedony (Agate and Jaspers) and still looks new if you use plenty of water, the laps have been in service at my club ( Leith Lapidary Club) for 6 months now for all members to use. The club also has 80 grit textured 6"x1.5", 220 6"x2", 360 6"x1.5", 600 6"x1.5" standard diamond steel wheels for shaping and two Expando wheels with 600, 1200, 14000, 50000 for sanding and polishing. Please check out my Sticky's below. -- Please click images to open larger images in a new Tab, same with everything that is Underlined! I currently have a 3lb Beach (UK), Lortone QT 12/66 (USA) rotaries & 2x Viking Vibrasonic (Diamond Pacific) (USA) virbrating tumblers, with Silicon Carbide grit F80, F220, F600, F1200, with Tin Oxide (1.0 micron) & Aluminum Oxide (1.0 micron & 0.3 micron) polishes. I hail from (The Barony of Seabegs) Bonnybridge, Stirlingshire, U.K, where aliens (15mb) sometimes come for a visit & about 4 miles west from that monstrosity & 7 miles west of this new monstrosity! Sticky's: their contents are resource information 1#: Vendors worldwide (2mb), 2#: How to use the forum, 3#: How to identify rocks & minerals, 4#: Save money on expensive grits & polishes, 5#: Aussie Lapidary Forum: Rock Tumbling Guide!
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unclesoska
freely admits to licking rocks
All those jade boulders tossed in search of gold!
Member since February 2011
Posts: 934
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Post by unclesoska on Dec 11, 2014 12:23:49 GMT -5
I got a 8" 60 grit lap for my inland as I had some horrendous saw marks on small flats I wanted to vibe tumble. The 170 cut like on old gramma for this. The 60 works like a badger, and I can still smooth things out with the 170.
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victor1941
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since November 2011
Posts: 1,975
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Post by victor1941 on Dec 12, 2014 11:28:39 GMT -5
I use jadecarver in calif. for flat laps, such as the 60 and 80, to remove saw kerfs and to shape cabs and flats for a vibe tumble. I am using randy's method in a uv-18 vibe with great results. Randy's vibe method does easily remove the scratches on hard agate but does cause undercutting on material with softer areas. I have used kingsley north for flat laps but think the jade carver laps last longer for my use. They also ship at a flat rate so the box can be filled on a single order.
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