(Yet another) Beginner’s quest into lapping
Dec 30, 2019 18:42:47 GMT -5
RWA3006 and EricD like this
Post by serg10 on Dec 30, 2019 18:42:47 GMT -5
Hej from the south of Sweden,
First post, looking for some advice to start lapping as someone with zero experience, and sharing a bit of my research journey so far in case it helps others at this stage.
As I’m sure it’s the case for some of you, I live in an area with plenty of nice rocks and pebbles, which I often come across when I’m out with my dogs. Recently I started wondering how to make something of them, and a few days of Googling around, I am definitely as excited as I am confused, which led me here.
There’s not much I have figured out so far, but the style I want to go for: faceting. I understood then that the right machine for creating surfaces is a flat lap, not a cabbing one. At least initially, I have no plans to cut the rocks, but rather to work with their original shape, just to trim them down creating polished polihedra.
Now, as someone heavily spoiled to just searching for stuff on Amazon and immediately going through 3 pages of decent products with lots of reviews, boy was I in for a surprise. As far as I can find, almost the only option out there that is not tailored for precious gemstones is the All-U-need from Hi-tech Diamond brand, and its inclined version, Slant Cabber. Alternatively, Swaptop from Inland also seemed a good option at first, though I have read mostly concerning reviews and they are out of stock. Not to mention the prices and lack of supply here in Europe.
With that prospect, I needed to keep looking. I have seen a few adventurous DIY projects on Youtube, but I’m afraid it is not within my skills to build one of these flatlaps from scratch.
Bottomline, what I need is a machine with a rotating engine (around 1750rpm as I understood) that can accept diamond discs and where I can keep them wet safely. I was excited to find the knife-sharpening bench grinders, which hold a rotating stone in a water tank, even if it is placed vertically. Unfortunately, it seems that these machines rpm is below 200, which seems to be a no-no for lapping.
The dry version of these machines rotate much faster (2900rpm), which if I understand right, it would also not be adequate for this purpose.
Then I found this one, with adjustable speed, which so far seems to be my best option (or is it?).
To make it work, I would need of course to fix a small irrigation system to keep the discs wet, and also use a simple rpm-meter to set the speed level accurately, since the machine has no indicator.
Here my main questions about this setup, and where I would really appreciate some reality slap from some experts around here before I go ahead and waste my money .
1. How stupid is to attempt to lap stones vertically? Almost every machine I have seen is horizontal, I’m sure for a good reason. I was however happy to see the Slant Cabber model that places the discs close to vertical, allegedly for better visibility.
2. Do you see a risk to attempt attaching diamond discs to this machine? I assume it is best to use a thicker base disc and then place the diamond disc on top of that one. Given the distance to the engine, I feel relatively confident that adding some water dripping system to the disc should not be a hazard (thoughts welcome either way).
3. About the diamond discs, I read that it is best to get them electroplated, but I did not completely understand if these discs also need some polishing compound, or how high grit is recommended for a glossy outcome. I have seen some up to 3000, though I thought that when you get this high you use rather a felt disc, not a diamond one? Any guidance here is also appreciated.
Any other reflections or tips to get started is much welcome!
Thanks for reading all the way,
Sergio
First post, looking for some advice to start lapping as someone with zero experience, and sharing a bit of my research journey so far in case it helps others at this stage.
As I’m sure it’s the case for some of you, I live in an area with plenty of nice rocks and pebbles, which I often come across when I’m out with my dogs. Recently I started wondering how to make something of them, and a few days of Googling around, I am definitely as excited as I am confused, which led me here.
There’s not much I have figured out so far, but the style I want to go for: faceting. I understood then that the right machine for creating surfaces is a flat lap, not a cabbing one. At least initially, I have no plans to cut the rocks, but rather to work with their original shape, just to trim them down creating polished polihedra.
Now, as someone heavily spoiled to just searching for stuff on Amazon and immediately going through 3 pages of decent products with lots of reviews, boy was I in for a surprise. As far as I can find, almost the only option out there that is not tailored for precious gemstones is the All-U-need from Hi-tech Diamond brand, and its inclined version, Slant Cabber. Alternatively, Swaptop from Inland also seemed a good option at first, though I have read mostly concerning reviews and they are out of stock. Not to mention the prices and lack of supply here in Europe.
With that prospect, I needed to keep looking. I have seen a few adventurous DIY projects on Youtube, but I’m afraid it is not within my skills to build one of these flatlaps from scratch.
Bottomline, what I need is a machine with a rotating engine (around 1750rpm as I understood) that can accept diamond discs and where I can keep them wet safely. I was excited to find the knife-sharpening bench grinders, which hold a rotating stone in a water tank, even if it is placed vertically. Unfortunately, it seems that these machines rpm is below 200, which seems to be a no-no for lapping.
The dry version of these machines rotate much faster (2900rpm), which if I understand right, it would also not be adequate for this purpose.
Then I found this one, with adjustable speed, which so far seems to be my best option (or is it?).
To make it work, I would need of course to fix a small irrigation system to keep the discs wet, and also use a simple rpm-meter to set the speed level accurately, since the machine has no indicator.
Here my main questions about this setup, and where I would really appreciate some reality slap from some experts around here before I go ahead and waste my money .
1. How stupid is to attempt to lap stones vertically? Almost every machine I have seen is horizontal, I’m sure for a good reason. I was however happy to see the Slant Cabber model that places the discs close to vertical, allegedly for better visibility.
2. Do you see a risk to attempt attaching diamond discs to this machine? I assume it is best to use a thicker base disc and then place the diamond disc on top of that one. Given the distance to the engine, I feel relatively confident that adding some water dripping system to the disc should not be a hazard (thoughts welcome either way).
3. About the diamond discs, I read that it is best to get them electroplated, but I did not completely understand if these discs also need some polishing compound, or how high grit is recommended for a glossy outcome. I have seen some up to 3000, though I thought that when you get this high you use rather a felt disc, not a diamond one? Any guidance here is also appreciated.
Any other reflections or tips to get started is much welcome!
Thanks for reading all the way,
Sergio