This is my latest fast faceting system. This one is special, as the alloy has been softened and has a built in lubricant in the metal matrix.This 1200 mesh ring produces a fast aggressive cut with a silk smooth finish especially on quartz.On CZ it gives a scratchy finish with the special alloy pre-polish taking care of that very nicely and sapphire you still get facet peel,but it was reduced in Tourmaline from previous alloys.The centre is my special alloy with a 3000 compound applied to the outer section and 100,000 to the centre. I polished ten tourmalines so far and its been the most efficient so far of all my lap combinations. I also polished a sapphire and found that it dulled the copper section of the lap a little and still produced a facet peel effect but not as prominate as on previous bronze discs.The final polishing for sapphire I upped the polish to 200,000 to remove very fine white cat hair lines.To restore the copper finish I faceted a garnet and it restored the lap to original after half a dozen facets without the need for dressing with a grit stick. The lap was tested during the faceting process on all speed ranges and performed well fast and slow,but fast gave a faster polish.
The polishing compound I use on the special alloy is a waxed based grease with the same lubricant as the sintered lap.This along with the properties that the polishing lap gives a very high lustre pre-polish and very low to no scratch finish on the 100,000.
Ive also tested an 1800 sintered copper and from the results so far it is smoother by a small margin over the 1200 and showed promise as a jump to 100,000 final finish eliminating the pre-polish altogether. A 3000 sintered diamond ring as an outer or an inner ring added to the system is also a possibility. There are many other insert discs such as a copper/tin centre lap or a zinc/special alloy. Bronze and special alloy is a perfect aqua lap. Typemetal is a great quartz cerium oxide polish lap or corian.
Im now in production of this system and it is available as a 1200 sintered copper or a more aggressive bronze with the built in lubricant. It is 8 inch diameter with a six inch recess for a special alloy split polishing disc.I use my own formulated polish compound with my laps.I also add a 360 mesh six inch lap for the centre to rapidly rough out and smooth finish the mains and girdle.My machine allows me to extend the dop across the 1200 lap to rough grind the girdle on the 360 centre then retract the dop to fine finish the girdle ready for polish.
The system ring is $345A with the 360 mesh insert disc $295A. the special alloy lap is $125A and the polishing kit is $75A. Additional laps available are the typemetal, zinc/special combo, tin alloy and corian. All are POA. Email me at: agemcutr@yahoo.com.au
