Polishing using “diamond”

[RICHARD]

OK still struggling but not giving up.

Gearloose does not recommend using friable diamond compounds on the BATT or the BA5T. How do you identify if a product contains friable diamond compounds? Is it one the label?

I am considering my first attempt to polish with diamond will be:
1. Pre-polish on Zinc+ using 8 or 13K pandimonium
2. Polish on BATT 60,000 pandimonium

Is this a good strategy or should I consider a different process. I have two new Zinc+ laps, 1 new BATT, 1 new ceramic, 1 new copper, 1 new wizzard. I am concerned about using the wrong product on the wrong lap.

Any help will be appreciated.
jim

[bthomason]

Try purchasing a lightning lap. lightninglap.com LL-t-nat-topper
It will not absorb the diamond, just wash it between grit change.
They also sell diamond impregnated toppers, as well as diamond laps. Toppers are much cheaper, just use a good master lap.
You can also just use a smooth running cutting lap as a master.

[Douglas McKinney]

Question 1 from 4th Jan; Use only one grit on the zinc or zinc+ disk. You can change it, but only from finer to courser grind. For instance, you can go from 8k to 3k on it, but you shouldn’t go from 3k to 8 k. I mark the obverse side of my disks with the grit and store them separately to avoid cross contamination.

Question 2. Oils are a preference. I have used coconut cooking oil as an extender with good results, then washed the disk and added pandamonium. If you change oils, just wash so they don’t react to each other and form blobs.

[RICHARD]

Thank you for the replies and information. I will hold off buying a LL for a while. I will try using 13K as pre-polish on zink+ and 50K on a BATT this weekend. Fingers crossed!

jim

[michael p.]

rich, i have been teach a better way to polish and have had no complaints. i ended up making my own tin laps and in 60 years i’ve tried and use everything. and my final proven results has been a tin lap of 98+ % tin surface works BEST and yes i’ve used the batt tin too. i run lap very slow, use a very slow drip of clean water nothing added. and a good grade of 50,000 diamond powder, i dab it on near center and smear it outward. i do NOT use spray ons, compounds or greasy applying materials they do not compress. try stopping your car on a greased hyway–LOL. the water compresses just enough to give you clean fast polishing action. to much water and you wash of the powder to fast same thing, keep it like a muddy slur.

you can reach me at gemmakermz@gmail.com

[RICHARD]

Thanks for all the replies. I am trying the suggestions above – carefully.

So far my “best” results have been using Cerium blue disks and adding more cerium and zirconia from sticks. I see a bit of edge rounding but not as much as just the cerium blue lap by itself. I have even tried 60K pxxxxxxx but have had very mixed results.

All is still confusing but I’m making slight progress – I think.

jim

[Gregory]

I’ve tried the diamond and water drip, just seemed like diamond down the drain, as diamond powder is not water soluble. The reason why it is suspended in a lubricant of types oil based or water based. The old adage when polishing is “A little goes along way”. Most beginners think a highway of 3ft. high snow is needed to get a polish, but you actually achieve a polish at almost a dry lap surface at very slow speeds. The speed where your not stopping the lap with your downward pressure but just enough to keep it moving under the pressure. Truth is each of us obtain our own technics for polishing and tools we use. When you have polishing mastered you have obtained the higher levels of the art of gem cutting.
HAPPY Cutting!