Thank you, I’m always relieved to learn it’s not something I’m doing wrong. Sandpaper on a dowel it is. The laps are all the proper size, just a bit snug.
I finished my first pavilion last night on a pretty rhodolite and I’m over the moon. I really love this machine, it was really easy to “find” all the facets to polish them, which I had been afraid of because I had moved the collar on the shaft (delrin collar that supports the facet head) and it’s not marked. But it was easy to just set the correct angle for a facet and lower until I heard it touch and the digital display changed just slightly. I know that’s the most basic thing in the world but it felt like a revelation to me. 🙂