Help identifying lap

[TallPine]

I recently was lent a faceting machine that came with several laps. The owner doesn’t know what one of the laps is or how it should be used. The machine was originally her ex’s. Any help would be appreciated.
Clay

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[JamesY. Moore]

It looks like it may be a dark side lap. If it is smooth it is probably some type of polishing lap. If it’s a dark side then that is the side up. It is most often used with a small amount of diamond paste. Gear loose is the name of the company that makes the dark side you may want to look at their website.

Cheers!

[TallPine]

Thanks James. I have looked at the darkside but haven’t found any good photos of it. This lap looks the same and is smooth on both sides. It is well made with no machine marks and runs very true. Makes a great master for ultralaps. It would be nice if it was a Darkside.

[Alan Balmer]

It does look like a Darkside. There’s a picture on Gearloose’s website at http://gearloose.co/shop/darkside/

[TallPine]

I looked at it more closely and the side opposite the side I took the photo of has a finer grain to the composite and more of a matt finish. Looks more like the photo of the darkside. I have some elcheapo sunstone so I might try using it like a darkside and see how it works.

[Ken Michalek]

The Darkside has an aluminum backer, I don’t see one on the above photo. The Darkside is black to grey in color and a fine grain structure and should have a label or at least an indication of a label.
More than likely Corian.

[Alan Balmer]

Good catch, Ken. I didn’t look at the edge closely enough.

[QuailRiver]

I agree with Ken. It looks like a Corian lap. Corian is made in three thicknesses (6mm, 12mm, 19mm) and in over 100 colors. Many of which are made to simulate the appearance of granite and other popular counter top stone. Corian laps used to be commonly used for polishing. But today there are much better laps on the market for this purpose.

Larry Cashatt

[gemmakermz]

if you got a tin lap with the machine then use that to polish. if you use this corian lap run it very slow and use 50,000 diamond powder and just enough water to make a mud to polish. i personally never use nor recommend diamond compound, it give a faults polished look as the compound grease fills the scratches. in rare cases when polishing very large stone facets i may add a drop of crystalub or mineral oil to the surface with the drop of water on the tin lap.

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