Forums Techniques, Tricks, and Tips Make your own cerium oxide polishing lap

4 replies, 4 voices Last updated by teletech 9 months, 2 weeks ago
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  • #6828

    theranch
    Participant
    @TheRanch

    Hello. Have great, easy way to make crylic cerium oxide polishing lap. Technique passed to me from my 92 year old instructor. He’s a certified gemologist by GIA as well as master faceter. It makes polishing glass, quartz,etc. so quick and easy. Coat lap with acrylic solvent. Coat with cerium oxide immediately. I dip lap i metal round cake pan and tranfer to 2nd pan with powder. Solvent dries quickly so be fast. Brush off excess powder. Do outdoors – powder flies everywhere. Do not breath in. Put on machine with water drip about 2 drops per second. Break in with scrap material. Breaks in quickly. Light to medium pressure. Last a long time and works better than ANY other polishing lap I’ve tried (and I have them all).

    #10771

    jimorbev
    Participant
    @jimorbev

    I read your post and find it interesting. Can you provide more details?
    1. What kind of lap is being coated – lucite, cd, topper, ???
    2. What keeps the CEO2 from building up and causing scratches?
    3. Do you use a water drip when polishing? How much.
    4. How do you get rid of the swarf?

    I’d like to try your method. Hope you can reply.
    jim

    #11083

    theranch
    Participant
    @TheRanch

    Hi Jim. Glad my post was of interest. It was a babasic 8″ acrylic 1/4″ disc you can purchase at most lapidary supply vendors. 1/4″ arbor. I use The Rock Peddler. No issues with swarfing. Its a very fine polish. No visible filings. I rinse well after polish and spin lap dry. No problems wuth build up as I use until all cerium oxide is pretty well gone. My teacher scscored his and then did the dip. I simply put my disc in the solvent and quickly dipped into the cerium oxide. I use water drip. I also run a quarts ir hard rock across a few times to “scrape” off excess. It polishes my quartz better than anything I’ve ever tried. I can send pictures if you want.

    #11183

    spankee
    Participant
    @Spankee

    I am intrigued by this method. I would like more information on the acrylic solvent.

    #11225

    teletech
    Participant
    @Teletech

    I am interested in this too. What kind of acrylic solvent are you using?

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