Post by chaosdsm on Apr 13, 2024 14:06:58 GMT -5
So, laping machines are just WAY to expensive for me to buy, so I thought.... why not do it by hand using diamond sharpening plates like you use with knives??? This is all being done as a test for another project that I need help on... My other project is going to be a Dragon Blood stone guitar pick, but I was unable to get a nice flat slab off the stone with my tile saw. As a result it's about 1.8mm on the thin side, about 2.4mm on the thick side, and I don't have any machinery capable of getting it to a nice even 1.8mm thick.
That's what made me think of hand lapping, BUT, are there any tricks I can use to ensure I get as close to parallel faces as possible???
For a test run, I bought an "emerald" through Amazon... not sure if it's actually emerald or something else, but it is mostly green, heavily dyed, but what can you expect from a 790Ct rock for $23. It took a week of soaking every morning & every night to get most of the dye out, cause it's easier to do that than to wash the dye off my hands.
I'm thinking of cutting it into fairly thin slabs of about 5mm & 3mm, & making a Christmas tree pendent & matching earrings for my mom as a Christmas present.... though not sure that my skills are up to the task just yet...
Since this is just trial & error for me at this point, I bought two cheap sets of diamond sharpening plates, the two sets give me:
80, 150, 250, 400, 600, 800, 1200, & 1500 grit, and cost about $38 for the 8 plates after tax.
I already had one mostly flat, but bumpy, surface to start with so I started with the 80 grit. BTW, I have the diamond plates completely submerged in water for maximum lubrication. Very aggressive, took about 30 seconds to remove about 99% of the bumpiness & get a decently flat base started. I then worked up to 800 grit, and got an amazingly good finish considering how cheap these diamond sharpening plates are, whole process was less than 30 minutes, as the 3 lowest grits were amazingly fast & aggressive in cutting.
Here's the stone after about 90 seconds on the 800 grit plate:
If you look closely, you can see hash lines, as I turn the rock 90 degrees between every grit. Definitely good enough to move on to the 1200 grit:
Nope... did not get the two photos mixed up.... that's what happens when you go cheap. I was hoping that it was just that the grit on the plate needed to be broken in a bit more.... But after 2 more minutes, it actually got worse, and the stone looked like it did after 250 grit. Went back to the 600 & 800 grit, cleaned it up quite nicely.
I think, as a proof of concept, this was a success, now I just need to find a good way to get nice straight consistent slabs with just a tile wet saw.... and of course a good way to get parallel faces, out of a wedge shape, with just my hands.
EDIT: Here it is after using the 1500 grit plate:
Sorry, cannot get a good focus, the camera either focuses on the overhead LED's reflected off the rock, or on the cracks in the rock but you don't really see a reflection. Cannot seem to get either camera to see what my eyes see
That's what made me think of hand lapping, BUT, are there any tricks I can use to ensure I get as close to parallel faces as possible???
For a test run, I bought an "emerald" through Amazon... not sure if it's actually emerald or something else, but it is mostly green, heavily dyed, but what can you expect from a 790Ct rock for $23. It took a week of soaking every morning & every night to get most of the dye out, cause it's easier to do that than to wash the dye off my hands.
I'm thinking of cutting it into fairly thin slabs of about 5mm & 3mm, & making a Christmas tree pendent & matching earrings for my mom as a Christmas present.... though not sure that my skills are up to the task just yet...
Since this is just trial & error for me at this point, I bought two cheap sets of diamond sharpening plates, the two sets give me:
80, 150, 250, 400, 600, 800, 1200, & 1500 grit, and cost about $38 for the 8 plates after tax.
I already had one mostly flat, but bumpy, surface to start with so I started with the 80 grit. BTW, I have the diamond plates completely submerged in water for maximum lubrication. Very aggressive, took about 30 seconds to remove about 99% of the bumpiness & get a decently flat base started. I then worked up to 800 grit, and got an amazingly good finish considering how cheap these diamond sharpening plates are, whole process was less than 30 minutes, as the 3 lowest grits were amazingly fast & aggressive in cutting.
Here's the stone after about 90 seconds on the 800 grit plate:
If you look closely, you can see hash lines, as I turn the rock 90 degrees between every grit. Definitely good enough to move on to the 1200 grit:
Nope... did not get the two photos mixed up.... that's what happens when you go cheap. I was hoping that it was just that the grit on the plate needed to be broken in a bit more.... But after 2 more minutes, it actually got worse, and the stone looked like it did after 250 grit. Went back to the 600 & 800 grit, cleaned it up quite nicely.
I think, as a proof of concept, this was a success, now I just need to find a good way to get nice straight consistent slabs with just a tile wet saw.... and of course a good way to get parallel faces, out of a wedge shape, with just my hands.
EDIT: Here it is after using the 1500 grit plate:
Sorry, cannot get a good focus, the camera either focuses on the overhead LED's reflected off the rock, or on the cracks in the rock but you don't really see a reflection. Cannot seem to get either camera to see what my eyes see
.
... to the New Guys from The ChatBox V.2 Crew