polished
has rocks in the head
Member since February 2006
Posts: 567
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Post by polished on Apr 3, 2009 18:33:04 GMT -5
Okay, Inland and I have worked out our differences and I have my flat lap back, in working order (so they say, I haven't taken it out of the box yet!) Before I try using this thing again, I'd like some advice, mostly on the polishing stage. The instructions that came with this Swap Top 8" flat lap are piss-poor, and when it comes to the polish stage, completely non-existent. If you're unfamiliar, this lap comes with a master plate and a polishing pad you adhere to that, then you have some liquid polish (it looks like cerum oxide to me, but they don't say) There's no instruction regarding the amount or placement of the polishing compound, and no instruction regarding water drip during this stage. Looking around the 'net, I found some instructions for using this unit to polish glass, and they detail how to "charge" the polishing pad, and instruct you NOT to use the water drip system during polish. If the glass gets hot, you dip it in water. What I'm wondering is - since everything heats up when polishing rocks - shouldn't I be using the water drip in this stage as well as the others? Or is it done dry, and the cab dipped in water to cool down? I'm planning to give this machine another try this weekend, but before I even plug it in this time, I want to be sure I can avoid all the issues I had the first time
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misguidedone
noticing nice landscape pebbles
Member since May 2007
Posts: 94
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Post by misguidedone on Apr 3, 2009 20:31:46 GMT -5
Polished.... Sorry to hear you got one too! If your stone is ready for polish, dampen you felt pad lightly with a spray bottle and apply your cerium, (mixed with water). Use a brush and apply lightly to pad and spread around with your finger with lap running slow. Don't use so much water or cerium that you have it slinging all over the place. If it drags too much, give it a spray. Stones will heat up a bit with this method
I found that I could not get enough scratches out on the diamond plates to bring anything to polish using felt or leather with ceriun. Switched to cloth pads and diamond paste and if the motor holds up, it's working real well........Steve
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polished
has rocks in the head
Member since February 2006
Posts: 567
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Post by polished on Apr 3, 2009 21:03:20 GMT -5
Spray bottle - that's a good idea. I'll try that. I've never been overly impressed with cerum as a polisher, but before the unit's motor fried, I did manage to get one rock polished pretty nicely.
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jpits54
off to a rocking start
Member since May 2009
Posts: 10
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Post by jpits54 on May 12, 2009 12:37:13 GMT -5
I'm very new and my first cabs on my Inland had lots of small flats. At what stage would you switch to the cloth and what grits do you use? I've noticed that Inland sells foam backers and diamond micropolishing films, but those are expensive and again I don't know what grits to use.
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Post by johnjsgems on May 13, 2009 9:24:54 GMT -5
You can also mix a few spoonfuls of polish in the spray bottle and apply to buff as it starts to pull. Don't use the drip. A foam disc under the polish pad would probably be very useful. As far as flats when grinding with hard laps it is just a matter of practice, practice, and practice. I know three or four opal cutters that get good cabs on the Ameritool unit with flat discs.
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Post by frane on May 25, 2009 19:34:16 GMT -5
My biggest complaint is not liking the polish with this system. Also, if you let the arbor drop down or don't realize it has slipped down and it rests on the plastic tray lip, water drips down the main drive into the motor and fries it! This happened to me twice before I found out it was the lip on the plastic tray causing all the problem. I just bought tubes of diamond paste and I am going to try that next. Fran
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