flminer56
starting to shine!
Im a certified us faceters guild novice gem cutter as of 4/20
Member since September 2017
Posts: 37 
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Post by flminer56 on Jan 6, 2018 16:47:51 GMT -5
Hello fellow members, I cut a piece of cubic zirconia today , braved the cold in the workshop, even here in Florida it's cold. Anyway, I have never cut cz before and knew that the polishing would be the challenge.
I don't have any cutting laps finer than 1200 grit so once I finished with that grit I used an alum. Ox Ultra lap to prepolish for a batt lap and 50000 diamond.
Still the polish was not that great
and took quite a while so i think i will try those d lite resin bonded laps and get an 8000 or 14000 grit for my prepolishing.
Anyone here ever used those d lite laps.
I'll try to post a pic of the stone.
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QuailRiver
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since May 2008
Posts: 1,640
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Post by QuailRiver on Jan 6, 2018 21:05:03 GMT -5
For stones with a hardness of Mohs 8 or harder you'll be better off using 3K or 8K diamond on either a copper, tin, batt, or zinc lap as your pre-polish.
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ChicagoDave
has rocks in the head
Member since June 2016
Posts: 720
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Post by ChicagoDave on Jan 7, 2018 10:18:31 GMT -5
I agree with the info given by QualRiver. When I was talking to Gearloose about CZ he recommended 3k diamond on a BATT lap followed by 50k diamond on a Darkside. I have not tried this yet though.
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flminer56
starting to shine!
Im a certified us faceters guild novice gem cutter as of 4/20
Member since September 2017
Posts: 37
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Post by flminer56 on Jan 7, 2018 21:30:22 GMT -5
Thanks, I'll take that advice into consideration if i cut more cz.
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Post by pauls on Jan 8, 2018 4:04:34 GMT -5
I agree with what Quail said too, I use 3K diamond ( or 14k) on copper with lubrication, I use WD40 or Inox, a short squirt does the job and when it starts to get gooey and black just rub the lap with a tissue and give a fresh squirt. You should'nt have to put any fresh diamond powder or paste on unless cutting is slowing down. I usually follow with 50k on tin.
Occasionaly you will get a phenomenom where you are cutting one or two facets parallel with the layers on the boule and they go orange peel, the only way around this is lots of WD40 and very very light pressure so you dont peel back the layers.
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SirRoxalot
freely admits to licking rocks
Member since October 2003
Posts: 790
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Post by SirRoxalot on Apr 25, 2018 19:34:11 GMT -5
8k on a Darkside does it for me. Minimum speed and a bit of WD40 to lube and clean the lap.
Not exactly speedy on 10-20 ct stones, but it does the trick, and I've yet to find anything better.
I don't go hog wild on polishing; I cut with a 10x loupe but no longer worry about leaving the finest speckles and scratches, the naked eye can't see 'em.
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Post by pauls on Apr 25, 2018 22:25:05 GMT -5
A cheap source of quite servicable copper laps for prepolish is your local electronics hobby store, Buy a six inch square piece of printed circuit board material, trim it to lap diameter drill a half inch hole in the middle and charge up with whatever diamond powder you want. Even though the copper layer is quite thin they last a long time, if they get contaminated just throw out.
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