Post subject: Re: New high con sintered laps from Adamas Faceting
Posted: Thu Mar 02, 2017 11:23 am
Gemology Online Veteran
Joined: Sat May 22, 2010 2:51 am Posts: 755 Location: South Africa
One possible advantage of a 6" sintered lap is that it would be considerably lighter than an 8" one. My current 600# sintered lap weighs 2.46 kg and is just under 10 mm thick. If Adamas 8" laps are twice that thickness they may approach 5 kg. For many years I used a German-made 6" 600# sintered lap and the working surface was quite wide enough to cut even large stones, including the 336 ct Namibian chalcedony in my avatar. It was also more manageable than an 8" lap would have been when once it had to be resurfaced by hand, grinding it on a rotating cast iron lap with 100# SiC to remove the annular depression that had developed after 40 years' of use. I sold it when I got an 8" sintered lap (which works perfectly well except that you have to remove the lap to fish out stones that slip from your fingers when being preformed) but I do regret it.
Post subject: Re: New high con sintered laps from Adamas Faceting
Posted: Thu Mar 02, 2017 6:56 pm
Moderator: Lapidary Diamonds
Joined: Mon Aug 20, 2012 11:32 pm Posts: 1747 Location: Florida, United States
lorne144man wrote:
I believe that Gearloose has previously stated that 6" laps accounted for 5% of sales. That may have changed. I own a Raytech and Ultratec. I'd rather buy one lap so I buy 6". Imahashi run 6" or 8" depending on the model. Some people prefer less runout from the smaller laps. Especially those with heavier hands. Lorne
The vertical runout of 15 cm. and 20 cm. diameter laps is identical to meet a standard tolerance.
Post subject: Re: New high con sintered laps from Adamas Faceting
Posted: Fri Mar 03, 2017 4:11 am
Established Member
Joined: Mon Nov 16, 2015 5:02 am Posts: 26
Duncan Miller wrote:
One possible advantage of a 6" sintered lap is that it would be considerably lighter than an 8" one. My current 600# sintered lap weighs 2.46 kg and is just under 10 mm thick. If Adamas 8" laps are twice that thickness they may approach 5 kg. For many years I used a German-made 6" 600# sintered lap and the working surface was quite wide enough to cut even large stones, including the 336 ct Namibian chalcedony in my avatar. It was also more manageable than an 8" lap would have been when once it had to be resurfaced by hand, grinding it on a rotating cast iron lap with 100# SiC to remove the annular depression that had developed after 40 years' of use. I sold it when I got an 8" sintered lap (which works perfectly well except that you have to remove the lap to fish out stones that slip from your fingers when being preformed) but I do regret it.
Definitely valid points. And I find that being able to handle a lap with one hand and leaving the other hand clean reduces chances of contamination.
Post subject: Re: New high con sintered laps from Adamas Faceting
Posted: Wed Apr 05, 2017 10:51 am
Valued Contributor
Joined: Sun Aug 21, 2016 7:39 am Posts: 228 Location: Long Island NY, USA
Can't wait to try one of these, especially the coarser grit. I have a big piece of rough that seems to be laughing at the preform lap I am currently using. By the time I'm done, the lap will be worn out and the gem probably won't be preformed to my satisfaction, anyway
Post subject: Re: New high con sintered laps from Adamas Faceting
Posted: Wed Apr 26, 2017 5:14 am
New to the Forum or The Quiet Type
Joined: Mon Jul 27, 2015 12:20 am Posts: 10
I would also buy all 3 sintered laps if available in the 6 inch size, i bought my halls xtra becuase of easy of moving it and traveling around with the machine is a breeze.
Post subject: Re: New high con sintered laps from Adamas Faceting
Posted: Wed Apr 26, 2017 12:06 pm
Valued Contributor
Joined: Sun Aug 21, 2016 7:39 am Posts: 228 Location: Long Island NY, USA
That's an excellent point. I used to own a Raytech, but sold it once I bought my Facetron. The person who bought my RS is an experienced faceter who wanted the 6" machine for travel purposes.
I really wish I had kept my RS, along with the Facetron, for similar reasons. My mother lives out of state, and i would have much preferred to bring the 6" RS with me when visiting than the Facetron, which is considerably larger.
Post subject: Re: New high con sintered laps from Adamas Faceting
Posted: Wed Apr 26, 2017 6:16 pm
Moderator: Lapidary Diamonds
Joined: Mon Aug 20, 2012 11:32 pm Posts: 1747 Location: Florida, United States
Each 20 cm. lap weighs 4.6 kg., about 10 pounds, so in a Priority Mail Flat Rate box is irrelevant in regards actual domestic shipping cost. These laps are dynamically balanced on CNC equipment. The sintered surface is flat and parallel to the base surface so, if your platen is square to the arbor, you won't experience the tick, tick, tick of vertical runout. If the laps had a much thinner baseplate, we would see various forms of warpage like concave, convex, and three-jaw chuck distortion.
Post subject: Re: New high con sintered laps from Adamas Faceting
Posted: Tue May 02, 2017 3:04 pm
Moderator: Lapidary Diamonds
Joined: Mon Aug 20, 2012 11:32 pm Posts: 1747 Location: Florida, United States
jaseee wrote:
Would you consider making them in 6 inch by special order if people bought the three of them?
For the initial order, if three people purchased three 15 cm. laps each, yes I would do it. A reason for my hesitancy is that I incur a mould cost and the additional time for manufacture of the first run, which I don't make a profit on. The first order is break even for me at best.
Post subject: Re: New high con sintered laps from Adamas Faceting
Posted: Wed May 03, 2017 5:40 pm
Valued Contributor
Joined: Fri Mar 18, 2016 12:45 am Posts: 178 Location: Vancouver, B.C. Canada
thomas.adamas wrote:
jaseee wrote:
Would you consider making them in 6 inch by special order if people bought the three of them?
For the initial order, if three people purchased three 15 cm. laps each, yes I would do it. A reason for my hesitancy is that I incur a mould cost and the additional time for manufacture of the first run, which I don't make a profit on. The first order is break even for me at best.
I would like to know the price of 3 - 6" laps as a package as I would be interested in the suite as well in that size.
Post subject: Re: New high con sintered laps from Adamas Faceting
Posted: Sat May 13, 2017 8:22 am
Active Member
Joined: Sat Dec 31, 2016 9:04 am Posts: 72
I recently purchased the roughing lap, and have nothing but good things to say about it.
I've only cut one stone with it so far but it was really a problem free experience with the lap. The stone was 14ct synthetic yellow sapphire in a big simple emerald cut (I'd previously cut a 14ct oval with my 'old' lap set up from the same boule, so it's almost a direct comparison) . There is a picture of the finished stone at the bottom.
Prior to having this lap my procedure was: Crystalite 360, BATT/600, Dominatrix 3k prepolish, then Matrix center for polish. Obviously the only change for this stone was the BATT/600 switched for the new sintered. [I don't have either of Tom's sintered pre-polish laps, but I'm strongly leaning towards buying both].
Enough rambling: The comparison - Versus the BATT/600 this lap was much more rapid in cutting. I hesitate to use the word aggressive in cutting, because the surface left behind pre-polished just a quickly and cleanly with the Batt 3k. It's 'easy' to find a lap that is faster and more aggressive - My Crystallite 360 is but I could not pre-polish from it. I could from the sintered lap. Very little pressure is needed with the sintered lap, and when cutting just small facets (the corner nicks on the stones for example) I turned the speed down and only used brief touches to the center part of the lap. Overall, this lap is going to get a lot of use from me.
Two other tiny things about the lap: - It's thick and heavy and flat. There is basically no flutter on my depth gauge (Poly Scintillator 88) as this thing rotates from low to very high speed. This is the flattest lap I've every used. - It's thick and heavy and doesn't fit in my Crystalite lap cases. I use a storage box for pie baking dishes. - It's a carbon steel base, if using a water drip give the base a wipe down with oil (I just used 3-in-1 oil), do not put it away damp.
Buying experience... I've had some issues purchasing items related to faceting. Poor custom service, non-responsive organizations, etc. I had tried to purchase a sintered lap from Inland, they charged me, but then didn't respond to multiple emails, phone calls, etc. Eventually (after moth than a month of trying to reach them) I had to call my credit card company to cancel the charge - and they contacted Inland too, also no response.
In contrast, I emailed Tom regarding these laps (after they were first mentioned on GO). He called immediately, gave me a time lime, and kept me up to date during the wait for availability. So the lap is actually cheaper than the Inland, and the vendor more responsive. So I'd encourage anyone considering a sintered cutting lap to give this one strong consideration.
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