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 Post subject: Adamas new cutting fluid additive
PostPosted: Tue Oct 03, 2017 7:30 am 
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Adamas has a new cutting fluid additive (FFC) that I had the opportunity to test. The fluid is added to water in a 1:49 ratio so it goes a long way (I use water after it’s been though a Brita filter) and then used in a drip tank. It’s recommended for the intermediate step - with an Adamas 12m or 9m faceting lap, not with the 32m cutting lap. Not with a mister on a polishing lap.

First I cut a piece of Lapis since I already had it on the dop - cut in facets on the crown with the 9m and new fluid, and it reduced chip out versus what I had experienced with the pavilion (a kite, with a sharp corner). I went directly from the 9m/FFC combo to polishing with tin oxide and it turned out great. I’ve cut Lapis previously with facets and usually gone to 3k/oxide (various oxides while experimenting) to get the same level of finish. It worked really well, and eliminated a ‘prepolish’ step entirely. I regret that I’m not really equipped to take high resolution pictures of intermediate cutting steps - so I don’t actually have photos to show of the stone surface as it progressed :(

The ultimate test (I though this would be a tough one) was synthetic sapphire. I cut a lot of this, and typically it’s cheaper flame fusion material. I cut the pavillion/girdle using the FFC added fluid, and the crown with water/jet dry. The pavillion & girdle were accomplished with a major reduction in chip out, maybe 20% of what I’d previously experienced. On this material that reduction surprised me - full disclosure, this piece from the same batch, but not the same boule as I’ve cut a couple of other stones from. The finish on the facets, cut in with the 12m/FFC combo was noticeably improved from the 12m alone [saw this on the same stone, since I cut the crown later without the FFC solution since I ran out...] Somewhat recklessly I decided do go straight from that finish to 100k PCD on Diamatrix polish - that didn’t work obviously (I didn’t think it would really, but though it was worth an experiment, I wish I had tried 60k PCD but I forgot...). Going to 13k/100k on Dominatrix worked great, very clean prepolish came in quickly, and the 100k put a very fine finish on it. When flipping to the crown after running out of the FFC fluid the 12m left a noticeably rougher finish (obviously finer than the 32m), which took longer to bring to polish with the 13k/100k Dominatrix.

To me, the reduction in chip out at girdle corners was a more meaningful improvement than the finish. Cutting girdles on my cheap synthetic corundum is a frustrating for me step given their hardness and the lack of flexibility in angle of approach - so a girdle chip is a very, very annoying problem. This fluid seemed to largely eliminate that problem (and where not eliminated, it was significantly reduced.)

I didn’t notice any material slowing of the faceting step, so a better finish in just about the same amount of time. One thing I did notice was a slight slowing of the clearing of the lap. The FFC fluid slightly increases the viscosity of the drip (my prior typical drip was water/jet dry, which has a lower viscosity than plain water). The combined fluid does seem to clear cutting residue somewhat slower. I had to increase the flow slightly or it did build up in swarf on the lap - very visible as a blue film when cutting Lapis and white when cutting sapphire.

I’ll be getting more of this fluid when it’s available in production. Combined with the sintered laps my process is now moving considerably faster (some of that is probably experience too).

Robert


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 Post subject: Re: Adamas new cutting fluid additive
PostPosted: Tue Oct 03, 2017 1:16 pm 
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The FFC is still experimental and not yet for sale, but now a proof of concept exists. The dilution does lower the solution surface tension, but also raises the viscosity, so you need to increase the drip rate a little to compensate.
I plan on selling FFC only to customers who have purchased 9M, 12M, or Twistor2 diamond wheels to support these products.

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 Post subject: Re: Adamas new cutting fluid additive
PostPosted: Fri Oct 06, 2017 5:48 pm 
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If you want to make your own deionized water, I recommend the Zero Water filter. Each filter will give you a certain quantity of water with zero dissolved solids, as an inverse function of the amount of dissolved solids of the input water.
Far superior to Brita.

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 Post subject: Re: Adamas new cutting fluid additive
PostPosted: Sat Oct 07, 2017 6:35 pm 
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I've heard great things about Zero filters. But I have a gallon Brita and some cartridges that I use for making Limoncello too (by the gallon!) - and hey, I'm cheap, if I can repurpose something I'm gonna do that and see if it works first :lol:


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 Post subject: Re: Adamas new cutting fluid additive
PostPosted: Sat Oct 07, 2017 7:08 pm 
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thomas.adamas wrote:
If you want to make your own deionized water, I recommend the Zero Water filter. Each filter will give you a certain quantity of water with zero dissolved solids, as an inverse function of the amount of dissolved solids of the input water.
Far superior to Brita.

Does the Brita leave something that affects the additive?

I use filtered water primarily for taste (Dothan Alabama has horrible-tasting water), and for faceting, because it doesn't have any particles in it. I don't work in a chem lab anymore, so I don't really need deionized water for anything :-) Actually, if I did, I'd probably get it at Wal-Mart for 88 cents a gallion. 25 cents if you bring your own container to a water kiosk.


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 Post subject: Re: Adamas new cutting fluid additive
PostPosted: Sun Oct 08, 2017 2:33 pm 
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Jclimactic wrote:
I've heard great things about Zero filters. But I have a gallon Brita and some cartridges that I use for making Limoncello too (by the gallon!) - and hey, I'm cheap, if I can repurpose something I'm gonna do that and see if it works first :lol:


Where you are there's such a thing as Hillbilly Limoncello made with moonshine.

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 Post subject: Re: Adamas new cutting fluid additive
PostPosted: Sun Oct 08, 2017 2:39 pm 
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AlBalmer wrote:
thomas.adamas wrote:
If you want to make your own deionized water, I recommend the Zero Water filter. Each filter will give you a certain quantity of water with zero dissolved solids, as an inverse function of the amount of dissolved solids of the input water. Far superior to Brita.

Does the Brita leave something that affects the additive?

I use filtered water primarily for taste (Dothan Alabama has horrible-tasting water), and for faceting, because it doesn't have any particles in it. I don't work in a chem lab anymore, so I don't really need deionized water for anything :-) Actually, if I did, I'd probably get it at Wal-Mart for 88 cents a gallion. 25 cents if you bring your own container to a water kiosk.


The Brita filter could leave some solids that may affect the FFC water soluble lubricant, that's why I recommend the Zero Water filter.
Southern Alabama has sulfur in the bedrock from long extinct volcanos. That gives the water an undesirable taste and smell.

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 Post subject: Re: Adamas new cutting fluid additive
PostPosted: Sun Oct 08, 2017 5:19 pm 
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The Brita filter could leave some solids that may affect the FFC water soluble lubricant, that's why I recommend the Zero Water filter.

Good to know, if I decide to invest in one of your laps.


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 Post subject: Re: Adamas new cutting fluid additive
PostPosted: Tue Oct 10, 2017 12:42 pm 
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In cutting, I have never noticed any difference in using: Tap water, soft water through a salt based water softener, or distilled water. In our house we have a large distillation unit for drinking water, and the whole house goes through a water softener, which is what I cut with.

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 Post subject: Re: Adamas new cutting fluid additive
PostPosted: Tue Oct 10, 2017 4:26 pm 
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Precision Gem wrote:
In cutting, I have never noticed any difference in using: Tap water, soft water through a salt based water softener, or distilled water. In our house we have a large distillation unit for drinking water, and the whole house goes through a water softener, which is what I cut with.

You have good quality water in Pennsylvania, as we do in Florida. But, some localities have a high degree of dissolved solids which may affect grinding and polishing.

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 Post subject: Re: Adamas new cutting fluid additive
PostPosted: Thu Oct 19, 2017 2:32 pm 
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I think it's common for faceters to use too low a water drip rate. Ideally, you want a layer of liquid covering the surface of the lap that cools the facet as it grinds and removes grinding swarf.
Consider this:
Each drip measures approximately 0.05 ml.
A 20 cm. Adamas lap has a cutting surface area of 44 cm^2
A 15 cm. Adamas lap has a cutting surface area of 31.4 cm^2
Each drip is spattered over a small sector of the lap, some of which evaporates, some of which is flung off by centrifugal force, and some of which contacts the facet surface.
The more drips per unit time, the greater the cooling and swarf removal effects.
So, my question here is didactic:
Is one drip per second sufficient to provide consistent cooling and swarf removal?
Whether you use tap water or an FFC dilution, you still need to have adequate liquid on the lap surface. Consider that if you were able to retain 10 drops of liquid on the lap surface at all times, you would only have half a milliliter to cool and remove swarf. Does that seem meager to you?

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 Post subject: Re: Adamas new cutting fluid additive
PostPosted: Thu Feb 28, 2019 9:30 pm 
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Update: After some customer experience, FFC should not be used in the new style of UltraTec drip tanks due to chemical incompatibility with that particular container plastic. No issues have been reported with drip tanks from other manufacturers.

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