Post subject: which Polishing lap? The Batt or Tin +
Posted: Tue Jul 30, 2019 11:58 am
Active Member
Joined: Mon Sep 03, 2012 11:32 am Posts: 96
HI need your opinion on polishing laps from Batt company. They have a lap called The Batt which is something new and they its superior replacement for copper and tin laps.
or i should go with their Tin lap. they call it The Tin+
Post subject: Re: which Polishing lap? The Batt or Tin +
Posted: Tue Jul 30, 2019 5:32 pm
Valued Contributor
Joined: Tue Mar 27, 2012 10:15 am Posts: 352 Location: Cary, NC
14megapixel,
With the little information, I don't think anyone can give you a specific answer. Not knowing your use case (stone types, experience you have, Etc.), it would be hard to define what (and by the way, it doesn't exit) would be the perfect lap. What one person swears to, another swears at.
Here's what I'd recommend. Take a wander over to https://gearloose.co/ (no affiliation other than I use a lot of his products), and take a peek at the laps, the recommendation charts and then come back here and do some searches on the lap name and see what was written, how users reacted to them and what were their experiences (e.g. worked GREAT on quartz but not as good for Sapphire or some other use case).
Once that's done, post another question with some detailed information such as "medium experience, mostly looking for a good general purpose lap to polish X, Y, Z and prefer to use diamond, oxides, whatever" and I think that <insert name> would be a good choice from my reading". Anyone have any pointers or experience that gives me some guidance on their experience?
I think you'll find that this forum/group/community will be more than happy to help. There's not a one of them that doesn't have a story or expert experience or a passion for helping people.
Hope that helps
_________________ Bob Hodges
Faceter: When turned into a zombie, they stumble around crying "roooouuuuggghhhh"
Post subject: Re: which Polishing lap? The Batt or Tin +
Posted: Wed Jul 31, 2019 9:44 am
Gold Member
Joined: Thu Jan 24, 2008 4:01 pm Posts: 1902 Location: Pine City, NY and Dothan, AL
The company is actually Gearloose Lapidary, and the BATT lap is far from new.It was first introduced in (I believe) 1997, and has become the favorite lap of many amateur and professional cutters.
I believe the tin plus lap is mostly used for pre-polish, though some stones can be polished with it.
What will you use the lap for? What is your experience level? What other laps do you already have?
Post subject: Re: which Polishing lap? The Batt or Tin +
Posted: Thu Aug 01, 2019 7:46 am
Active Member
Joined: Mon Sep 03, 2012 11:32 am Posts: 96
Hi I am a beginner and will be working on aqua, Peridot, topaz, tourmaline, ruby, sapphire using diamond compounds.
On request This company makes a dual purpose pre polishing, polishing lap called the “Redwing Plus 5″. Made of solid cpper outside , and with a polishing center zone of BA5T™ Certainly that will save a lot of time. Whats your opinion on this one.
Post subject: Re: which Polishing lap? The Batt or Tin +
Posted: Thu Aug 01, 2019 2:24 pm
Valued Contributor
Joined: Tue Mar 27, 2012 10:15 am Posts: 352 Location: Cary, NC
14megapixel,
Great enthusiasm and thanks for the update on your skills. If you look down below in the forum header, there's a 'search' function and enter dominatrix and there's a good long thread on it. I think the overall opinion is that it's a great lap for the purpose it's intended to be used for.
While I'm not an expert, my opinion is that it's darn good. I have and use one and wouldn't give it up without a fight. However, I still have a Darkside and many other laps for stubborn stones.
_________________ Bob Hodges
Faceter: When turned into a zombie, they stumble around crying "roooouuuuggghhhh"
Post subject: Re: which Polishing lap? The Batt or Tin +
Posted: Tue Aug 06, 2019 9:03 am
Active Member
Joined: Mon Sep 03, 2012 11:32 am Posts: 96
I have decided to get the batt lap. As everyone is using it and its quite popular. Now i need to decide whether to get PANPCD or PANDMD 13000 and 50K with the batt. 3000 is availabe here.
Which works best with the batt? For polishing Peridot, tourmaline, beryl and sapphire.
I have both the RedWing+5 and a Dominatrix. I use the RedWing+5 for spinel and sapphire, and occasionally other stones that I polish with diamond. It is charged with 8K PCD on the copper and 100K PCD on the BA5T centre.
I use the Dominatrix for almost everything else now - garnet, tourmaline, beryl but also for spinel and sapphire depending if I feel like it. It's charged similarly to the RedWing+5 - 8K PCD on the BATT, 100K PCD on the Diamatrix centre.
What I like about the RedWing+5 is that the copper is harder than BATT and I feel it cuts faster, especially for sapphire. It's also a bit more resistant to stupidity such as accidently dropping your stone on the surface
I also like the feel of the BA5T polishing portion - it's smooth and hard. The Diamatrix centre feels more like a ceramic, a bit brittle if that makes sense.
Both are nice laps, and both have their place in the cutting arsenal.
To your question of polish of choice for beryl, tourmaline, garnet etc. - 100k PCD is my go-to diamond polish. But I also like chrome oxide on Darkside or GreenWay for these stones and until I got a Dominatrix, I used a GreenWing almost exclusively for these stones.
Good luck!
-Allan
_________________ Allan Aoyama http://www.omnifaceter.net <- Omnifaceter is back online!
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