Diamond sintered laps.

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I need to replace my 600 lap and I'm contemplating replacing with a sintered. I have it down to three. The Gearloose from Aussie Sapphire, the GemPro from GemCuts and the Inland. Has any body got any feed back on these laps. This is what I know so far.

The Gearloose overall gets a lot of good write up's but not perfect.But recently the 1200 sintered has had a few complaints. I'm not sure if this is 1200 specific but I suspect covers the range.
On the plus side if were unfortunate to receive one of these problematic laps, Jon is extremely quick to rectify the problem. No questions asked.Which is a big plus. Also comes with a free dressing stick

The GemPro is similarly priced to the Gearloose product but I can't find anything else out about it - Nothing. No reviews or other info. It claims to be Australian made but I can't find GemPro mentioned - Anywhere. Which has me concerned about any warranty issues. The GemCuts website only has a couple of don't do's on it. So it's the mystery lap.

The Inland is a few hundred dollars more but seems to have a few good reviews. Although I'm sure I read of one retailer having warranty problems - could be wrong.

So has any body had any experience, good or bad with any of these laps, I like to hear about it. At the moment the Gearloose product is looking like the favorite based on price and excellent customer service. Although I may just use another topper until Gearloose address's his quality control problem which apparently is what he is trying to do.
 
OK,
The mystery is solved, I manufacture for Gempro. I make tin laps Type metal laps and The the special alloy which is my concept. I m also making a full range of dops and polishes to match the laps.
My sintered laps are top notch and are new on the market so I don't think there would be many write-ups. I will replace any lap if your not happy. At least I make them here and they are solid bronze not steel fabricated and are 8mm thick balanced for high speed and have a built in lubricant that helps improve the finish and keep the stone cooler during cutting. I use high grade full synthetic DeBeers diamond not cheap Russian or Chinese crap. Anytime I try to talk about my laps Im shut down as its called self promotion.
 
I have a lap from Rough2Cut, a 600 sintered in 6 inch diameter.
I can take it to full speed, no vibrations. At all!
It cuts very well, has a smoother finish than my old 600 topper, when I am lazy I can go directly to polish on Quartz (but polish takes a bit longer - I still think the prepolish is worth it in terms of time)

The dial indicator on the Hall barely moves up and down when I cut, it is my only lap like this (so it is the only true flat lap I have).

The BATT I have from Gearlose is good for polish and prepolish, but is far from being so well balanced (I feel vibrations at full speed).

Give a call to Anthony (Rough2cut), is laps are really worth it and cheaper than the one from Gearloose (once you add freight and duty).

My latest creation, cut on the 600 sintered and then taken directly to polish on cerium (opal from Lightning Ridge):
1460954169_opal3.jpg
 
One last thing, Rough2cuts makes everything himself from mixing the diamond with the bronze powder, sintering, machining, balancing, etc...
Gearloose has subcontractors.

I payed for my lap, I am not working for Anthony, I've just met him twice in his workshop in Western Sydney to order my lap, and I think if you need a well made lap, you should call him.
 
Thanks Tony, that explains it. I was getting mighty confused about that. As I have read quite a bit of your blogs which made me fairly confident they were yours, then I started to wonder WTF.
I understand there could be considered a conflict of interests, as in self promotion. But sometimes a question needs to be asked.

So what's the deal with not using the Pre-former. Is that to prevent uneven area on the lap or does it 'pluck' the diamond out during rotation?

I guess they are directional? And which way?

And is the soft copper lap apply to the 3000 only?
 
GallicProspector said:
I have a lap from Rough2Cut, a 600 sintered in 6 inch diameter.
I can take it to full speed, no vibrations. At all!
It cuts very well, has a smoother finish than my old 600 topper, when I am lazy I can go directly to polish on Quartz (but polish takes a bit longer - I still think the prepolish is worth it in terms of time)

The dial indicator on the Hall barely moves up and down when I cut, it is my only lap like this (so it is the only true flat lap I have).

The BATT I have from Gearlose is good for polish and prepolish, but is far from being so well balanced (I feel vibrations at full speed).

Give a call to Anthony (Rough2cut), is laps are really worth it and cheaper than the one from Gearloose (once you add freight and duty).

My latest creation, cut on the 600 sintered and then taken directly to polish on cerium (opal from Lightning Ridge):
https://www.prospectingaustralia.com/forum/img/member-images/441/1460954169_opal3.jpg

I understand there has been a few laps returned with vibration issues. Which was why I am looking around. Although he (Jon) does jump on problems pretty quick.

The prices I have seen are almost exact including postage, duty etc. Which was why I queried warranty. But at the end of the day I don't want to deal with warranty at all.

That jelly opal looks weird in that light - in a good way.
 
That opal looks weird in real as well. It is gray where the light is reflected on the surface, but orange where the lights goes through the material.
Fun thing to facet!
 
The sintered disc is soft bronze so rotating or sharp corners introduced to the lap can scratch more like a micro gouge.This does lead to a scratchy finish and will then need a redressing to restore the lap. you can use a harder sintering metal like a cobalt bearing powder. But the harder the lap the courser the finish for the same grit.
I make a copper version of the sintered diamond lap to give a very smooth finish but it scratches easier than bronze.. I am working on a dual alloy lap in the same grit one hard one soft to give a fast cut with a fine finish. Thanks for the good review Gallic Prospector. Thanks Magoo for wanting to know stuff instaed of just jumping in.
 
1460981398_image.jpg

Most of these laps just sit and watch , and it's not even all of them . I do most work with about four laps depending on what I'm cutting .
 
Nice to see someone that's got as many laps on his desk as I have on mine. I see you like my lap rack idea.
 
Thanks for the info. Those merican china sintered laps are not sitting pretty right now so you might want to start the foundry up R2C.
 
Kingsolomon said:
https://www.prospectingaustralia.com/forum/img/member-images/578/1460981398_image.jpg
Most of these laps just sit and watch , and it's not even all of them . I do most work with about four laps depending on what I'm cutting .

Im glad to hear you say that Kingsolomon, I'm (self) learning to cut and done around a dozen stones so far and have read all your posts keenly, including studying your pics to see what I may learn from doing so. I only have the "starter" set of 4 laps from Aussie Sapphires and whenever I've encountered a polishing issue I think of your pics and Think, no worries, just need more laps. :D

Im going to have a good look at Rough2cut's blog I reckon :)

Cheers
Laurence
 
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