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 Post subject: help with laps for a beginner.
PostPosted: Fri Oct 30, 2020 3:15 am 
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hi guys...thank you in advance!


i have a jewelry setup .. and i do jewelry .. and sometimes the stones come with a not great cut or polish! so

i bought a Chinese faceting machine to see how it feel in a faceting as hobbyist.

which Disc Laps in a budget can i buy.. so i can use in a spinels

I have a amazon prime and i can return till 31 of JANUARY ... so i can practice and see how things will work.. my focus is a Ultra-tec or facetron . but for now .. i will keep in a hobby.

please help me .. thank you all so much!


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 Post subject: Re: help with laps for a beginner.
PostPosted: Fri Oct 30, 2020 1:53 pm 
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Seeing how you have returning it in your mind, I suggest you do a search "topper laps" in the search functions. You will find quite a lot of posts related to exactly what your asking. They are cheap, useable and will serve the purpose of your experimenting the hobby. You will also find the polish laps newbies and the experts use.

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 Post subject: Re: help with laps for a beginner.
PostPosted: Sat Oct 31, 2020 12:05 am 
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For polishing I remember DVD and CDs sometimes being used, tried it myself on some amethyst and it works.
...Bit soft and gummy feeling for my tastes, the lighter the pressure the less it will round the facets.


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 Post subject: Re: help with laps for a beginner.
PostPosted: Sat Oct 31, 2020 11:27 pm 
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glhays wrote:
Seeing how you have returning it in your mind, I suggest you do a search "topper laps" in the search functions. You will find quite a lot of posts related to exactly what your asking. They are cheap, useable and will serve the purpose of your experimenting the hobby. You will also find the polish laps newbies and the experts use.



Ble i Have between 500-700 to invest in laps alone! Some suggestions in what is the best i can buy with this budget?

i have around 600$ to invest in laps... alone.. wich one should i buy to faceting Topaz, tourmaline, sapphire and spinels?


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 Post subject: Re: help with laps for a beginner.
PostPosted: Mon Nov 09, 2020 9:52 am 
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Richard - Go to http://www.gearloose.co and buy one of the starter polishing kits on offer there. Then buy a few topper laps for facet cutting: 220 mesh, 360 mesh, 600 mesh and 1200 mesh, but nothing finer in toppers. If you have enough budget a good alternative to the 600 mesh and 1200 mesh toppers is a Crystalite solid steel 600 mesh lap. For lots of choice see https://arrowheadlapidarysupply.com/supplies/laps/c33/. There are also other suppliers. Duncan


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 Post subject: Re: help with laps for a beginner.
PostPosted: Mon Nov 09, 2020 1:09 pm 
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Duncan Miller wrote:
Richard - Go to http://www.gearloose.co and buy one of the starter polishing kits on offer there. Then buy a few topper laps for facet cutting: 220 mesh, 360 mesh, 600 mesh and 1200 mesh, but nothing finer in toppers. If you have enough budget a good alternative to the 600 mesh and 1200 mesh toppers is a Crystalite solid steel 600 mesh lap. For lots of choice see https://arrowheadlapidarysupply.com/supplies/laps/c33/. There are also other suppliers. Duncan
Is Jon back to shipping international now? Not sure if this poster is international but was just wondering.

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 Post subject: Re: help with laps for a beginner.
PostPosted: Sun Feb 07, 2021 4:45 pm 
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We never stopped international shipping but there were a lot of problems last Spring when the Covid disruptions started. Some of our international shipments were switched to BOATS, and there were backed-up Customs problems everywhere. There were peeved customers.
The only international problem we have now is possibly the loss of business to the UK, unless we can ever get a dealer. Brexit and new Customs&Excise regulations have dictated new costs and obligations that are not compatible with a Small Business. I love the place, but I am not going to be an unpaid bank, tax collector, and accountant for a VAT tax, the concept of which I personally hate.

To end on a funny note, one Customs hub told us they were working three shifts around the clock and wanted to hire 300 new workers.

Only eight passed the Pot test. :D :shock: :lol:

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 Post subject: Re: help with laps for a beginner.
PostPosted: Sun Feb 07, 2021 8:21 pm 
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Glad to hear Jon. I believe there is another thread here that someone said they contacted you and you were not at the time. I should have taken at face value rather than to imply some way you were not. I apologize sincerely for the implications of that comment.

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 Post subject: Re: help with laps for a beginner.
PostPosted: Mon Feb 08, 2021 8:13 pm 
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Last Spring when this plague started we had a warning notice on the Store Page. It warned people that there would be delays and problems. But at no time did we ever stop shipping, though we had some anxious customers.
When passenger flights stopped, it was eerie to see open sky and never hear planes any more. We live just outside of BOS TCA, on a Radial used from PUT. So basically we lived under a highway. We did not really notice it till it stopped, for the first time since 911. Mostly, the birds sounded louder.
So with no more commercial traffic, there was no reserved cargo space available for the Post. It is almost back to normal now, but Customs on both ends is still backlogged. I remember shipping to London and it was at LHR in four days, then just sat in customs for almost two weeks.

International shipping is critical for us, because 45% of sales is export.
Currently there are some problems due to Bexit. We expect to lose our UK Business.

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 Post subject: Re: help with laps for a beginner.
PostPosted: Mon Feb 08, 2021 9:18 pm 
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Yes understandable, here it is a relief in some way the air is blue again, probably not as noticeable as the greater LA area. Hopefully we are heading in a better direction with all this. Our store has essentially been closed for awhile due to pre-covid flooding, then covid struct and that stopped the reopening. Custom work keeping us going along with cutting and re-cutting. No real lap biz to speak of, clubs are still closed and shows sound like maybe returning here in the near distance.

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