A few more thoughts on sanding

Well, after finding out that sanding with diamond is pretty easy and cost effective, I'm willing to look at additional sanding steps.

The reason this is coming to mind again is because of all the ridges in my last batch of stones. Yes, if I had worked smaller batches I'd have been able to get rid of the worst of the ridges, but not all.

Looking though Riggle's diamond abrasives book again I noticed that he suggests sanding with near the same grit size as the fine grind (280). He states "The cutting action, however, is not the same because the smoothing wheel or disk has the cushioned surface, which has a gentler effect. With this grit, the scratches, plus any bumps or tiny flat spots that may have been left by the grinding wheel are smoothed away". That right there describes my complaint.

So not only have I ordered 220 grit diamond paste (closest to 280) but I'm going to try out a dura-tex pad. I can't tell from the descriptions if it is more laplike (stiff and flat) or more like a pad. However, it appears to hold the diamond grit better which might translate to more aggressive sanding.

If that works out, I'll replace the other sanding disks with dura-tex pads as they wear out.

I'm curious about polishing with diamond, but I don't see the point in the additional cost before I'm able to sell my end product.

Checking out MB trading. It is an ECN which means that they won't take the other side of your trade. Not liking their software all that much, but that they are a ECN is very appealing.

EUR/USD - No change on 1.4202, stop 1.4442, limit 1.3847. Looks like a loser.
GBP/USD - I did get out too early. Watching.
USD/JPY - No change on long 116.61, stop 112.29, limit 117.25.
AUD/USD - Watching.
USD/CAD - Watching.

Trial and error is useful but frustrating

My diamond grinding book arrived and I bought 360 and 600 grit diamond paste and two uncharged disks. The diamond worked as advertised. I sanded eleven stones before I had to recharge the disk. After eighteen stones it does not look worn. I'm well pleased about that.

However, I'm less than pleased with three errors I made:

1. I tried to do a huge batch at a time
2. I insisted on trying to work little stones in my fingers instead of dopping them
3. I experimented with my polishing

Re: #1 -- I decided to gather all of the found rocks that we'd collected so far. After cleaning and using the trim saw on the first batch (one more batch of found rocks before I get into the rocks we've found at the mines) I had sixty-four stones ready for the 100 grit wheel. I had been trying a new method that would get my stones closer to being sellable. After grinding forty-eight on the 100 grit I figured out how to get closer to that goal and that my current stones had domes that were too narrow and high. That is the first problem with doing large batches. If you try to do things in a repeatable fashion and you make a mistake, all of the items in the given batch will have the same mistake. Correcting the mistake would mean removing a great deal of material. So, even though nothing was lost and I did learn how to improve my method, it is incredibly frustrating to have 48 stones with the same error. The second problem with large batches is focus. After 1-4 hours of repetitive work I tend to go cross-eyed. Ridges and bumps that show up during 100 and 220 grit grinding are often small. But they stand out clearly after prepolish. The more I did, the more I missed.

Very frustrating.

Re: #2 -- Dopping stones is a bit of work... especially a large number of stones. Normally, it is easier to grind while holding the stone in my fingers. But once the stone gets to be under a centimeter, it is very difficult. Plus I manged to grind away around a third of the fingernails on my index and middle fingers of both hands. In the end my smaller stones had many ridges.

Re: #3 -- I had read that faceters sometimes mixed their diamond grit in petroleum jelly instead of oil. I had been mixing my polish in water and painting it onto the felt pad. As that was a bit messy I thought mixing it with petroleum jelly might be better. It wasn't. Best as I can tell, once the water drys up on a given polishing run the polish acts like it is bonded with the felt. This makes the polishing action much more aggressive. When the polish is mixed with petroleum jelly it never gets aggressive and the stone never gets a proper shine.

So, I now have eighteen stones with a crummy polish and thirty more with the error mentioned above.

grr

Might as well write down my current method (which is nothing more than a hodgepodge of what I've read).

1. Trim saw
2. Rough forming
3. Fine forming
4. Sanding/smoothing
5. Polishing

#1 -- Use the trim saw to get around 1.5-2mm of the drawn outline.
#2 -- Dop small stones! While holding the stone so that its bottom is on top, grind to around half a millimeter of the outline then flatten the bottom. Then grind the edge flat (about a 1/4mm from the outline). Measure and mark off the top of the bezel, which should be one third the height of the stone. "Mark the top of the stone in thirds from end to end and side to side"*. Then make a dot in the center of that marking. While continuing to hold the stone with the bottom on top, grind to around a quarter millimeter of both the bezel line and the line drawn on the top of the stone. Once the entire top of the stone has been ground that way, grind to the dot at a lesser angle. Lastly remove any large ridges or facets before rinsing off the stone.
#3 -- Lightly grind all over the sides and top of the stone to improve later polishing. Remove all ridges, facets, and bumps because sanding/smoothing will not remove them. If there are any major errors found at this stage (like an asymmetrical shape), go back to the 100 grit.
#4 -- Being careful to avoid the bezel line, sand all over the stone to improve later polishing. It is at this point ridges that were missed during steps 2-3 will begin to stand out. If you find them, go back to the 220 wheel.
#5 -- Same procedure for both tripoli and cerium oxide: mix polish with water and dab onto pre-moistened felt pad. Starting on the outside while the pad and polish are wet, use moderate pressure and twist and rock the stone. As the pad drys move towards the center of the pad. When you feel the pad tugging at the stone pay attention to heat and stay near the center of the pad. Do this all over the stone for a dull shine with the tripoli and a good luster with the cerium oxide. Note: if you are too near the outer edge of the pad when it starts to dry, you will get pitting and an odd "flow" of stone in the area worked. The only way to get rid of that is to go back to the sanding step.


At this point I'm going to try batches of five stones and finish off the eighteen stones that have been rough formed. Then I can test out grinding to both bezel and top markings.


* Cabochon Cutting by Jack Cox

EUR/USD - No change on 1.4202, stop 1.4442, limit 1.3847.
GBP/USD - Limited out on long 2.0141. Profit diff 284. But I think I got out too early. Not sure.
USD/JPY - Moved limit on long 116.61, stop 112.29, limit 117.25. This is looking like a bad trade. Even if I had used a limit entry, the exit signal happened on a big reversal. Update: I've removed the limit on this. Looking at it a bit more, the price may be fixing to jump very high... or not.
AUD/USD - Watching.
USD/CAD - Watching.

EUR/USD - Short limit activated on 10/11 at 1.4202, stop 1.4442, limit 1.3847.
GBP/USD - Moved stop and limit on long 2.0141, stop 1.9932, limit 2.0425. Still getting mixed signals.
USD/JPY - Moved stop on long 116.61, stop 112.29, limit 121.84.
AUD/USD - Watching.
USD/CAD - Watching.

Some thoughts on sanding

Still waiting for my diamond grinding book to arrive. So, I started googling around and pondering sanding disks, pads, and grit.

It makes sense that the 6" carbide sanding disks wear so quickly. Only out on the edge is there 6" of running space. All in all, sanding disks have very little surface area and must wear out quickly.

So, if a sanding belt can make use of its entire length, I think it reasonable to think the belt will last at least twice the time that a disk would. Ignoring that the old timers sanded dry, I think this explains why they used equipment with very long belts. I think the belts got shorter once diamond got more popular.

Something interesting I read on sanding with diamond is that as the diamond sanding belt is used up, it cuts slower but not finer. That's something that makes carbide difficult to sand with. It becomes finer as it is worn down.

Another thing I read was that diamond grit is cheaper than a diamond belt but is harder to work with. Considering that diamond belts are pretty pricey, I think I'm willing to work harder.

Last thing I found while googling around -- the reason that a soft backing is used when sanding cabs is to avoid making facets. So, in using such a light touch on the 400 grit, did I make an artificial flat lap? Thing is I can't push too hard either or else the carbide is used up in under two minutes and I risk hitting the backing plate and making facets that way.

Seems there is a window of use with the carbide wheels

Starting sometime after 1.5 hours I noticed a good deal of green clay coming off of the wheel.

I suspect that the water gets too far into the wheel around that time and it starts eating away at a much faster rate.

EUR/USD - Set a short limit at 1.4202, stop 1.4442, limit 1.3847.
GBP/USD - Moved stop on long 2.0141, stop 1.9855, limit 2.0978. Some signals are indicating that I should offset and others are saying to hold o.O
USD/JPY - No change on long 116.61, stop 112.05, limit 121.84. Hmm, seems like it wants to go long now.
AUD/USD - Watching. May give a short this week.
USD/CAD - Watching. May give a weak long this week.

I think I need to use diamond grit for sanding

My next stones showed me something interesting.

I used a very light touch on the 400 grit sandpaper and used only one disk for all six.

Well, when I tried to sand on the 600 grit and went through three pads on one stone I realized what was wrong. I was too tired when I thought I was finished with the 400 grit but ended up leaving many ridges and tables. So, I went back to the 400 grit and finished up.

This tells me that I do need two sanding steps.

Also, considering one sanding pad is only good for 1-2 stones, carbide sanding pads aren't cost effective.

I'll know more after I go through the diamond abrasives book.

I find a lot of truth in this link

It's frustrating.

I found some things I didn't like with Bush after his first term, but when Kerry came up as the Dem candidate I felt I had no other choice (like this time around if it's Hillery). Except now, the Republicans seem to have fully joined with the Democrats in only fielding people from the ruling class. By ruling class I mean people that have little to no connection to the middle class. Any connection displayed to the middle class is nothing more than smoke and mirrors designed only to get votes and money.

In my amateur's view of history I've seen this before. Both parties like the lower class because it is easily controlled with incentives. The lower class lacks the ability/desire to be free actors in life. The upper class does everything in its power to keep more households from joining its ranks as that would mean its influence would become watered down. The upper class *hates* dealing with direct competition.

"Competition is sin." - John D. Rockefeller

"If one understands that socialism is not a share-the-wealth program, but is in reality a method to consolidate and control the wealth, then the seeming paradox of super-rich men promoting socialism becomes no paradox at all. Instead, it becomes logical, even the perfect tool of power-seeking megalomaniacs. Communism, or more accurately, socialism, is not a movement of the downtrodden masses, but of the economic elite." - Gary Allen, author

That leaves the middle class. It is what moves society forward. The middle class, in effect, is society/culture.

What I've seen in other countries that have done well for themselves only to up and die in under a century is the ruling class (aristocracies, theocracies, and plutocracies) kills off (literally or through sanctions) the middle class.

In the US and too many other countries, I'm seeing the middle class having less and less of a say in how things get done. I'm seeing in the US the ever increasing debt load carried by people who should know better. I'm seeing the middle class killing itself through manufactured need for shiny toys that have no use beyond limited entertainment.

Bread and circuses.

Makes me worry.

My wheel dresser arrived

Worked nicely.

Now that I'm using light pressure on the wheel I notice no real wear.

I made my first attempt at using my templates. My thinking is that if I get that down, symmetric cutting will soon follow.

I found this to be very difficult. The four I tried ended up smaller than the template. I tried leaving one millimeter but working the bulges took too much off. I'll try leaving more space next time.

Waiting on the 600 grit paper and the diamond book to arrive. With a light touch I'm able to make the sandpaper last longer, but I keep running into little facets when the paper is near worn. I'm leaning towards sanding with diamond at this point.