The following article is in the current issue # 202 March~April of Facet Talk does it relate to your laps Tony?
"Test on New Polishing Lap Gempro Easy-Pol Bruce Copper, Northern Rivers Facet Group"
"In the middle of last year, I was asked to trial a new special alloy polishing lap (made in Australia) to give the amateur cutter's perspective. It had already been tested by a professional cutter who was very happy with the results. To protect the maker's intellectual property rights I cannot reveal the composition but I have not heard of it being used for laps before and (as a chemist) can say that it is safe to use. The instructions that came with it stressed that it should NEVER be dressed with abrasive such as wet & dry paper, or Solvol soap. It was also suggested that it would work best at higher lap speeds and would be well suited to the Frank Dickson mix that I normally use for polishing (5ml Teflon grease, 5ml Teflon oil, 5ct diamond 50k mesh). The testing actually started earlier than I anticipated. I picked it up on the way to the lapidary club and one of my pupils was having trouble polishing the table of a very large amethyst (irreverently christened the door knob, by the others). The problem was the common one for less experienced cutters on big stones. The table was not totally flat and as the cutter tried to expand the polished area scratches would appear. The new lap was put to use after working in a small quantity of the polish mix, then spinning the lap fast, while rubbing off all excess with a pad of paper toweling. Immediately all scratches were removed from the polished area. The right thing to do then would have been to go back to the 3000 mesh lap to give a fully flat table, then re-polish but for test purposes I polished the table down with high lap speed and fairly high hand pressure. The really impressive thing was that at no time did any scratches appear on that big table. Proper testing at home on my Drabsch machine then commenced: Stone 1 was labradorite about 3 carat. Polishing was very fast and facet edges were noted to be very sharp. Polishing was done straight from a well worn 1500 lap. Stone 2 was topaz about 3 carat. Polishing was again very fast following the 1500 lap and facet edges were sharp. Stone 3 was tourmaline 3.7 carat. Polishing was very fast following the 1500 lap and facet edges were sharp. I noted that if pressure was used, it was important to finish with no pressure before lifting off the lap. If not, ripples would appear in the polished surface even though side to side movement was being maintained. Stone 4 was labradorite 3.1 carat. Again polishing was fast and facet edges sharp. Again I noted the need to revert to low pressure before lifting off the lap to avoid the ripple effect.
Of particular note in the above tests is that at no time did any scratch ever appear during polishing, regardless of the nature of the material. The next stone was a 29.8 carat topaz. By now I was doing all polishing at the maximum speed of my Drabsch. Lower speeds did work well, but the high speed gave the same results faster. The big table on this stone was polished in two minutes following 3000 mesh pre-polish. I actually took a few more minutes, but that was to remove a flaw in the stone! I then did two small sapphires 6x4 mm and 0.85 carat to see how it went with the harder stone. Again there were no problems at all. While demonstrating at the Lismore Agricultural Show (on a Gemmasta GF2) I did topaz 7 ct, topaz 2.5ct, amethyst 10 ct, jelly opal 8 ct and two labradorite of 4 ct each. The lighting here was very unfavourable, so most polishing was done by guessing how long was required on each facet, then checking at home and being pleasantly surprised to find only very minor blemishes not removed. Two garnets were then cut - one red almandine and one noticeably sugary rhodolite. Neither stone was completed due to cracks in the material, but for the purpose of the test, tables were cut and polished. Both stones had small pieces coming out on the 3000 mesh lap. I was pleasantly surprised to find that the polish lap removed the small pits and did not create any more, but quickly gave a very good polish. The overall impression from the tests was that the lap polishes very quickly, does not produce any scratches on a wide variety of materials, gives very sharp facet edges and is easy to maintain. When worked hard, the surface high spots were no bigger than match head size. Remembering that you should not use an abrasive dressing, the lap was treated by giving a very light rolling with a knurling tool where the hot spots showed perfect outcome. (If you do not have a knurling tool, you can make one from the thumb-wheel on a disposable lighter.) The lap maker says that it can also be used for the 3000 pre-polish with results closer to polish. I am about to test this on another lap. When I started the tests, the lap did not have a name, but I understand that it is now sold as GemPro Easy-Pol by Gemcuts at Ballina. I have just bought one for the club as well as two for club members, who have been impressed."
The Australian Facetors Guild is well worth joining for anyone interested in faceting have a look at their website for further info.
http://www.facetorsguild.com.au/index.html
