Hello Mark and All,
Thank you for your additional advice! I am trying to decide upon the
practicality of a purchase of a split lap, and just wanted to wrap
my mind around it a bit before committing to the investment of money,
and space, as well as to get a better understanding of the “nature of
the beast” when in use.
In hindsight, the question I should have asked first is: Do (any of)
you find that when working with sterling silver fabricated flat sheet
metal (dead soft, in my case), you experience less undercutting/
draglines due to, and easier elimination of, defects inherent in
sterling silver sheet, when using a split lap, rather than a
traditional polishing lathe?
I have been told this by one person, and would love to gather
additional feedback from this group.
My primary consideration for the purchase of a split lap is not
necessarily to create precisely flat surfaces, but rather as a
solution for avoiding the polishing issues associated with flat
surfaces, defects in the metal, and undercutting/ draglines.
Any feedback would be greatly appreciated.
Best Regards,
Julie
Julie inherent imperfections in the metal make the drag lines from
any polishing medium. Some of it can be eliminated by using harder
laps but i have found burnishing over smaller areas and light touch
up with rouge will do. Notsure this will do with large flat sheet.
Russ
Hi Julie, I guess I would like to say again that the split lap is
sort of a scary machine to some people. I would estimate that in
shops of roughly 10 people, usually less than half of them regularly
used it (their loss). I use it all the time and find it
indispensable, but I am in the minority. That may also help keep
your expectations low as to how many responses you will get to your
query.
Flat surfaces are a problem for everyone. If there are odd
impurities in the silver that happen to be harder than the the
silver you will get troubling drag lines for sure with a lap.
Usually you can deal with them rotating the piece and and coming at
it from different directions. It’s great for removing defects, as in
waviness or little dips or shallow pits, while maintaining a
visually smooth, flat surface. Incidentally, I usually go right from
the lap, where I’m using my cutting compound, to lightly using my
rouge buff rather than using a split lap with rouge, I seem to get
the bright finish I want that way. If you don’t use a lap it’s very
hard not to round edges. Like if you have a flat disc and you polish
it on a buff with greystar, even if you’re careful those outer edges
are a little rounded. Not so with a lap.
You will want to hook it up to a dust collector. I just screwed it to
my counter next to my buff hoods. You are not required to buy the
table they sell for them. I like having tools organized in the way
that I use them. So for me it’s split lap on the left, then a
clearview hood for cutting compounds then on the right a clearview
hood for rouge. All with an under counter quatro 4 port dust
collector and hose run to each. That is pretty compact space-wise and
works for me.
Mark