Goldjockey
Elite Cafe Member
- Joined
- May 17, 2018
- Messages
- 275
Have never sanded baked enamels, but professionally have done a fair amount of lapidary sanding on everything from precious stones, to harder materials with pyrite and quartz inclusions, to hard steel, to softer metals like copper, silver, and gold in a production shop setting where time is money.
I think if I were doing a high enough volume of work to make a living (I currently do) - and this is a subject particularly close to my heart as a manufacturing jeweler, and gunsmith - I would use a series of carbide and diamond belts and wheels on a 6" to 8" lapidary sanding unit (with or without water cooling) followed (if necessary) by a final buff on a finishing lathe to smooth and refine harder materials to a final finish.
This is a method I literally use every day for jewelry and gunsmithing work. It's always a straightforward progression, e.g. 180>300>600>800>1200>etc., in any gradient value that particularly works for the application, and it is very fast, and efficient and yields professional results when done correctly.
Scotch Bright wheels (6" or more recommended) in different grits on a polishing lathe (an arbor mounted on an electric motor will do) can be used on a single machine or motor to achieve the same results. *Always wear a dust mask or respirator!
GAWD ALMIGHTY!!! I'm going to post links to the equipment I'm recommending, but I just did a search, and holy mother of God! It's gotten outrageously expensive.
Still, it will likely save time and aggravation beyond imagination (YMMV) and make your life so much easier if you have a volume of work to get a 8" Covington belt sander. I use this machine literally EVERY day (bought it more than 30 years ago) - https://arrowheadlapidarysupply.com/products/2-station-expanding-drum-unit-by-covington/5718/c113/
There are lots of companies who make lapidary sanders, and if you are doing, or plan to do any type of volume, it's probably worth investigating.
I think if I were doing a high enough volume of work to make a living (I currently do) - and this is a subject particularly close to my heart as a manufacturing jeweler, and gunsmith - I would use a series of carbide and diamond belts and wheels on a 6" to 8" lapidary sanding unit (with or without water cooling) followed (if necessary) by a final buff on a finishing lathe to smooth and refine harder materials to a final finish.
This is a method I literally use every day for jewelry and gunsmithing work. It's always a straightforward progression, e.g. 180>300>600>800>1200>etc., in any gradient value that particularly works for the application, and it is very fast, and efficient and yields professional results when done correctly.
Scotch Bright wheels (6" or more recommended) in different grits on a polishing lathe (an arbor mounted on an electric motor will do) can be used on a single machine or motor to achieve the same results. *Always wear a dust mask or respirator!
GAWD ALMIGHTY!!! I'm going to post links to the equipment I'm recommending, but I just did a search, and holy mother of God! It's gotten outrageously expensive.
Still, it will likely save time and aggravation beyond imagination (YMMV) and make your life so much easier if you have a volume of work to get a 8" Covington belt sander. I use this machine literally EVERY day (bought it more than 30 years ago) - https://arrowheadlapidarysupply.com/products/2-station-expanding-drum-unit-by-covington/5718/c113/
There are lots of companies who make lapidary sanders, and if you are doing, or plan to do any type of volume, it's probably worth investigating.
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