I am new to IGS and fairly new to faceting and self-teaching. In April I purchased a new V5 to replace a very old MDR (1947) that was a gift. I\’ve cut about 8 stones with the V5 and perhaps 40 stones in total. I have quite a bit of various laps and polishing compounds. I also have a good stock of rough and a large supply of Oregon sunstone and MT saphire.
My biggest problems so far:
1. The UT V5 alignment seems to move all by itself. I\’ve started checking the alignment after the pavilion and after the crown. Re-alignment is always necessary, sometime more than 2 degrees using the cheater. Any suggestions? I\’m thinking of sending the mast back to UT to check the calibration.
2. My \”learning\” stones are sunstone. I am able to get a fairly good polish using Super Ceruim. I am ready to try diamond paste but uncertain of the best way to approach. I have a tin lap, two tin plus laps, a copper lap, 3 lucite laps, a darkside lap and a ceramic lap. I usually use a 3k lap as the prepolish. I have 8k, 14K, 50K, 100K Pandimoum paste. Any advice on what paste to use on what laps will be greatly appreciated. I am very concerned about damaging the above laps by using the wrong product on the wrong laps.
Thanks jim