Greetings,
I have 8grams raw sapphires, 3 raw approx. 2g rubies & several grams of topaz & 1 approx. 2mm red beryl. I would like to try to facet them myself, but I cannot use a lap in my apartment. any suggestions?
Does your apt complex not allow you to use any table top machines? A good faceting machine does not create much noise. Probably half as much noise as a blender.
That is not much noise at all perhaps this would not be too much an issue. from the videos I have watched I imagined them being louder. Ty for the info!
you can give a drimmel a try. itll take alot ofg practice tho to learn how to keep ur hand steady or build a mount for the dremmel.
also i just got ahold of a glass grinder this is a good option for small time cutters with limited space. it has a water pool to keep dust to a min and is extremly quite. no louder then a window ac. or dish washer. but it is better suited for cabbing.
i started on a dremmel and got pretty good with one but you will never match the quality of a good table lap. i thought i was matching the quality then i had my lap built and now i dont touch the dremmel. unless ima do a fantasy cut.
also its not the lap that is loud necessarily its the grinding of the stone on the diamond blades that can get loud and annoying if ur not the one using it. at higher grits the noise isnt as bad and with polishing you should only hear the lap running no grinding on the stone
Join a lapidary guild near you. They will not only have all the equipment you need to cut, but they’ll have experienced lapidarists to assist/guide you. Also, no noise restrictions.
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some of us dont have any guilds close. me living in panama city florida we dont have a lapodary guild. i would have to travle to alabama about 4 hours away
It has been a long time since I responded to your original post. I’m curious to see if you made progress toward faceting.
I am in Central Florida, just north of Orlando and can identify how scarce guilds seem to be. We have one in Orlando, but I have received a response from an inquiry I made about how to join.
I joined United States Faceting Guild (USFG) and attended their symposium in Franklin, NC this past July. It was great fun, free to attend, and great information. It is currently only $18 to join.
Hope you are still at it and have been able to get an adequate machine.
Larry