Round Diamond Laps
Flat Diamond Lap
A cut stone can be shaped and smoothed by using varying grades of diamond grit which are coated onto a diamond flat lap. These round laps clamp on to a master lap on a lapidary machine. Work your way through the grits starting off with the coarsest; 100 or 180 and ending on 600,800 or 1200. The diamond discs are easy to change and are available for 6" or 8" machines. A cabochon with a dome on top and flat on the bottom is achieved by sanding and polishing your stone down with these flat diamond laps until the dome shape is formed.
Diamond Polishing Paste
Diamond Polishing Paste
To polish your cabochon, a diamond compound known as diamond polishing paste is used. These come in handy little 5g syringes which are pre-mixed with a water-soluble oil and ready to use, so there's no fuss or mess. Apply a little to a felt wheel or felt polishing bob and work your way through the grits, starting off with the coarsest grade, 6 microns and finishing with a 1 or 0.25 micron grade. Depending on how rough your stone is to start with, you may be able to skip some of the coarser grades and perhaps begin with a 3 micron diamond grit. When you've polished with a 0.25 micron grit, your stone will have an exceptional mirror finish.
Diamond Slitting Discs
Diamond Slitting Discs
These diamond cutting discs have diamond grit on both sides of the wheel and on the edge as well making them an excellent choice for cutting/slitting, as well as for grinding and shaping your stones. Our diamond dental discs are of the highest quality and can cut through your stone with precision. They will leave you with a very clean finish, unlike lower priced, lower-quality versions on the market.
Diamond Files
Diamond needle files will carefully shape and form your cabochons and stones when you require the edges to be filed down or smoothed off. For delicate filing, the 900 grit can be used for very fine and detailed work. The 600 grit is widely used and will work wonders when trying to file off an edge to enable a gemstone to fit into a setting. For coarser filing try a 220-grit file. There are many shapes to choose from knife edge, warding, round, half round, triangle, barrette, square, flat and crossing. If you're new to the art of lapidary and not sure what the right shaped file is for you then perhaps a diamond file set is the answer.
Diamond Burrs
Diamond Burs or Burrs, come in various shapes and sizes. They also come produced with either a single layer of diamonds attached to the shank of the burr known as coated or electroplated, or with several layers known as sintered. Before using, and throughout the burrs lifetime, an occasional clean with an aluminium oxide stone will reveal a new layer of diamonds to a sintered burr. Because of this and because of the several layers, sintered burrs will last much longer than coated or plated diamond burrs.
Coated diamond burrs are ideal for a number of carving, shaping, engraving and cameo work on your stones and will cut through minerals and gems easily. Also used for adding texture to your surfaces. All our burrs come with a 2.35mm shank and will fit any rotary drill, micromotor, bench top, drill press or flex-shaft.
Diamond Drill bits
Diamond coated drill bits are the ideal solution for drilling holes and carving into your gemstones and minerals. Two different types are available: small diamond drill bits which are also often referred to as diamond tipped drill bits or diamond points, and diamond core drills, also known as diamond wire drills.
Our diamond core drills have diameters starting as small as 1.00mm and as large as 65mm. As you drill with water, an up-and-down motion whilst drilling allows water to flow up inside the core ensuring constant cooling. This cooling will preserve the life of your drill bit and help to prevent your stone from cracking. Mineralogists use our core drills to achieve a core rather than drill a hole which can then be used for study and research purposes.
The small diamond drill bits we supply are a wonderful way to achieve a superb hole in the hardest of materials. These have diameters as small as 0.75mm and go as large as 3mm. With a larger surface area than the core drills, they will have more diamond coating on the drilling surface of the drill.
We also do extra long diamond drill bits which are ideal for use when you require extra shank length.
Diamond Dental Burrs
These high-speed diamond dental burrs have a 1.6mm shank, which with the use of a small adaptor will enable you to use them as you would a burr with a 2.35mm shank. They are used by lapidary artists wishing to create intaglio or cameo work and for very fine and detailed engraving, carving and sculpting. These are popular with glass engraving artists as well.
Diamond Dental Burrs
