(COMMENTS FROM BATT ™ LAP USERS)
Unsolicited letters, e-mails, and postings.
There is no feeling like working for a long time to develop something and having people enjoy one's efforts! My lathe lives in my garage. It is cold in Winter, and mosquitos invade it in the Summer. These letters make up for it! THANK YOU, everyone! :-)
I got back my four stones and judging sheets that I entered in the Australian Facetors' Guild 2001 competition this morning. Of the four stones that I entered in the Novices section, ( I was awarded two third places) I was scored two 20/20 and two 19/20 for polishing, two 6/6 for facets sharp, and two 6/6 for facets true. I must attribute these to your BATT laps which were used for polishing. As someone new to faceting and this being my very first attempt at competition work I must say that I was quite thrilled.
I can't believe I actually look forward to polishing stones like peridot and CZ since I've started using your BATT laps (I have 3, two of which you resurfaced a few months ago). Although I hadn't had much luck with diamond spray on a recharge, I've been doing kind of what you've talked about --light film of oil and diamond powder (a mini-charge). Anyway, you really deserve an award for this BATT lap--it really revolutionized the art of polishing. As I've said before, and I say it everytime I use your lap--THANK YOU!
From London:
Whenever I read things like "it should take about 15 seconds to bring up a polish on a facet" I always used to wonder what was wrong with my polishing technique. I've just discovered that my polishing technique is more or less OK, as long as I use a BATT lap! Fifteen seconds and ta-daaaa, the polish is there or thereabouts - sooooo much quicker and easier than all the other laps I've used. Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, and you can quote me on that... Warmest regards from a VERY happy customer.
From an experienced professional gemcutter:
At the moment, I'm taking a break -- just long enough to write, that is -- from polishing a matched pair of 7mm round Zambian Amethysts, also using my *new* "favorite lap"; here, again, no problems to report!!! (In fact, as I'd shown you and the others, last month, I've manage to completely bypass the whole prepolish stage -- previously unheard of, *especially* when dealing with quartzes! -- and go directly from 600mesh to a 50,000mesh polish, without either shredding the lap's surface or generating agglomeration-gouges!!! UNHEARD OF!!!) Jon, I don't know what the mechanics at work here are, but it seems to me that the alloy you're using has managed to bridge the gap between the "squishy" laps (lucite, phenolic, tin, tin-lead, pewter, typemetal, copper and B20) and the "ultra-hard" ones (Meehanite/cast iron, ceramics, Corian); with the "BATT", faceters can now have the 'slipperiness' of a metal lap, the practicality of lucite and very nearly the flatness of a properly-prepared ceramic, with far less effort. What *really* left me smiling was the complete absence of squeaks & squalks while polishing the 65-70% tables of the Corundum and Chrysoberyl I'd discussed, earlier. A couple of times, I actually found myself giggling like a little kid, in awe of the quietness!
Finally I was in the opportunity to try your BATT lap. I was cutting a colorless topaz which I was not able to polish on a CD-rom with ceria (my favourite method for all quartz related stones). I changed to the BATT lap and with the linde A (I made a solution with some ethanol and water and a drop of liquid dish soap) I was able to obtain an excellent polish without the smallest scratch. Wow! My compliments for your laps!
Although I do remain a devotee` of 100,000 mesh on ceramic for Corundums and Chrysoberyls, your BATT Lap is *by far* the finest, smoothest and *most predictable* polishing lap I've ever had the pleasure of finishing anything else on! Since you presented me with it, last month, I've cut a "Neon" Apatite, a pair of small Umba Padparadschas, a Rhodolite, or two, and several Quartzes of various colors and internal striae, all without a hitch. In fact, I'm so thrilled with the way this lap handles *tables*, in particular, that I'm "spoiling" myself by switching from the ceramic to your BATT Lap, after each Sapphire
I received my BATT Lap today. It looks very nice. You do good work, and I am very impressed with the care and detail that you employ.
I just had to turn the computer back on and send this out tonight. It can't wait till morning.-------------------------------------------
Holy speed polish BATT Man... !!!! What the heck just hit the market ? I have cut and polished stones both cab and facet since I was 17 years old. Now along comes Jon Rolfe and his new BATT formula lap and I have to give him a very deep face to the floor sign of respect. Ya got a winner there Jon. Running the lap at about 1/2 speed I started to polish a new 600 grit cut surface that had not seen the 50k diamond. What I got was enough to make me gasp for breath. One of the best polished surfaces that I had ever achieved and in less time than with any of the other laps that I have mentioned above. Jon. I take my hat off to you SIR. You did it again.
Well I finally finished that (XXXXXX) Opposed Bar cut. (XXXX)! VERY hard to polish, but the BATT lap did the best of anything I have using the 4K diamond and the 50K diamond.
Business took me to Boston this week, so I used the occasion to invite myself to meet this fellow known as GEARLooSE about these parts. Turns out he's someone named Jonathan Rolfe, but no less interesting than the nickname. The polishing process has been laborious at best and mostly frustrating. I took my start on the Barion Octagon to show him the fruit of an afternoon of cutting. That means I had rough shaped the pavilion and girdle. Jon decided to show me how it's supposed to be done. First there was some pre-forming then he skipped a bunch of grinding steps and started using a homebrew lap upon which he spread two tracks of homebrew abrasive pastes. Twenty minutes later his pavilion was polished and FINISHED! Jon explained the metallurgy of his BATT lap and the chemistry of the abrasives in his pastes along with a brief lecture on how this polishing has to go fast enough to be fun or we shouldn't be doing it. I told him that I leave with one of those laps and some paste or else the cat "gets it". He produced the materials and saved his cat. The neat part of this story is that I can now go from a 600 lap to a finished polish using that one lap. I was SHOCKED to see how fast the polish goes compared to what I had been doing. The Barion Octagon has a large table which only took me several minutes to finish. I have retired the diamond spray, its thinner, and the horse it rode in here on.
I received the new lap yesterday. This is the best job of machining of any of the many laps I have purchased over the years.
TO SAY I WAS PLEASED WITH MY BATT LAP WOULD BE AN UNDERSTATEMENT!It has been some time ago that I purchased an 8" BATT Lap from you. I was anxious to try it but had to get a few things ready first. Well last night was the night! I am working on a Ceylon Blue Spinel for a ring for myself (although my wife has her eye on it too). I charged the BATT with 50k. I forged ahead and when I started to polish the first facet all I could say was WOW! I called my wife down to my work area and showed her the results, she thought it was great also.
As expected the lap is improving with every stone as it acquires its final accumulative charge. I statically charge the lap with 3 huge hits of Crystalite 1/2 micron after a thorough alcohol cleaning.
Jon, what in the heck are you doing ?? You are taking the tedium out of polishing !!! It's becoming too damn easy !!! I just went from 360 to final polish. Don't tell anyone, this is our secret. Please let's start whispering to one another about this. QUIET, this is too good a secret !!!
