How are diamond lapping plates(DMT,ATOMA,SHAPTON) made?

The title says it all, almost.

It's easy to understand that diamond is used as it is very
hard and will last very long.

Diamond powder is used on a flat(steel/aluminium) plate.
What I don't read about is how the diamond particles are kept in
place? I read some little info on fora about nickel plating, but I
don't get it. Is the nickel poured on the steel plate while liquid
and the diamonds are sprayed in the this liquid. When the nickel
gets hard again, the nickel is bonded with the steel plate underneath
and the diamond particles are kept in place in the nickel matrix?

Sintered diamond plates is when the diamonds are pressed in the
plate. That doesn't seem to be very difficult, just use a big hard object
to press the diamonds in a steel plate. Seems almost so easy
that I could do it myself.

Get a flat steel plate. Buy synthetic diamond powder, place/spread
the particles evenly on the plate and press it in the plate with a piece
of thick, hard(glass) surface.

And no I am not thinking about making my own diamond plate,lol.

Love to hear your knowledge on this guys.

Sharpman

Trade secret.

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Originally Posted by holli4pirating

Trade secret.

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Lol!

Sharpman

From what i understand they use Electroless to plate the nickel onto the steel, this may be wrong but it also makes sense, being able to get the surface even etc

Edit: Electroless nickel plating - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Have a read through this - it doesn't exactly say diamond stones although it does mention "optical surfaces for diamond turning"

You could also have a look at This

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Well, the basic principle is you set up a slurry of tiny diamond particles in a nickel plating bath or electroless nickel plating bath and the diamonds are encapsulated as the nickel deposit is laid down. At one time General Electric offered industrial diamonds that were pre-plated with electroless nickel to facilitate the process. Whether this product line is still available from General Electric, I don't know; and whether it actually helps if the diamonds are pre-plated, I don't know either. But if you can reach someone in this area of General Electric perhaps they can help you. Nano-size diamonds now are available from Russia, which improves the economy I understand.

No matter which way you do it there is a good chance of being sued, though, because there are dozens of very important and broad patents in this technology. Another approach might be to go to someone who licenses their patented processes.

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Originally Posted by Brighty83

From what i understand they use Electroless to plate the nickel onto the steel, this may be wrong but it also makes sense, being able to get the surface even etc

Edit: Electroless nickel plating - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Have a read through this - it doesn't exactly say diamond stones although it does mention "optical surfaces for diamond turning"

You could also have a look at This

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Thanks for the link! Looks like something we could do at home? Take a flat
plate of steel. Put the diamond particles evenly on the plate and use electroless
to form a layer on the steel plate, which also will hold the diamonds in their place!

I wonder how DMT have improved their new hardcoat technology. I guess
they don't use nickel anymore. Maybe aluminium oxide?

I read that the hardcoat technology requires a layer of 0.001-0.003
thick on top of the steel whereas the nickel coat is 5-10 times thinner.
That would mean you would need bigger diamond particles if I am understanding
this correctly because the diamond particles are then in this thicker layer which makes
less of the diamond above the layer.

Sharpman

Hi
I do know that the Atoma plates are made by the electroplating method and I believe that they use nickel ions over a matrix of diamonds. The diamonds are therefore mechanically held in place without the use of a plastic or ceramic binding material. alx

Quote:

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Originally Posted by SharpMan

Looks like something we could do at home? Take a flat
plate of steel. Put the diamond particles evenly on the plate and use electroless
to form a layer on the steel plate, which also will hold the diamonds in their place!

Sharpman

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lol Well If you have a spare Electroless kit, some Nickel Fluoborate (or what ever it is they use), some diamonds and a lot of time to prefect it - why not :D

Why should I make one at home when I, sure as Bob's 'yur Uncle, can pay a small stipend and have DMT do it for me??......., OK, LOL, just me' poor sense 'O proportion at work here.

Not one of your more sensible home projects, do 'ya think??...me neither.

All in jest, tinkersd

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Originally Posted by tinkersd

Not one of your more sensible home projects, do 'ya think??...me neither.

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lol agreed - but hey if someone 'actually' managed to pull it of it would be kinda cool!

but personally - It sounds to hard\expensive\time consuming etc for me :D

Nah, I probably wouldn't be able to make one, but I do
like learning stuff, even if I don't succeed.

Not sure how it is said in english, but the journey is important
not necessarily whether one succeeds or not.

My next project will be building a space shuttle:rock:

Seriously the topic is more about understanding how this stuff
is made.

Anybody got an idea how the diamonds are held in place while being
coated?

Sharpman

I do remember reading something about a ceramic or glass plate pressing them down but I'm not 100% where i read that.

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Originally Posted by Brighty83

I do remember reading something about a ceramic or glass plate holding them down but I'm not 100% where i read that.

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Thanks for answering. Now that I think about it, it shouldn't be difficult
to keep them in place. I think by using something flat on top and pressing
the diamonds slightly down, the diamonds would be co-planar resulting
in a perfectly flat surface.

Interesting stuff.

Sharpman