Thread: Restoring an old Coticule

Hmmmm, diamond plates do not wear down? I must have purchased some bad ones.

Originally Posted by randydance062449

Hmmmm, diamond plates do not wear down? I must have purchased some bad ones.

They don't?
Mine do but if they are broken in and used with water they don't release any stray diamonds!
That's until they get really old and used up...

Originally Posted by Lemur

They don't?
Mine do but if they are broken in and used with water they don't release any stray diamonds!
That's until they get really old and used up...

My point is that the diamond plates do release fragments of the diamond grains thruout their use. I am not saying that the entire diamond grain is released, just a fragment. Thus there will be some that ends up in the slurry.

Originally Posted by randydance062449

My point is that the diamond plates do release fragments of the diamond grains thruout their use. I am not saying that the entire diamond grain is released, just a fragment. Thus there will be some that ends up in the slurry.

Hmm, you're probably right it can happen but I have never had any problem with it.
I use the slurry for final polishing and it's "clean" from any gritty things, I'm sure I just got jinxed and next time I'll get a scratch from hell on my blade!

Ahh, and there is a big difference for mono crystalline and poly diamonds to, the poly type break of pieces... that could be it!

Oh bugger,
I just assumed one diamond plate was as good as another and bought the following today.
I liked the 4 grits thinking it would get the job done quickly and then I could smoothen surface with 600grit.



http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/B005...pi=SL500_SX125

From what I am reading it sounds like I should have bought something made of sturdier stuff.

I will take your advice and smoothen the BBW as well - seems a shame to have it be not use it.

I have been reading loads of posts on the coticule here and I am really looking forward to getting into it.

Thanks for feedback all!

Originally Posted by Lemur

I save slurry from my Jnats for other use,
Had a girl over helping me clean once, she cleaned out lots of small plastic containers with "some dirt" in them... Nakayama dirt!

OH NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOooooooooooooooooo

Originally Posted by Euclid440

Once lapped, you can begin to learn the nuisances of the Coticule. There is a lot written on the Coticule and much to learn.

I hope you meant "nuances." But Lenahaad, be forewarned, not every coticule is a great coticule. Some aren't even very good. But if yours was dished, then someone really liked it and it's probably a good one.

About your four-sided diamond block--check each side with a straight edge before you touch it to any hone. I bought a lower-price plate once and discovered it was quite far from flat. I'd have ruined hones, or at least lost a lot of them before getting them flat again, if I had used it without checking. The DMT plates are reliably flat, as are the more expensive Atoma and some others. DMTs are probably the least expensive reliably flat ones. (DMT = "Diamond Machining Technology"). Beware lapping at 600 grit; the diamonds that small are more likely to get sheared off their plate by lapping. Do the heavy work at 350 or coarser, then just put a light polish on with the 600 if you want to.

Best wishes.

Spell Checker victim, though as you said… they can be. And then there is the collecting…problem.

Be careful with inexpensive diamond plates, you can use them to hog off material or bevel edges, but they can have diamond clumps on them. Run them on some hard steel first to knock off any high spots and prevent gouging, an ax or shovel tip.

Finish on a good diamond plate like a DMT or wet & dry sand paper. That stone is not that bad and I would not risk it. Sanding screen and Wet & Dry is the most economical answer.

I have seen 2 of the DMT plates that were not flat. Be sure to check them.

Originally Posted by randydance062449

I have seen 2 of the DMT plates that were not flat. Be sure to check them.

Wow, thus begins the slide toward darkness! I wonder if they succombed to the siren song of offshored production.

<sad tale> Checkpoint levels did that, and are now out of business. A pipefitter at my last job told me that a lot of jobsites don't allow Checkpoints because the quality slid so far toward the end. I had one of the last ones made in the U.S. and I could tell that quality control had slid, and a newer one from Taiwan wasn't much better. Alas. </sad tale>