The key to every faceted gemstones beauty and quality lies within its fine polish.
No two stones are exactly the same. Some may be similar but every cut and polish will hold its own unique challenges. I have conducted many experiments with the Gem Bot Automated Faceting Machine and have found a method that seems to work for me. I am not saying this is the sure way to polish every gemstone but It has worked for me. There is no exact equation to polishing a gemstone, especially when there are so many different varieties stones out there, all with different characteristics. I have found that diamond polish compound works very well. I will be including a set of diamond grit topper laps with every machine and also a set of diamond polishing compound. Here is an example of how I would polish a gemstone. I will have links later to some videos that may help to learn the polishing process. Starting out I like to cut stones with a grit no less than 600, I have found anything lower leaves deep scratches in the stone that are difficult to smooth out. Some may even start their cut with a 3000 grit wheel. But for preforming and getting the stone to its shape I like to use the 600 grit lap. Then from there I cut the facets in with a 1200 grit lap, then 2000, and finally the 3000. Removing a little bit of material each time until a nice frosty/smooth surface is reached without any deep scratches. From there I like to use a copper topper lap with my diamond polishing compound. I will work through the supplied grits starting with a 4k , all the upto a 200k grit to really bring out that mirror like perfect polish. When polishing you do not need a very high speed, and you do not need allot of pressure. Let the diamond compound work for you. Let the Gem Bot precisely go through its motions moving the stone back and forth across the copper lap. I will go into more detail in some videos in the near future and add updates here.
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