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View Full Version : Looking for a flat lap....



callirrhoejewellery
22-04-2016, 11:27 AM
...And can't for the life of me find a supplier in the UK within my budget....granted my budget is very small as it is my first piece of lapidary equipment I would ideally prefer to buy something second hand or an entry level machine.

I have been looking at the All-U-Need which seems to have great reviews, is long lasting and fits my budget.

Can anyone recommend anything I can get from the UK around the £300-£500 mark?

ps_bond
23-04-2016, 10:08 AM
In a word - nope. To the best of my knowledge there are no flat laps made in the UK, anything you see has invariably been done for the US market. Manchester Minerals sell a cabbing setup that uses wheels rather than laps; I managed to pick a s/h Ameritech 6" lap on Ebay (although it's 110V only). Depending on resources you could build your own, although the wheel setup is probably easier.

Inland do a cheap flat lap in 220V; I had one before getting the Ameritech. It's OK, but not spectacular - the motors tend to be a bit of an issue from reading around.

I'm assuming the All-U-Need means it can't take the heavy wheels used in faceting as opposed to the much skinnier (and cheaper) diamond discs generally available.

glitterandgem
24-04-2016, 07:46 AM
If you are technically minded you could do what i did which is suitable for making cabochons https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vev9z-hWkJk

metalsmith
24-04-2016, 07:45 PM
...And can't for the life of me find a supplier in the UK within my budget....granted my budget is very small as it is my first piece of lapidary equipment I would ideally prefer to buy something second hand or an entry level machine.

I have been looking at the All-U-Need which seems to have great reviews, is long lasting and fits my budget.

Can anyone recommend anything I can get from the UK around the £300-£500 mark?

I just use a wet / dry bench grinder; in fact I only use the wet, but it can be slow; sometimes this is a bonus as coarser grits would vibrate the rock to pieces.

I do ok on it.