in this issue
-- Our (Expanded) Product Line.
-- REVIEWS AND ANALYSIS OF THE DAD.
-- See You at Tucson? We'll be There! -- POLISHING LAPS - TWO NEW "OLDIES" -- ZINC LAPS -- CORIAN LAPS -- VISITS TO ULTRA TEC
Greetings! HAPPY NEW YEAR! 2010! To all of you in the Ultra Tec family - we wish you health, happiness, and (particularly these days) peace and prosperity. |
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Our (Expanded) Product Line. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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REVIEWS AND ANALYSIS OF THE DAD. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
We know that the DAD represents a significant purchase,
and if you are still thinking about it, you'll likely want to see
several thorough reviews, from respected sources. So,
we're pleased to offer you two such reviews-a new one
from John Dyer, and the earlier published review from
Brad Amos.
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John Dyer is a prize-winning professional faceter-
someone whose review, we knew, would be straight
forward and thorough. If you've seen his writings
before on the Web you know he is intelligent and
practical-and, willing to share expertise with other
faceters. John's specific interests in DAD?
Installation, Speed, Accuracy, Ease of Use (those are
the section headings in his report). Rather than our
telling you what he said--read John's DAD review for
yourself- click on it in the Library.
John Dyer's thorough review joins an earlier one written by Brad Amos
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Brad Amos is a Cambridge scientist - an expert in
optical instrumentation, his hobby of gem faceting is a
sort of natural extension of his professional interests.
Scientist that he is, he"s done a thorough analysis of
DAD, from the standpoint of "What is the best
engineering solution for determining faceting
endpoint?". We told you about his report early in 2009,
and it has been in the Library since.
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So--a professional and a scientist reporting, but how about a hobbyist? Well, a day after I wrote the paragraphs above, a short, very much "to the point" comment was published on the USFG website. It said: I just purchased and installed the Digital Angle Dial for my Ultra Tec faceting machine. It was very easy to install and calibrate. Now I don't have the best eyes so it has been pretty time consuming to set the standard angle dial and if I was off by a bit it made polishing very grueling. I just cut and polished a synthetic sapphire in 1/3 the time it has been taking me. I really like how easy it is to set the angle and then when I come back to polish I know for a fact it is exactly at the same angle that I cut it at. This new add-on has really made a huge difference in my faceting already. Expensive, but I quit thinking about the money about halfway through polishing this stone. I think it is worth the money. You've still got questions? Sure-ask them.
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See You at Tucson? We'll be There! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Ultra Tec will have a booth at the TGMS - the "main" show
in the Tucson Convention Center - the dates: February
11-14. Joe Rubin and Robert Mendoza will be there-
happy to meet you (perhaps, meet you again), answer any
questions-swap stories.
We expect that the "stars" at our booth will be the new Fantasy Machine and the now year-old DAD (discussed in the preceding section of this newsletter). We look forward to it. All of you folks around the USA who have been suffering from this winter's frigid weather will have a chance to warm up (recent temperatures have been 70ºF)-and, of course comfortably warm in the Convention center. In Tucson, you can also see the Fantasy Machine in at Tucson Electric Park, in Elayne Luer's ABOUT LAPIDARY booth - the dates there: Jan 31-Feb 14.
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POLISHING LAPS - TWO NEW "OLDIES" ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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ZINC LAPS ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
In 1997, at Tucson, I watched as guest demonstrator
Gary Brown of St.cut a big 75 ct. aquamarine -
polishing it with a Zinc Lap. That was new to me-and
it was impressive demonstration of the Zinc Lap's
speed and effectiveness. He prepared a new Zinc lap
by scoring the surface with radiating scratches - using
a 260 grit Silicon Carbide paper (of course, later well
cleaned with water). Then, he applied a film of light
mineral oil to the surface, and used a spray of 14000
diamond. Contrary to the polish-slowly rule, the lap
was run fast, about 700 RPM. Results-super. There
were several pro faceters who watched, and from their
conversation I realized that for them it was no surprise
-the Zinc Lap was an "oldie"-known to be indeed
excellent and fast, particularly on hard materials
The Zinc Lap sort of vanished-said to be because of spiking material prices-but it has always had its adherents. For example, Jeff Graham, in his excellent website instruction on cutting sapphire, describes his use of Zinc laps-with an 8000 diamond step followed by 50,000-all at relatively high speed. Zinc is back-and available-8" Diameter. It is item number 6546.7, price $98.
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CORIAN LAPS ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Corian joined the list of non-metallic polishing laps
some years ago, and has proven to be a very good lap,
particularly for softer materials-quartz on down. It has
a non-porous highly durable surface (the very same
properties that have made it a good kitchen counter
material), so, polishing compounds do not imbed, and
the lap can be washed (dishwasher OK) for use with
alternate polishing compounds. The non-porosity
dictates that a relatively light pressure should be used,
keeping the polishing compound or paste riding the
lap surface-where it remains aggressive.
Corian laps have proven to be very popular with commercial gem cutting operations, where speed and versatility are important factor. Available now in 8" Diameter-it is item number 6550.7, price $45.
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VISITS TO ULTRA TEC ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Holiday Season is always a busy time for vistors to
Ultra Tec
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Right before New Years Day, we had a visitor from
half-a-world away -- Hamed Ettehadi, from Sanaa,
Yemen. Hamed has been Ultra Tec's Rep there for
just about a year now -selling and teaching in Yemen
and neighboring countries-a region that has been
turned, through Hamed's efforts, into a major area of
faceting interest. Hamed is an enthusiastic Ultra Tec
supporter-having tried other machines, he chose
Ultra Tec as the one he wanted for his own use and for
setting up his school. He was obviously happy and
excited to meet with us and see the factory-and we all
were delighted to meet him and discuss future plans.
He'll be in the USA through the Tucson Show.
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Charles Flynn, from northern Montana was in Southern
California, in a town near Santa Ana, where he was
visiting his son, recently moved to California. Charles
is a beet farmer during the growing season and is a
research chemist with Montana State University-and
a hobbyist gem cutter all year round (when the cold
weather hits, what else can you do?). While Charles
was in California, the weather was sunny and in the
high 70's-(we've been planting our winter vegetable
garden-lettuce, celery, etc.) and when he returned
home, he emailed that the temperature was minus 35!
We sympathize.
Charles has been actively pursuing his interest in fantasy cutting as an extension of his ongoing interest in faceting. Over the past months, in telephone conversations, he has contributed ideas and experience to Ultra Tec's development of the Fantasy machine. During his visit, he watched Robert Mendoza completing the assembly of his new machine -one of the first ones -- headed his way. Charles and Robert are shown together in the photo-Charles on the left. Charles brought samples of his work, and we gathered the crew around for a viewing-something we always like.
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Well-a longer SomeTimes than normal-we'll be in touch again soon.
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The Ultra Tec Team
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Quick Links... ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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Contact Information ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
email:
web@ultratec-facet.com
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