Lapping a Shapton Glass 1600?

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Canterbury, Kent
Morning campers, treated myself to a Shapton Glass 1600 and considering lapping options.

After a bit of googling it seems that DMT 325 is the expensive option, a slab of glass and wet and dry is the more cost effective option, anyone have any tips for the latter? What grade of paper do you use?

TIA and Happy New Year!

Mark
 
Morning campers, treated myself to a Shapton Glass 1600 and considering lapping options.

After a bit of googling it seems that DMT 325 is the expensive option, a slab of glass and wet and dry is the more cost effective option, anyone have any tips for the latter? What grade of paper do you use?

TIA and Happy New Year!

Mark
The DMTs wear. Some say that the Atomas are better in this respect but I've only used DMTs.

I have switched to silicon carbide wet n dry on a glass lapping sheet for a couple of reasons. You can see when the abrasive is wearing out easily and I have read cautionary tales about diamond on certain natural stones. Probably not a problem for synthetics but as I use both, having a consistent lapping process is convenient.

The glass lapping sheets are cheap and have a guaranteed flatness within tolerance. I don't bother gluing the wet n dry - just wetting it down and this works perfectly for me.

I currently use 400, 600, 1000, and 2000 depending on grit of stone that I'm lapping.
 
Many thanks, assume 2000 for my 1600?

M
For a stone of that grit I would lap using sheets somewhere between 300 - 600 grit.

I think I am currently using 400 on my Shapton Pro 1500.

I think my Naniwa lapping stone is 425 grit. -that is another option by the way, but the lapping stones also need lapping because they dish quickly. So I end up lapping it with a DMT plate or the wet n dry.

Shapton make a a couple of lapping options themselves. There is a small lapping disk - these are inexpensive - I have one for when I am traveling. They are only good for small stones I find. They also have a cast iron plate which you load with Silicon carbide. This is as expensive as a DMT though. I haven't tried one.

If you are UK, I got the lapping glass from Axminster (£12.16 currently). If you are US, it's made in the USA so probably readily available there.

Can't remember where I bought the wet n dry probably from Axminster as well. Watch out for sheet sizes. I bought a pack of different grits from Amazon first of all and the sheets were tiny. Boy, did I feel an idiot.
 
And now my turn to feel an idiot; that was a typo, that should have read 16000...... Sorry, I can't believe I have only just noticed that! Should I go for 2000 for my 16000?

And I will check sheet sizes before I order, thank you.

M
 
And now my turn to feel an idiot; that was a typo, that should have read 16000...... Sorry, I can't believe I have only just noticed that! Should I go for 2000 for my 16000?

And I will check sheet sizes before I order, thank you.

M
Ahhhh ...

You would probably be all right with any of the grits - Shaptons don't tend to pick up the tooth of the lapping surface they just flatten in my experience. I use the higher grits mainly for high grit natural stones which are not sensitive to the lapping surface.

I will happily lap my Naniwa 12k with a low grit DMT or the 400 grit lapping stone. (Shapton grit ratings are slightly different 16k Shapton is around 12k Naniwa)

Having said that, the beauty of Wet N Dry is that it gives you the flexibility to experiment.
 
I used 400 Mirca wet and dry on a 12000 something welsh stone and the result was flat and very very smooth it did not transform 12000 into a 400 stone :)
 
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I used 400 Mirca wet and dry on a 12000 something welsh stone and the result was flat and very very smooth it did not transform 12000 into a 400 stone :)
It doesn't take it down to the grit rating of the slurry stone but I have found that it will affect the top end finishing performance of a stone.

The Llyn Melynllyn and yellow lakes definitely improve if lapped in two stages for the experimentation I have tried. I had a problematic yellow lake that increased in finishing performance using this method.

Charnley Forests, yellow lakes, Llyn Idwals and Water of Ayr all work better as finishers for me if lapped with 1k to 2 k for the final lapping.

I have completely changed the behaviour of a coticule based on: the grit / material of the lapping surface / hardness of the slurry stone afterwards.
 
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