The sponge pad goes under the felt polishing pad. No need for an extra lower grit polishing. Now I could see a felt with ZAM on it for turquoise and other soft stones. It is used dry. And yes you have to stick the different grits down.
Thanks for the reply!
Can I also put the sponge pads under the sanding discs?
O.K. I don't need the 3000.
Was thinking about another polishing pad (felt, or leather, or ...) Will look up ZAM.
Was hoping I didn't have to stick them down. I have seen PSA and Non-PSA discs. Do the Non-PSA
discs have a rougher backing so the don't slip not being stuck down?
Thanks again.
James
James D. Farrow
Mississauga, Ontario, Canada
"No more trains will be sold once the magazine leaves the station"
Well hello James, small world.....I'm in Toronto, Canada.....Leaside Area.....we're neighbors.
I have an Ameritool 8" Flat lap that's just like the one you're describing.
I tapped into Krystee [aka TNTMOM] when I bought mine, as she is the "Queen of Shine". You could look her up in the contacts page and send her an email. She's unbelievably helpful and nice. Also when you go to her 'contacts page' [under 'members' near the top of this site] you'll be able to see all of her posts. Worth reading.
Actually, seeing the stunning cabs she produced was the real reason that I bought the Ameritool Flat lap.
Re the sponge pads - she told me for years she didn't know about them, but once she discovered them she uses them under ALL her sanding 'discs'...especially the finer grit discs..... not the rigid 'grinding discs' though.
They make it easier to get smooth transitions as you shape cabs.
Re 'attaching them' YES - they come with a peel off back, that's VERY STICKY. Once the back is attached....
it's attached!!! and you don't take it off till it's 'shot'.
Apparently, according to Ameritool, when they are shot....you soak the disk in warm water and the glue will soften, and then you can take the backs off without too much difficulty but don't expect to put them on and off once they're stuck.
So.....to put them together, you take the black 'backing plate' and the gray 1/8 inch thick sponge disc with pressure sensitive adhesive backing, you peel off the backing and put that in place, and then you do the same to put the coloured diamand sanding discs on top of that.
Because I was ordering if from Ameritool to be delivered to family in the states, I asked them to verify that everything was 'working properly' with no 'issues' before they shipped it, and 'as a wonderful gesture of good will' they pre-stuck the coloured sanding discs on the backings for me and cut out the holes......but they didn't put the sponge discs I ordered in between....[ergh], so I mentioned it to Krystee and she just said [also ERGH] that I should just leave it that way and work with them [as she did for several years] until they wear out, and then put the 'whole sandwich' into place when that happens. They still haven't worn out.
As noted by hulagrub, you also put the sponge pads under the white polish pad....and also under just a piece of scrap leather, depending on what you're polishing.
I bought some lovely leather scraps at a place on Spadina, called Leather & Sewing Supply Depot
http://www.yelp.ca/biz/leather-and-sewing-supply-depot-toronto . They have a 'scrap box' that's HUGE and the pieces are large enough to make several leather polishing pads [for various polishing compounds].
Those leather pads need to be glued on though with something like Gorilla Glue [which you can get at Home Depot].
Another neat thing to see are some Youtube vidoes that Krystee did for me, showing her method of [non-dap] holding cabs using the Ameritool Flat Lap. Very helpful -
and also Part 2
Krystee is a total doll and 'my guardian angel' when it comes to Flat Lap work on an Ameritool Flat Lap.
Boris [aka Gemmy] is also from Toronto, Canada, and very knowledgeable about Lapidary [but doesn't use a flat lap for cabs].
Good luck,
Let me know if I can help you with anything.
