Lapping and Polishing Plates

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How much abrasive should I add to my cylinder?

For most applications we recommend a ratio of between 10 and 15% abrasive to water in the slurry cylinder. The optimum ratio for a particular process can be confirmed through trials.

How to attach a pad to a flat plate?

Our polishing pads and cloths are all supplied with a self adhesive backing fitted, allowing them to be easily attached to a flat plate.

How do I fit a pad to my plate?

To fit a self-adhesive backed pad onto a flat plate you should first of all remove the plate from the machine and place on a clear surface. Removal all trace of previous pad / adhesive and clean thoroughly. Peel back a small section of the paper that covers the adhesive and apply to the edge of the plate, careful to ensure that positioning is good. Ease off more of the backing paper whilst pushing the pad down onto the plate gradually, ensuring that no air pockets are allowed to form. Use a clean rolling pin / round bar to press the pad down onto the plate as you continue to ease off the backing paper until the whole pad is secured. Roll over the pad with the rolling pin to ensure it has been fixed well and check for any bumps. On soft cloths it is possible to pierce any small bumps that are found with a sharp knifeto allow the trapped air out, after which they can be rolled flat. A newly fitted pad should be conditioned thoroughly before use- harder pads can be conditioned with a diamond conditioner, softer pads with a conditioning ring. The polishing slurry should be dripped onto the pad during the conditioning.

Why are some pads grooved?

Generally where sample size is 20cm2 / 2″ diameter or less we recommend that a plain pad or plate is used for processing. Where the samples are larger than these sizes grooves are required to allow lapping abrasive or polishing slurry to pass uniformly between the sample and the pad or plate.

What type of lapping plate do I need?

Where a sample material’s hardness is measured at aproximately 4 Mohs or less, we would typically use a glass plate for lapping. Where the hardness is higher than 4 Mohs we would use a cast iron plate.

What is the standard groove depth of a glass plate?

The grooves on a Logitech glass plate are approximately 3mm deep.

How long will a glass plate last?

The lifespan of a Logitech glass plate is dependent on the usage and material being processed. Typically the plate should be replaced once the groove depth is below (1mm) 800 micron.

If it is a plain plate it should be replaced when the height from the process surface to the centre recess is below 1mm.

What is the standard groove depth of a cast iron plate?

The standard groove depth is approximately 3mm.

How long will a cast iron plate last?

The lifespan of a Logitech cast iron plate is dependent on the usage and material being processed. Typically the plate should be replaced once the groove depth is below (1mm) 800 micron.

If it is a plain plate it should be replaced when the height from the process surface to the centre recess is below 1mm.

Do you refurbish plates?

Logitech do not refurbish lapping plates due to the health and safety implications of handling and machining plates that have been used with various sample materials and consumables, some of which are hazardous to health.

What is the best parallelism for a jig?

Typical flatness of a sample lapped with a Logitech precision lapping jig is 1 micron per inch of sample diameter or better. If you are not achieving this level than we recommend that you check the condition and flatness of your lapping plate and jig.

What is the hardness of the polishing pads?

Depending on the type of pad required, there is a range of shore hardness between A-92 and D-57.

What backing material is used on Logitech polishing pads?

PSA Backing: Specially formulated pressure sensitive adhesive backings are available on all types of Logitech supplied pads. The exposed side of the adhesive is engineered to adhere to all platen material and is resistant to most slurry mixes.

PSA backings are available in formulas ranging from High Holding to Low Tack/Easy Release.

What are the grooving arrangements on polishing pads?

Generally where sample size is 20cm2 / 2″ diameter or less we recommend that a plain pad or plate is used for processing. Where the samples are larger than these sizes grooves are required to allow lapping abrasive or polishing slurry to pass uniformly between the sample and the pad or plate.

Standard Logitech EP1 and EP2 pads are grooved 100mm square by 1mm wide.

What is the groove depth of polishing pads?

Standard Logitech EP1 and EP2 pads are grooved 100mm square by 1mm wide. The groove depth is approximately 0.5mm.

Which pad is suitable for me?

Logitech can provide a wide variety of polishing pads and cloths of different characteristics and sizes to meet the different requirements of surface finish, surface roughness and flatness across various materials. The pad material, hardness, compressability and structure all have a bearing on the results that will be achieved.

Generally where the sample size is 20cm2 / 2″ diameter or less we recommend that a plain pad or plate is used for processing. Where the samples are larger than these sizes grooves are required to allow lapping abrasive or polishing slurry to pass uniformly between the sample and the pad or plate.