Removing the "Edge" on a Chief Sapphire Cyclops

[kbiz]

After reading the sticky on SSurfer's cyclops and PMing him... I was discouraged about being able to lap down chief's sapphire cyclops... after all, it is sapphire!! Reason I want to is that they have a little edge to them that is visible as a bit of a white ring... Gens have the multi-piece sandwich crystal that minimizes the appearance of that cyclops edge... and if you haven't noticed, I'm very picky

I have some of the "Ultimate" crystals but then they are not eligible for Chief AR because of their sandwich construction.

So I've come up with a solution... Diamond honing blocks purchased from Harbor Freight on sale at the time for $5. There's 3 different grits... you must use honing oil and I used something rubber to be able to grip the little cyclops while I lapped it... start with the 180 diamond grit... for about 5-10 minutes... then move to the 260 grit for about 5 minutes... now to the 360 grit... you must be careful towards the end to not put much pressure on the cyclops because the edge is now sharp and prone to chipping...

Here you can see the the squirt ball I used so that I wouldn't apply too much pressure while lapping

Here you can see the sapphire grit mixed in with the oil...

The finished product... it has a sharp edge and will yield and almost invisible edge

[sander]

That looks great man!

Can you also show us a pic when it's mounted on the crystal?

[dadog13]

looks like you've achieved a great result...compliments!

I am as well interested to see how it will look like once it is mounted on the crystal...looking forward to your update

[kbiz]

Update:

Cyclops is too dull... tried to mount it and it was totally blurry... so cleaned it up and ordered a multi-step diamond paste polishing compound kit... once I get it all polished up I'll mount it and post some pics.