Cabbing is the process of making cabochons or cabs in short. The cabbing is a lapidary art that can be mastered by anyone.
If you also find cabbing interesting and wanted to learn that how the cabbing machine works, then you are in right place.
In this article, we will give you step by step guide, that how does the cabbing machine work?
How does the cabbing machine work?
Follow the following steps to making a cabochon from a cabbing machine.
- Selection of stone: Select the stone according to the cabbing technique you are going to follow. Each stone is different in its hardness. Its hardness will affect the resulting cabochons.
Once you select the material. Get a slab of that stone material from any online store. Try to have a slab that is free from any cracks and pits. If the slab contains crakes it will be shown in the cabochon also.
- Making outlines: Now after you have selected the material. It’s time to prepare your selected slab for the cabbing. Look for the interesting patterns on your slab and outline the shape you want for your cabochon.
Note if you can make more than one shape on a slab. If this is possible try making other shapes leaving some space from the first one. If you don’t do this, there will be no space left for grinding and fining of stone.
Note that the upper surface of the stone is carved and polished while the lower surface is flat and finely sandy so that it can fit properly in the jewelry.
- Cutting the shapes out: now cut the outlined shapes out of the slab with the help of a trimming machine. Cut in the straight lines never attempt to cut in curve with that trim saw.
After the trimming, the shape’s outline must remain visible. Leave enough space for grinding, polishing, and sanding to have a perfect shape in the end.
- Rough grinding: The next step is rough grinding. In rough grinding, we will remove the extra material that was remained during the saw trimming. After the rough grinding, there should be no marker outline remained that we have drawn in the previous steps. Rough grinding also removes the irregularities that can be present on the stone.
For rough grinding, we use a grit of large diamonds, 80 grit wheel with coarse diamonds.
- Fine grinding: Fine grinding works on a 200 grit wheel with fine diamonds. This step ensures that the cabochons have no scratches left on them, attained the perfect shape and curvature.
- Smoothening: This is done on the diamond resin wheel. This will vanish away any spot and pumps that remain after the fine grinding. Make the surfaces smooth.
- Polishing: The cabbing machine comes with a polishing system. That is the canvas pad and the diamond paste. First charge the canvas pad with the diamond paste. Starts polishing by adding small dots of diamond paste on the cabochons and moving it towards the charged canvas.
Your stone is ready to get in a beautiful piece of jewelry.
FAQs
What does a cabbing machine do?
The cabbing machine converts a slab of stone into beautiful cabochons that embellish the jewelry afterward.
What is a diamond dealer called?
A diamond dealer is called, lapidarist.
Conclusion:
Working with the cabbing machine is simple. You will master the use of a cabbing machine in just two to three sessions.
The making of cabochons is an addictive thing to do. Be aware of this fact before going into the cabbing procedure.
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References
Teshome, Fetene, and Kishor Purushottam Kolhe. “Development of Low Cost Gemstone Polishing Cum Cutting Machine.” International Conference on Advances of Science and Technology. Springer, Cham, 2018.
Magnus, Artemius Andreas. “The Art of cutting stone.”