Planetary Scaife Bench

Planetary Scaife Bench for SCD tools

The PG3 & PG3B machines can produce an exceptionally smooth radii on the flank of an SCD tool but there will always be a few minor chips at the free cutting edge.

The final process is to lap the table (top) facet of the tool. This removes any edge chips. The perfection of the edge is a result of an extremely smooth flank radius surface meeting an extremely smooth flat surface. Imperfection in either surface will increase the waviness value of the edge.

Top lapping can also be used to re-sharpen a worn tool.

Before top lapping

After top lapping


Planetary Scaife Benches PS2A-S and PS2B-S A conventional scaife can be used to lap the top of a tool but many toolmakers prefer to use a planetary bench. In this type of bench the scaife plate both rotates and simultaneously moves in a planetary motion about its axis of rotation.	Planetary Motion On the PS2A-S the degree of eccentricity is fixed. On the PS2B-S the degree of eccentricity is variable and the planetary motion can be adjusted by the mechanism under the bench. The speed of the scaife plate rotation is controlled by an inverter. On the PS2A-S the plate height is fixed. On the PS2B-S the plate height is adjustable. The plate can thus be brought back to the original working height after it has been skimmed/refurbished.	Self - Zooting action Tools can be set and left to polish under a simple dead weight on the top of the tang/holder. The planetary motion produces: i) a constantly changing angle of attack so the dimaond polishes more easily ii) the wear of the plate is spread over a area of the plate iii) the self 'zooting' action means higher facet smoothness Click on this link for a video showing the planetary motion in action.

Contact peter.heath@qs-diamondtechnology.com for further details.