Keeping clean while polishing under a microscope
By Fabio Penuela
One of the most important steps in making jewelry is polishing. After all, could you imagine handing a finished piece of jewelry to a customer without first polishing it? Every piece of jewelry needs to be polished, and nothing is better than polishing a piece under a microscope at the bench. A microscope allows you to see the little but very important details, helping you do a better polishing job. But polishing is also a dirty process, as all the sandpaper and polishing compound can leave a mess at the bench. While there are benchtop polishing systems, they can be expensive and the vacuums on some aren’t very efficient because many use vacuum bags and can clog easily.
Wanting a better solution, I created my own efficient system for less than $200. It doesn’t require vacuum bags; instead, the gold dust is collected in a reusable bucket.