Diamond grading lab

[nishantacharya]

Hello everyone !!
Iam planning to start a diamond grading lab. Am confused on the equipments . What equipments should i go for ?
It will be better if you suggest me with a price.
Thank you !!

 

[Karl_K]

What training and experience in diamond grading do you have?

 

[nishantacharya]

Iam currently doing my professional diamond grading course . I will complete my course in april

 

[skypie]

I imagine the course you are taking would introduce you to the necessary grading equipment, no?

 

[kenny]

Hello everyone !!
Iam planning to start a diamond grading lab. Am confused on the equipments . What equipments should i go for ?
It will be better if you suggest me with a price.
Thank you !!

I don't want to be critical, and I wish you success but if you are asking these questions on a public forum perhaps opening a new gem lab is aiming too high at your stage.

Perhaps start by completing GIA's Graduate Gemology program and take it from there.
You'll not just get what is perhaps the most highly-respected gem education, you'll also learn what equipment GIA uses and how to use it.

ETA, I just read the last two posts.
Which company is offering your course?

 

[tyty333]

I wonder if he is trying to say he wants to become an appraiser???

 

[denverappraiser]

Hi,

It’s not an easy road. Talk to your teacher about the equipment requirements. The most difficult in terms of equipment are for the 100% separation and identification of the various treatments and synthetics. It will be difficult to get what you need for under $100,000 but the real money is going to be in marketing and advertising in order to convince clients that they should care what you think. Without clients you have nothing. Your competitors spend millions on this.

 

[Krisking]

@nishantacharya, welcome back and best of luck with your ventures. Are you also still planning to open your own manufacturing lab this year?

 

[nishantacharya]

Hi,

It’s not an easy road. Talk to your teacher about the equipment requirements. The most difficult in terms of equipment are for the 100% separation and identification of the various treatments and synthetics. It will be difficult to get what you need for under $100,000 but the real money is going to be in marketing and advertising in order to convince clients that they should care what you think. Without clients you have nothing. Your competitors spend millions on this.

Well am about to finish my polished diamond grading class and up next iam doing international diamond grading sysytem. And there i will learn to certify diamond and issue its grading report.
I came here just to know about the equipments which will be necessary for a lab. So that i can make a proper plan.

And talking about clients, i have some links and clients to start this project.

 

[nishantacharya]

@nishantacharya, welcome back and best of luck with your ventures. Are you also still planning to open your own manufacturing lab this year?

Thank you so much u remembered. Iam planning to open a diamond grading lab this year in 2018

 

[nishantacharya]

I don't want to be critical, and I wish you success but if you are asking these questions on a public forum perhaps opening a new gem lab is aiming too high at your stage.

Perhaps start by completing GIA's Graduate Gemology program and take it from there.
You'll not just get what is perhaps the most highly-respected gem education, you'll also learn what equipment GIA uses and how to use it.

ETA, I just read the last two posts.
Which company is offering your course?

Iam doing my course from Indian diamond institute , surat india

 

[John P]

Welcome back Nishant. It's nice that you followed up with IDI Surat. I recall our dialogue from this summer thread. I also see you have shifted your intended focus from manufacture to grading.

Curious if I may ask: Do you plan to establish yourself in a market where there is little or no penetration by existing labs? Or do you plan to go against established labs in a popular market?

 

[denverappraiser]

Some labs, like EGL-Turkey, could reportedly issue grading reports without even looking at a stone. All that takes is a computer with a printer to make the little cards. You don't even need a loupe. These days you could probably do a digital report using nothing more than a phone and a hosting account. Some, like GIA and AGS, spend millions on setup and hundreds of thousands every year just to stay current. Most are somewhere in between. Where you want to be on this continuum has to do with what your clients are looking for. There’s no way to give a straight answer to your question without far more information about your plans.

An example of the problem is with making the natural/synthetic call. Do you want to do this on your reports? 98% accuracy is pretty easy and can be done using one of the UV transparency screening tools. Commercial ones are available for a few hundred dollars from your usual suppliers or you can build something yourself for almost nothing. But what about that other 2 %? Do you just issue reports that say they’re ‘probably’ natural, or do you buy tools to really tell the difference? That’s a Raman Spectroscope, among other things. Expect to spend $20,000 or more on that alone, and be prepared to have it become obsolete at any time. You may need to replace it next year or even next month with something different. Technology is changing quickly in this area.

Here’s the Accredited Gemologists Association equipment list before THEY will even consider calling you a gem lab (equipment is not the only requirement). Other organizations have different rules but this is fairly typical and a place to start:

https://accreditedgemologists.org/pdf_file/CGL_Application2017v2.pdf

 

[John P]

^ Which is the reason I asked my question.

If the intent is to serve unsatisfied local demand in Nepal, for example, aligning oneself with an established and fully-equipped organization - as take-in window or proxy - is an entry strategy that doesn't require such formidable capex, and may realize faster traction.

 

[nishantacharya]

^ Which is the reason I asked my question.

If the intent is to serve unsatisfied local demand in Nepal, for example, aligning oneself with an established and fully-equipped organization - as take-in window or proxy - is an entry strategy that doesn't require such formidable capex, and may realize faster traction.

Hey john, am glad you remember me. Yes i changed my mind and shfted towards grading. Now iam planning to start a lab that certify diamonds and issue grading report, as there are no such firms that issue grading report on diamonds.

So i was wondering what are the basic equipments to do so. I think a microscope and sarin diascan s+ will do it for me. Do you think this will be enough to grade a diamond?
Now iam wondering how much a sarin diascan and microscope would cost.

 

[nishantacharya]

Some labs, like EGL-Turkey, could reportedly issue grading reports without even looking at a stone. All that takes is a computer with a printer to make the little cards. You don't even need a loupe. These days you could probably do a digital report using nothing more than a phone and a hosting account. Some, like GIA and AGS, spend millions on setup and hundreds of thousands every year just to stay current. Most are somewhere in between. Where you want to be on this continuum has to do with what your clients are looking for. There’s no way to give a straight answer to your question without far more information about your plans.

An example of the problem is with making the natural/synthetic call. Do you want to do this on your reports? 98% accuracy is pretty easy and can be done using one of the UV transparency screening tools. Commercial ones are available for a few hundred dollars from your usual suppliers or you can build something yourself for almost nothing. But what about that other 2 %? Do you just issue reports that say they’re ‘probably’ natural, or do you buy tools to really tell the difference? That’s a Raman Spectroscope, among other things. Expect to spend $20,000 or more on that alone, and be prepared to have it become obsolete at any time. You may need to replace it next year or even next month with something different. Technology is changing quickly in this area.

Here’s the Accredited Gemologists Association equipment list before THEY will even consider calling you a gem lab (equipment is not the only requirement). Other organizations have different rules but this is fairly typical and a place to start:

https://accreditedgemologists.org/pdf_file/CGL_Application2017v2.pdf

Thank you so much for these valuable information.

I was wondering what are the basic equipments to start a lab that would give a report on 4C.

 

[denverappraiser]

Sarine has quite a few different products and programs available. Expect about $15k for an S+ although they also have a system where you pay per scan and the hardware is less money. There are some software variations too.

www.sarine.com

Meiji makes a pretty sweet gemological scope for about $3000. They have lots of competitors. Some are quite a bit more money and come with some considerable benefits.

https://microscopecentral.com/produ...Op_DkBiEoPKTnMd2lNHi_iQQ34oFAX4RoCcOkQAvD_BwE

A D-K set of color masters will be about $20k, if you can find one. These are not an easy buy. More if you need a full set or bigger stones (I’m guessing half caraters), less if you think you can get by with a partial. No, CZs are not a good substitute.

A laboratory scale starts at about $1000. You’ll need at least 3 decimal places in carats.

$5-10k should fill you with the peripheral things like loupes, tweezers, lights, computers, printers, UV box, steamer, testers, etc. although I guarantee you’ll find things you need that you didn’t think of.