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Homebuilt Faceting Machine
Hi all,
I have two faceting machines, one I bought and one I built myself. I installed optical encoder protractors on both machines as written in Tom Herbst’s book Amateur Gemstone Faceting. After he saw photos of my homebuilt machine he urged me to do a write-up of it’s construction as he thought it might be of interest to other factors. If interested, I posted it on my website: http://www.jrobertslater.com under the about tab. -
5 Replies
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Very nice! I’m going to go back and reread more carefully, but this looks like an outstanding machine. There have been recent queries about building faceting machines, and it’s good to have something to refer them to.
Your gallery looks great, too.
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I am an aircraft structures mechanic, and have been working metal for 40+ years. I am very impressed with your machine. Any plans to build more?
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I started studying it all 2 nights ago. Working on my own build as I go.. Nothing special yet, still have to make a mast n pick up a protractor and other measurement tools, making my indexing wheel now… Here’s a pic.. Rubber bands there to hold I place until I get some sleeves for tilting.. Like I said work in progress till I can afford a decent set up
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Oh and I purchased a single natural tanzanite rough that is 62.8 carats, just waiting for it to arrive in a it.. Be here in a few weeks.. But gonna order some blood rubies to practice on
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it is perty sad that now we’re make machines. the guys out there commercially making them have never got the hint. they want to have more profit so raise the price and loose more buyers so raise it more to keep that profit— catch 22— i have club members whom want to take up faceting– they cant afford the machines. i to am making what we nicknamed the lakeside mini me, you can pick up the machine with one hand, measures 6″ X 12″. i’ve machined the base, arbor, and head assembly of aluminum and so far except for time a cost of about $90, probley about 10 hrs. time. the hardest item no matter who makes one it the index gear. the ones out there are high priced that’s what needs to be solved. gemmakermz@cs.com
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