Thanks for the compliment. I never considered myself a really outstanding faceter, but I’ve somehow managed to cut a great many quality stones on my Graves 5XL over the last nearly nine years, so maybe I am the best! I don’t even find it “tedious and time-consuming”, except insofar as cutting a stone on any machine is time-consuming. I’ve not encountered any of the problems you describe, either on this machine or my other 5XL which is less than two years old.
Kudos for building your own machine. I hope it serves you well.