Design is Andrew Brown’s Trifocus with a small change.
The amethyst is very large so my mistakes are much more noticeable from the video. I had dopping issues and I continue to have trouble lining up the girdle when cutting the crown. You can really tell from the table being so off center. Is this also due to over cutting?
The pyrope garnet went better but I had similar issues. The scale is smaller so I think it’s less noticeable. Lots of chips in the girdle :/ I had less than a millimeter of stone until the lap met my dop stick 😬
I facet on a Lee mast machine with a hard stop and keyed dop quill.
Overall I feel like I’m improving every stone! Would love any and all advice!
Because batches of 10 are a little over $20 on eBay, and if you want to cut glass for practice why not make it interesting.
There are barely any instructions on this page how is anyone suposed to know how to cut this properly? Any seasoned cutter how would ypu direct this diogram and make it usable for a student?
Shoot, when picking out the flair here I thought there they were all perfect flairs! lol.
But seriously, I need a couple new sintered blades. I’m looking at both Covington and Hi-tech companies which I feel imo are top of the line. But I have no idea which one is the better red saw blade or if they’re equivalent. Has anyone worked with both? My saw is a 6” hi-tech trim saw. I also plan on getting a black blade for my carnelian (and quartz?) because it seems a bit more durable than my labradorite. And if there’s another blade manufacturer out there that may be superior to these guys I’m all ears. Thanks for any input you can share on this!
I bought my Ultratec V5 Digital faceting machine around 2 months ago. I do enjoy cutting stones but I don't think I enjoy it enough. I have been contemplating selling my machine and all the equipment. I have the machine and everything that is included with it if bought new. I also have a master lap and a bunch of toppers, some used and some new. 2 zinc plus laps one with 6k grit and one with 80k grit, 2 vials of each grit of diamond polish and 1 cerium oxide container. I also have a darkside lap. 2mm to 8mm dops. A tweezer set, a gemstone torch, a magnifying headset, and a few other odds and ends. I have only cut 3 stones so the machine is practically brand new. There is no lamp included. I just don't think I am into it enough to keep using it. I would be asking 6500 for everything. I will have to pay for shipping too. I want to sell everything as a package. Let me know if you are interested. I'm in florida so shipping will be fast.
Hi,
I made a stupid mistake and three laps fell off their rack : my sintered (600, bronze, on picture) and two zinc ones ... They all have a dent on the side and the metal has locally lifted/bumped.
As a result, the metal has locally hardened (in addition to the dent and bump) and I don't see how to fix it ... I suppose it's ruined and all I can do is avoid the outside of these laps ... Too bad, I've noticed that the outside often cut faster ! I feel incredibly stupid, I've damaged hundreds of dollars' worth of laps ...
Who has experience with these, and what was it like?
I'm seeing all kinds of incredible-seeming deals, like 2+ct sapphires starting at $20. Lots of tempting-looking garnet parcels. Alas not much in the way of beryl, and what there is, seems not to be the 15ct blocks wanted by beginners.
3.25 ct
Apparently there was a scratch on the table that escaped me. Not sure how it came to be. I had a lot of fun cutting this, and it was the first time using the vernier adjustment, as I noticed the first crown cuts were crooked.
I cut one of these natural emeralds with heavy inclusions, and I’m really really happy with how it turned out.
Newbie, doing research before buying laps for the first time.
I thought Ultralaps weren't charged, but I came across this article that says they do charge them... Maybe just a Spectra Ultralaps?
https://www.gemsociety.org/article/spectra-ultralap-lap/
Is this something people do to extend their life? any reason not to, or just a "if it works who cares" type thing?
I'm a shop steward in a rock & gem club that has faceting machines, but no active faceters in a long time. I finally decided to dive in and get a Facetron into known good working shape and have succeeded with that. So I'm in the process of turning into the club's faceting guy. The only problem is that I'm a total noob. There's a lot of old stuff in the faceting gear. One thing I'm particularly dubious of is this set of laps, one of which is pictured front and back. It's a lucite-looking disc, with a layer of some kind of foam-looking material and a layer of some kind of fabric-looking stuff. In my researches I have encountered nothing like these. There's more than a whole set of them, in 600, 1200, 3K, 14K, and 50K. I think there's a 360 also. Has anybody ever seen any thing like these? They might date from the 1980s.
I'm starting to think that basically all of the laps we've got need to be replaced, and that these things probably should be the first to go.
As the title says. I started cutting in December and want to get better. I’m located in Oregon and have been mostly cutting sunstones and Apache tears. This is a 8.7mm round pixel cut I just finished. What advice would you give me regarding cutting and photography?
If it matters, I’m using a ray tech Shaw hand piece with sintered laps and polishing with cerium oxide
Looking for a comprehensive set of dop sticks . Preferably a b7ndle one every size and style from 2mm -20ish cone v and flat as well as emerald dops. I am having a sneaking suspicion i might just have to pay like 600$ and buy my dops from ultra tech . Ied like to try and spend less than 300. Im starting to think that won't be possible.
Thought you all would appreciate the workstation I made for my ultratec. Some stone pics at the end (amethyst, flame fusion corundum, and hydrothermal emerald),
✨️ the bright flashes and depth in between give so much visual interest to this design. The alignment creates crisp geometry - cant decide on star vs snowflake vs flower etc. What would you name it?
