Hi People, a newbie on all fronts...

[digitaus]

 Name's Mark, or Digitaus and I'm in Caloundra, Queensland. I was doing a course on faceting at Caloundra lapidary club in 2017 when I had a fairly hefty stroke, spent some time in hospital and was left with right sided weakness and memory issues, thought my faceting days were over.
 In 2020 I started thinking the action of faceting may in fact help my lack of dexterity and following a plan may help the brain issues, so I started looking around for a machine, my personal choice would have been a VJ of course as that is what I learned on at the club... not working for 3-1/2 years, need I say more.

 So, with the help of the club I ended up buying an AgateMaster which through it's long life had been both looked after and abused... Luckily, I used to be pretty good at fixing stuff and have a well appointed workshop which hadn't really been used lately. The AgateMaster came with all the extra's I would need and at this stage It's almost ready for me to start learning to facet again and more likely destroy a lot of coloured glass.
I am happy to be a part of this group and look forward to digitally meeting some of you. 

[Dihusky]

Welcome to the gang digitaus.

I have heard, rightly or wrongly, that artistic and creative pursuits can create new channels in the brain, so the skills involved in faceting, like the light touch and gentle repetitive actions such as lifting and viewing, stroking a gem across the lap, changing index positions... the list goes on, could and hopefully will have a beneficial effect.

Having had a few years since your stroke, I imagine your past the frustration stage, so I congratulate you on taking this step and I hope we hear about your 'wins' how ever small, as you develop your skills. Oh, we also want to see your results

[MakkyBrown]

Welcome Mark, good on you for having a go and getting back into faceting :)CheersMB

[Faceting Frank]

Hi Mark and welcome. Faceting will be a great learning process for both delicate limb movement and concentrated thinking. Looking forward to seeing some of your results.

[digitaus]

Having had a few years since your stroke, I imagine your past the frustration stage

Thanks for the welcome Dihusky, sadly the frustration is likely to be with me awhile yet. But that's why I'm trying, in repairing and upgrading the faceting machine I've also had to tackle the tools and machinery in the shed, which is good for me, but the neighbors think I swear much too often and way too loud... 

[Rusted]

Welcome, there was a thread a while back about a member doing up an Agate master,

Here it is.

http://aussielapidaryforum.com/forum/index.php?topic=5743.msg52635#msg52635

[steve f]

digitaus
do what i do, turn up the radio when i am in the shed and the neighbors wont here you

[digitaus]

I'll definitely try that Steve, starting tomorrow.