where can I buy a fantasy faceting machine

[FlashGP]

I have been thinking of buying a concave and/or fantasy faceting machine.

Facetron used to make one that does both but no more.  Ultratech make one for USD5,000 (Fantasy) or USD 4,000 (Concave) depending on model and Poly Metric Instruments makes a concave facetor for USD2,000.

I havent seen any others on the market, but am visiting Clarry fron the Gold Coast to see a couple he has made.  He was making a Gemmaster concave conversion.

I understand that the son of the VJ owners is going to carry on production and possibly make a dedicated VJ concave facetor. 

I have a Facetron so something compatible with it would be nice.

Three nights of searching have only turned up links for US machines and one Indian linkfor a bangle facetor mill.

Surely there are others out there.

Kind regards
Gordon.

[Aussie Sapphire]

The OMF from Polymetric will fit your Facetron with the appropriate base plate.  We mentioned to Facetron that it might be a good avenue for cooperation but they did not follow that up (might have felt it would get complicated).


We used to deal with Polymetric but dont any longer - not because the machines were no good but more that it was just too difficult to invest that much in stock on expensive machines from a few different ranges.  So decided to stick with Facetron as the company that gave us the best support.


However, that might be an option you could explore if the local version does not work out.  Zane from Polymetric can be a bit hard to get hold of (this seems to be a problem with many faceting machine companies which is another reason we stuck with Facetron) but the machines are made very well.  Given that his Dad invented the whole concept of the concave machine, he has a lot of history to build off.


But if you have a local guy that can make a gemmasta concave conversion, it should not be too difficult to do the same for Facetron.  From memory, the way Zane did it was to make his concave machine mount to a range of different mounting plates that suit a variety of different mast type machines.


Hope this helps.


Cheers
Leah

[FlashGP]

Thanks Leah.

[Orange Pirate]

guy that can make a gemmasta concave conversion

I'd imagine MB (Andrew) is down the back shed now creating VII. 

[FlashGP]

I'll pm him a photo so he can make one on his 3D printer.  I'm visiting Clarry, who I understand made laps with Ron Rivers', and having a look at what he makes. 

Though I might have to fabricate a base as I am not keen on replacing my rubber bowl on the Facetron with a frying pan even if teflon coated, and I worked out that if I use my first idea abd add a conversion at the side of my machine at the end of the mast slide, I would need to mount a mirror or go pro to see the dial indicator ets as th ed heas would be rotated 180 degrees.  Eather that ir use a double sided dial indicator if one can be had.

[Aussie Sapphire]

This photo shows the original OMF concave facetor from Polymetric fitted to the Facetron slide plate:




In this case, the slide plate is used on the Concave machine so you can just fit your Facetron faceting mast and head to the plate as it works with the concave facetor.

Does this give you any useful ideas?

As mentioned, we no longer deal with Polymetric but still have one of the Facetron slide plates in stock as clearance.

Cheers
Leah

[FlashGP]

Thanks Leah.

Clarry is looking at converting one of the spare concave faceting adapters he made for gemmasters.  It is a similar arrangement to the VJ concave facetor, but with a slide that fits over the existing mast mount for the Facetron.  There is a Quill stop to centre the quill on the mandrel.

Regards
Gordon.