Dop stick question

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Joined
Feb 15, 2013
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Nowra, south coast NSW
G'day all, just wondering if it matters how far the dop stick sits out of the quill in a faceting machine?
The few dops i have machined so far, i have made to the size of the only dop that came with the machine, which was about 68 mm in length. This leaves roughly 30 mm coming out of the quill.
This seems ok for small stones, but i am worried i will not have enough height on the mast or in my transfer jig for bigger stones. As with two 68 mm dops in the jig i only have a 10 mm gap for stones.

I was thinking if i trimmed 10 mm of the end of the bigger dops, i would have about 30 mm to play with in the jig ans still have 20 mm coming out of the quill. But would this make any other difference, besides having less play when doing the girdle?
 
Longer the dop , more chance of flex . Cant hurt to make any shorter unless other parts of the machine get in the way , mostly quill I guess . Butt if the stone Is big shouldnt be a problem , So dont hessitate grinding away :)They are only a few bucks each . Or get a different transfer jig ,Like a polymetric .
 

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