Still trying to facet...

I finally got to a stopping place with my studio restoration; still havent gotten all my rocks back in the house, but theyre rocks, after all, and I dont think the weather will really hurt them. Still have some friends that are going to need help with their homes from the flood, but theyre not to a point where they need my help yet.

So I pulled out the faceting machine and gave it a go. I was trying to do Aperture Science from the Gemology Project website. All was going well until I transferred and started in on my main girdle facets on the crown. I could tell immediately that there was a problem; the facet was going to be off by at least a half a mm. I thought I could compensate and it seemed to be working, but there was an additional tilt to the stone which could not be overcome. So, the side facets are way off and I couldnt even attempt to do the two side crown facets.

This is a strange amethyst with a little golden brown mixed in; it was streaked with color rather than having a clear demarcation between the amethyst and citrine. The color runs from top to bottom in streaks. The table, unfortunately, seems to have a bit of end grain.

I have gotten really lazy, I rough out on a plated 320, then go to 600 either on a Raylap or diamond on copper, to 1200 diamond on copper, and this time tried aluminum oxide on corian rather than cerium. Someone gave me a bunch of it, and I thought Id give it a try. I dont think it works quite as well as the cerium, but I dont get the cat whiskers as much. Sigh, it seems all faceting is a compromise. Im still overcutting my tiny facets by a trifle; seems Im too heavy-handed.

Im studying to improve, and I think Im actually getting a little better. The machine seems to be behaving; the cheater has still got a little too much slop so I think Ill try tightening things up before the next stone.

Debbie K

or ..... you are one stone closer to perfection arty:

Thanks for sharing the back story, and be assured, others are treading the same path

Looks good, well done :Y:

Nice stone Debbie, well done! :Y:

You'll get there. :Y: The cheater is your worst enemy and your best friend. Any slop in that will sure as hell cause problems. Can I assume this sloppy cheater is zeroed before you start cutting the stone?
And I guess you know how to cheat if required after transfer?

Really very nicely cut and faceted stone. Congats on a job done really well.

noice lookin stone there Ms K

Mr. Magoo:

I do zero out and try to make sure every thing is true and square before I start. The problem was twofold; the stone was tilted 2 ways. The cheater addressed one way; the other should have been compensated for by changing the angle on the opposing sides. The math got too much for me and I had already overcut on one side, so I gave it up as a bad job.

The dilemma began by the rough not having a table that was square to the bottom angles in the first place. I was trying to get too much out of the stone and had tilted it slightly to get as much as I could out of the rough pavilion angles. So, when it became apparent that the transfer was out of whack, I couldn't re-dop and square up on the table. This is what I get for being lazy and greedy. I should have tried to square the table first.

I don't really know what I'm doing, but I got some books as a present on faceting recently. I'm just lurching along trying to figure it out as I go along. Part of my problem is I ran out of some really good dop wax and have been trying to use the black stuff instead, and I'm having trouble getting good transfers with it. I'm beginning to consider epoxy, but chipped a culet the one time I did trying to get it out of the dop and have been leery of it ever since.

Re: the cheater. I think I really will have to chump off and buy the manufactured part to get greater accuracy. It's working much better than the broken one, but not as good as it should. Something somewhere is amiss, and if you over-tighten part of the quill the cheater doesn't move easily and if it's too loose the quill can be rotated by hand. I should send it off to have it worked on, but to tell the truth, I can't really afford to. So I'll keep at it until I figure it out. Unfortunately, the machine is so old that the manuals on them are nonexistent and I've even done a patent search on the quill and mast trying to find an exploded view to understand how these two things are related, and also how to replace the bearings in the mast. No joy, so far.

Thank you guys for being kind. One day I might produce something worth looking at. Funny, I showed it to some non-faceters today and they thought it looked great. But we all know how much better it could be.

Debbie K