Every beginner must watch this before buying anything.. This is the absolute very first step video and i think it's priceless. Keep practicing.. I am sure you will start making great cuts in no time.
I started with a machine like this it was very frustrating, but i was able to finish a stone. If you enjoy it on a bad machine a good machine like a Ultratech makes it a dream.
well a lot of people will sell their Vevor facetting machines, they are workable, but in addition of learning all the basics which is a challenge all by itself, now you have to learn how to fix or compensate all the quirks of that Vevor machine which is not a abominably bad machine but you need to learn a few things to see how to use it correctly and yes fix that mast etc. The Motor and the controller of the Vevor are working pretty good. The disc is solid, and off you go.
I'm using a Vevor pottery wheel with homemade mast and digital dial. it works well for what it is, bit of a learning curve but im able tweak and modify it. Just about done with a micro controller speed dial and a fully digital mast adjustment based off a CNC Z axis board.
Doping (glueing) with wax is the most complex way to do but allow you to repositionate You started with a very coarse grit (seemed like a 100) next would be 300, then you can jump to 300, 600 then 1200 before pre polishing or polishing (depend on what stone you cut) but 100grit can cause internal damages. One drop of water every second is way enough (maybe more on coarse grit) if you can get you hand on an infusion bottle it works well You can lift the dop and then cut every facet without changing you hight setting. I'm a new cutter but with a more advanced machine and a few months of training, if you want some help I can give you more advices or send you videos. The vevor is a pain but you seem handy so you will learn quickly and know how to deal with the problems when facing them Thanks for the laugh catapulting the stone (no offense) and best regards from France
Thanks for the kind note. I've tried and failed a couple more times without filming, but did learn more. I started with 80 grit in the post. Yeah, probably the only time I'd use that again would be removing a lot from a large, easily-replaceable stone, like a chalcedony. My grandson is visiting from Colorado (1200 miles away) and hopefully we can cut something together. I'll film that.
Hello Mate, to make the stone shine, it must be polished with aluminum oxide, but you surely knows it. have a nice fun with you'r machine, looks great. Have a nice day !!!
80 grit is way too rough for a stone that size and check out the US Faceters Guild. And cerium oxide for quarts on a corian polishing lap is a cheap polishing setup
When you are running the machine you should be holding the quill gently, don't apply much pressure. But you gotta hold it on the lap or it will bounce.
Hey i have the same machine! I have also had to "upgrade" my machine as well. I have found out that the mounting point for my mast is flush, but the actual bottom of the mount is not so I ground that flush. I am now trying to figure out a keyed dopping method as I have had troubles in the polishing stage getting things lined up properly.
@@androidgrandpa2790There are many different dop waxes available and they range pretty dramatically in tensile strength, depending on their contents (or “recipe”, if you will). At the heart of all of them is shellac and a filler material, which is usually a fine-grained clay. The more shellac, the greater strength and better holding power, but also the higher melting point, which can be a factor with some temperature-sensitive gem materials. The all-around weakest and cheapest to manufacture is what you’d bought, the green dop wax, which has the lowest amount of shellac in its recipe and is used almost exclusively for cutting cabochons. With cabs, since there’s usually a ton of water on the grinding wheels, there’s no issue with the stone heating up and the wax bond failing. Green dop wax melts at around 150-155 degrees F. Next up is the industry standard for faceting, black dop wax, which offers better adhesion and melts at around 165-170 degrees F. Higher still is the red dop wax, which melts at around 175-180 degrees F and offers a significantly stronger bond, BUT is also significantly more brittle, so not recommended for the faint of heart or inexperienced faceter. It’s also best not used with gems like Kunzite, Afghan Tourmaline, Blue Topaz or Cambodian Blue Zircon, which are all temperature sensitive (because the excess heat can either structurally damage the stone or drive off the color, magically transforming your lush, beautifully color saturated prize into a pastel or colorless pebble). Finally, there is brown dop wax, which is almost purely shellac (it may have flour or some other cellulose powder as a thickening agent), and the Leeco Brown wax, which was my all-time favorite because it stuck like solder and was so durable that the same glob of dop wax could actually be reused multiple times, without having to clean off the dop, but sadly, I don’t think Mr. Lee is still manufacturing it. All the same, both of these waxes melt around 185-190 degrees F and are (along with the red dop wax) probably best reserved for use on the smallest and most heat resistant of stones, like natural and synthetic Corundums (i.e. Ruby & Sapphire), Spinels and any of the iron garnets (like Almandine and Pyrope).
@TheHelpCoach hey man, I bought some of the green wax assuming it was the right stuff. Is there some was I can mix some shellac into the green to make it more suitable for this application? I would appreciate your insight, seems like you know what you're talking about. Thanks in advance
Every beginner must watch this before buying anything.. This is the absolute very first step video and i think it's priceless. Keep practicing.. I am sure you will start making great cuts in no time.
Awww, thanks, man. 👍
I started with a machine like this it was very frustrating, but i was able to finish a stone. If you enjoy it on a bad machine a good machine like a Ultratech makes it a dream.
well a lot of people will sell their Vevor facetting machines, they are workable, but in addition of learning all the basics which is a challenge all by itself, now you have to learn how to fix or compensate all the quirks of that Vevor machine which is not a abominably bad machine but you need to learn a few things to see how to use it correctly and yes fix that mast etc. The Motor and the controller of the Vevor are working pretty good. The disc is solid, and off you go.
I'm using a Vevor pottery wheel with homemade mast and digital dial. it works well for what it is, bit of a learning curve but im able tweak and modify it. Just about done with a micro controller speed dial and a fully digital mast adjustment based off a CNC Z axis board.
nice, TY for sharing
Doping (glueing) with wax is the most complex way to do but allow you to repositionate
You started with a very coarse grit (seemed like a 100) next would be 300, then you can jump to 300, 600 then 1200 before pre polishing or polishing (depend on what stone you cut) but 100grit can cause internal damages.
One drop of water every second is way enough (maybe more on coarse grit) if you can get you hand on an infusion bottle it works well
You can lift the dop and then cut every facet without changing you hight setting.
I'm a new cutter but with a more advanced machine and a few months of training, if you want some help I can give you more advices or send you videos.
The vevor is a pain but you seem handy so you will learn quickly and know how to deal with the problems when facing them
Thanks for the laugh catapulting the stone (no offense) and best regards from France
Thanks for the kind note.
I've tried and failed a couple more times without filming, but did learn more.
I started with 80 grit in the post. Yeah, probably the only time I'd use that again would be removing a lot from a large, easily-replaceable stone, like a chalcedony.
My grandson is visiting from Colorado (1200 miles away) and hopefully we can cut something together. I'll film that.
Hello Mate, to make the stone shine, it must be polished with aluminum oxide, but you surely knows it. have a nice fun with you'r machine, looks great. Have a nice day !!!
Thanks for the tip
80 grit is way too rough for a stone that size and check out the US Faceters Guild. And cerium oxide for quarts on a corian polishing lap is a cheap polishing setup
UV curing superglue works great instead of dop-wax😊
Thanks.
When you are running the machine you should be holding the quill gently, don't apply much pressure. But you gotta hold it on the lap or it will bounce.
Hey i have the same machine! I have also had to "upgrade" my machine as well. I have found out that the mounting point for my mast is flush, but the actual bottom of the mount is not so I ground that flush. I am now trying to figure out a keyed dopping method as I have had troubles in the polishing stage getting things lined up properly.
Thanks for the info. Yeah, I saw a video where someone had a base that needed trimming. So far it seems to be the base.
Definitely need to tirn down your water flow
Try two part epoxy instead of dop wax. The wax takes a lot of practice. The epoxy comes off with a bit of heat and a sharp edge.
Thanks. I'll try that.
Does your machine have adjustable speed?
Yes.
Wrong wax...😂 Not enough water supply. No diagram... destiny destroyed.😂😂
I ordered faceting wax. What should it be?
@@androidgrandpa2790There are many different dop waxes available and they range pretty dramatically in tensile strength, depending on their contents (or “recipe”, if you will). At the heart of all of them is shellac and a filler material, which is usually a fine-grained clay. The more shellac, the greater strength and better holding power, but also the higher melting point, which can be a factor with some temperature-sensitive gem materials. The all-around weakest and cheapest to manufacture is what you’d bought, the green dop wax, which has the lowest amount of shellac in its recipe and is used almost exclusively for cutting cabochons. With cabs, since there’s usually a ton of water on the grinding wheels, there’s no issue with the stone heating up and the wax bond failing. Green dop wax melts at around 150-155 degrees F. Next up is the industry standard for faceting, black dop wax, which offers better adhesion and melts at around 165-170 degrees F. Higher still is the red dop wax, which melts at around 175-180 degrees F and offers a significantly stronger bond, BUT is also significantly more brittle, so not recommended for the faint of heart or inexperienced faceter. It’s also best not used with gems like Kunzite, Afghan Tourmaline, Blue Topaz or Cambodian Blue Zircon, which are all temperature sensitive (because the excess heat can either structurally damage the stone or drive off the color, magically transforming your lush, beautifully color saturated prize into a pastel or colorless pebble). Finally, there is brown dop wax, which is almost purely shellac (it may have flour or some other cellulose powder as a thickening agent), and the Leeco Brown wax, which was my all-time favorite because it stuck like solder and was so durable that the same glob of dop wax could actually be reused multiple times, without having to clean off the dop, but sadly, I don’t think Mr. Lee is still manufacturing it. All the same, both of these waxes melt around 185-190 degrees F and are (along with the red dop wax) probably best reserved for use on the smallest and most heat resistant of stones, like natural and synthetic Corundums (i.e. Ruby & Sapphire), Spinels and any of the iron garnets (like Almandine and Pyrope).
@@TheHelpCoach Thank you for taking the time for that excellent info!
@TheHelpCoach hey man, I bought some of the green wax assuming it was the right stuff. Is there some was I can mix some shellac into the green to make it more suitable for this application? I would appreciate your insight, seems like you know what you're talking about. Thanks in advance