Another Omni Owner’s Spindle and Platen

There has been a bit of huff and bluster from a certain source lately regarding tearing a “pressed bearing apart on the platten of a faceting machine”. He claims that the Omni faceting machine spindle was pressed into the spindle housing bearings “under 20,000 lbs” and that this removal is the cause of the vibrations that I had complained about.

I think that anyone can see for themselves from the photos in the instructions on Removing the Spindle and Platen that the spindle isn’t press-fit into the bearings with any kind of pressure at all. In fact, when I originally removed the spindle and platen from my Omni faceting machine, it literally fell out of the bearings once I flipped the assembly upside down. I ended up catching the spindle on my lap. So much for 20,000 lbs of press-fit!

As for the vibrations – I have some photos sent to me from another Omni-e faceting machine owner from when he disassembled his spindle and platen assembly. I’ll compare photos with one from my own Omni faceter and then his:

Original Spindle and Platen from my Omni-e Faceting Machine

Underside of Another Platen from an Omni Faceting Machine

Platen Underside Close-up from his Omni-e Faceting Machine

Another Platen Underside Close-up from his Omni-e Faceting Machine

Notice the “high-quality” of machining that was done on his Omni platen – what appears to be saw and coarse file marks on the bottom. While at least mine was machined on a lathe, it appears that his platen and spindle were made from cutting a slice from a bar of aluminum and then mounting that on his spindle!

And at the other end of his spindle, notice the rough hand-filing job done. No finesse or attempt at quality machining here either:

Close Up of his Omni Faceting Machine Spindle End

You will also notice that on this other person’s spindle there are punch-marks where the bearings sit. Again, an old blacksmith’s trick to make the shaft swell a bit so it fits into the bearing races more snugly instead of machining the shaft precisely to fit the bearing. The Omni-e Faceting Machine is supposed to be a high-precision device accurate to tenths or hundredths of degrees, yet instead of doing quality manufacturing they’ve fallen back to smacking their parts with a punch and hammer to make them fit.

So when our loud friend complains that it’s the owner who’s at fault for the vibrations and problems with their machines, I leave it for you to draw your own conclusions.