I am sold out of the custom-made stainless-steel collet quills. I have no plans to make any more. This dop was the final change I made to my Omni-e Faceting Machine before abandoning the swing-arm base completely and moving to a custom-made flat base. The new quill eliminated a lot of the error and frustration I experienced when trying to cut to meet-points.
These quills were a custom design made for me by my friend Mike. Unfortunately he’s no longer manufacturing faceting parts.
Custom Collet Quill Mounted on the Omni-E Faceting Machine
Original Brass Omni Quill and New Stainless Steel Collet Quill Side by Side
Hello Allan!Yuo wrote:This dop was the final change I made to my Omni-e Faceting Machine before abandoning the swing-arm base completely and moving to a custom-made flat base.
What your opinion can I replace my Omni 8″ machine on the base of Tom Thumb faceting machine?
Best regards
Michael
Hi Michael – don’t have any first-hand information or experience with the Tom Thumb faceting machine.
However, given my experience with the lack of quality construction and generally sloppy design of the Omni-e, I would think two or three times before buying a Patriot or Tom Thumb faceting machine. (addendum: I would never buy a faceting machine from Jersey Instruments again, no matter what improvements they claim)
There are plenty of other proven faceting machines out there for about the same price. I would not risk wasting more money on the hopes that these machines are better constructed and supported.
I replaced my swing arm with a custom-made flat base powered by an extremely reliable and powerful motor. I would not consider the small motors used by Jersey Instruments on the Omni-e, Patriot or Tom Thumb (judging by the product photos) to be strong enough. My old Omni base would struggle to bring my heavy BATT and ceramic laps to speed, and would lose a lot of speed cutting larger stones.
So, my opinion would be to:
(A – best option) replace your full machine with another proven and reliable faceting machine (you can always sell your old machine as-is on ebay or similar site), or
(B – second option) buy a base from another proven reliable faceting machine manufacturer with an adapter that will allow your head assembly to work on it. This will be more work and may not resolve all the problems with your machine if there are still issues with your head assembly.
Good luck,
-Allan
Hi Allan!Have you a draft of custom-made flat base?
Michael
Hi Michael – sorry, I don’t have any plans for making your own base.
However you can still reference Jon Rolfe’s excellent but outdated (first published in 1996) step-by-step guide to building a faceting machine on his website. There is a small section on building a base to mount the faceting head which may be useful.
You might want to contact one of the existing faceting machine companies that use flat bases (Graves, Facetron, Ultratec) to see if they will sell you just a base. It may be more economical and less frustrating in the long run just to sell your machine as-is on ebay and buy a better one.
Good luck!
-Allan
Hi
I have the Australian made Hall Extra faceting machine which is the same as the American Omni . I would like to change my quill for the newer Stainless Steel type are they still been produced or is there any spec’s so I maybe could have one made in Australia .