I got an email from someone today and they mentioned the Patriot faceting machine. As I have not really seen anything lately I did a search for “Patriot Faceting Machine” in Google just now.
The good news? My omnifaceter.net website comes up as the first two entries (as of today, anyhow). The next entries are for Aussie Sapphires’ review and then a sales page for the Patriot Faceting Machine on the Sierra Gems website.
Their ad copy reads:
“Jersey Instruments first U.S. made machine was called the OMNI. Since then the machine has gone through many revisions, many based on customer feedback some on technology advancements. There have been many changes and improvements to the original design and it has come to the point where it needed a whole new name. PATRIOT was chosen for the machine whose parent immigrated to the U.S.A. from Australia.”
I have a couple of obvious questions:
- If this Patriot faceting machine is so much better than the Omni, why doesn’t Jersey Instruments advertise their latest and greatest machine on their own website? Why isn’t it being marketed on the various faceting forums to let people know of the new machine?
- If the Patriot faceting machine is so much better than the original Omni, why don’t they specifically state what the changes were and how they’ve improved the original design? For that matter, why hasn’t Jersey Instruments ever told the world what changes they’ve made to back up the claims they’ve improved the Omni-e faceting machine model that I write about here?
I would not risk USD $2,500 of my hard-earned money on hoping that Jersey Instruments has indeed fixed all the problems with their Omni-e and Patriot faceting machines. In many ways these problems are unfixable as the company does not have the skill or ability to build a quality faceting machine. There has been no substance to back up their claims and frankly, there are better cheaper machines out there that are built to the quality required to facet stones.
My advice? Save yourself a good deal of frustration and investigate a different machine.
Hi Allan, I’m Just getting to faceting and have been reading all I can about the different machines. If you were buying a new machine, which would you buy. Thanks for the help, Lars A.
Hi Lars – Hard to answer that one… I’ve been thinking about it for a long time (while I save up for a new machine).
I’ve narrowed it down to 2 machines that I think are both well-built, reasonably-priced and well-supported by their manufacturers. However I have not purchased either and for the record, I have no business relationships with any machine manufacturer.
For a low-priced machine I’m looking at the Graves Mark V. For a mid-priced machine I’m looking at the Polymetric Scintillator.
My key criteria for a faceting machine are manufacturer support and quality of construction – I want to know that I’ll get assistance from the manufacturer should I need it, and that the machine is built properly to meet the precision and accuracy required to facet stones without fighting the equipment.
I believe both of the above machines meet those criteria. However I strongly urge you to do your own research – call up the manufacturers and talk to them yourself. And get hands-on experience with them as each machine has its own strengths and weaknesses that won’t be apparent from a web ad.
Good luck and let me know what you end up with!
-Allan