According to the Faceters.com review of the Omni faceting machine:
“The OMNI machine is well designed and it is obvious when I cut on the machine that this design has evolved over a long period of time… In conclusion, the OMNI faceting machine one of the best quality and design in it’s price range.”
Look closely at the photos in this review. The machine in the photos is different than the Omni-E that is currently shipping. I noticed several obvious changes to the design, including but not limited to:
- Angle readout is only 1/10 degree but the pictured machine is 1/100
- Angle adjustment knob and locking mechanism has changed (notice the dumbell lever on the picture in the article)
- Current dops are keyed 45 degree angle slice from the back, not a flat
- Current dops are brass, not steel
- Swing arm pivot mount appears quite different (large silver disk on the bottom)
- Transfer fixture is not the same. The one shown appears to be a single piece of metal machined as one part without moving blocks
I believe that the machine reviewed is fundamentally different from the currently-shipping model. It appears that the reviewed model was closer to the original Laurie Hall Australian design which has now been changed.
I am not convinced that the well-known owner of Faceters.com would write the same review if he used the currently-shipping Omni-E for any length of time.
For the record: I contacted Laurie Hall to get some assistance with adjusting my Omni. He was firm but polite in his response – that the design was sold to the owner of Jersey Instruments and Laurie co-miserates with us, but he is both powerless to affect any change and blameless for the implementation of the Omni Faceting Machine. He added that he was disappointed in the design changes made to the Omni as he knew they would introduce problems. Because the Omni is built and sold by Jersey Instruments, he can not provide any support.
The Hall Faceting machine is still being manufactured in Australia by UNAMIT. You can read about it at the Astro-Tel website.