Sapphire Faceter

Hello everyone, this is my first posting.

I recently purchased a Sapphire faceter. It is very old, I would say
between 30-35 years old. It is in excellent condition. I have all
parts including the original owners manual, but the dops are missing.

The machine is absolute as I understand it, Sears sold these
machines for $220.00.!! some of the dops sold for as little as
.45 cents. That was a long time ago. Parts for it are no longer
available from the manufacturer. Does anyone know where I may be
able to find dops for these machine?

According to the owner’s manual and some old ( 1966) Facetier’s
publications I picked up with the machine, the manufacturer was:

Arrow Profile Company,
P.O.B. 38
St Clair Shores, Mich.
Phone (313) 777-9230

Thank you,

JR

Jr. For most obsolete lapidary machines you must get the measurements
or one piece and have it duplicated at a machine shop. Be prepared
to spend a lot of money as machine shops are expensive. That is why
obsolete lapidary equipment is cheap or should not be bought unless
you have access to a machine shop.

Gerry Galarneau

Jr asked about finding dops for a Sapphire faceting machine.

You may be able to track down a source by jouning the AFMS Faceters
email list. Information about joining is at: http://amfed.org/faceters/

or you might find something at Bob’s Rockshop
http://www.rockhounds.com/rockshop/table.html

regards,
Earl

JR:

Several people on the AFMS Faceter’s List have mentioned this machine
over the years. It works fine. You might try an inquiry on that
list, which is about 1000+ strong with faceters. If the dops are
standard 1/4 inch dops, those from many machines will fit. If it is
an odd size, you might have to have some made, but that shouldn’t be
prohibitively expensive. If the dops are keyed and you want to keep
this feature, you will have to find out how to grind or machine the
keyway. However, this really isn’t necessary unless you plan on
removing dops during cutting. Realigning after transfer, the only
other function of the keyed dops, is not that difficult.

HTH,
Roy

Hi JR

While I’m not familiar with the sapphire brand, dops for faceting
machines are pretty standard, made of quarter inch brass rod, 2 inches
long. Cone dops and V dops are fairly easy to make yourself, and also
any lapidary supplier such as Kingsley North should have them.

Cheers,
Hans Durstling
Moncton, Canada

Hi JR,

I recently purchased a Sapphire faceter. It is very old, I would say
between 30-35 years old. It is in excellent condition. I have all
parts including the original owners manual, but the dops are missing.

Does anyone know where I may be
able to find dops for these machine? <<

Most faceting machines in use today use dops made from .250"
diameter steel or brass rod. The business (stone) ends are usually
machine into flat, cone & vee shapes of several sizes. Check the hole
in the quill of your machine. If it’s .250" dops for most of the
currently produced machines would probably work. If it were me, I’d
stay away from aluminum dops. Dops for the Facetron may not work
since they are keyed (a flat spot is milled in the machine end).

Two possible sources are Alpha Supply (alpha-supply.com) & The Rock
Peddler (rockpeddler.com), both sell several brands of faceting
machines. I’m not associated with either co., just a satisfied
customer.

Dave

JR, Most of the older machines did not use a key way. All the new
machines that I know of use a key way. Keyed dops will not work from
one machine to another because the key ways are all cut differently.
I know this is true from Ultra Tec to Facetron and to Lee. All the
dops are different. You may try MDR, but I think theirs are keyed
also. Facetor manufacturers make their dops different to force you
to buy their dops or go through an expensive process in a machine
shop. I have been there. I own three different facetors and am now
in the process of standardizing to one type of machine. Your best
bet is to find someone who is using a sapphire machine now. Get the
dop specifications from them. Then try to find solutions. In
Phoenix, Arizona I have been quoted machine shop charges of $150 per
hour for specialty projects. A facetor is a precision machine. To
keep the precision the dops must be close to perfect. Cobbling
together fixes on the dops will probably leave you frustrated.

Gerry Galarneau gggemswcr@aol.com galarneausgems.com