in this issue
-- NEW PRODUCTS - a CONCAVE FACETING MACHINE, and a FANTASY FACETING MACHINE.
-- The CONCAVE FACETING MACHINE -- Some Features of the CONCAVE FACETING MACHINE -- The FANTASY MACHINE -- Some Features of the FANTASY MACHINE -- A "PRETTY ROCK" COMPETITION -- EXHIBITION IN SRI LANKA
Greetings! Welcome to the December 2009 copy of the Some Times Newsletter. We hope you enjoy catching up with the updates from the Wrold of Ultra Tec each month! |
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NEW PRODUCTS - a CONCAVE FACETING MACHINE, and a FANTASY FACETING MACHINE. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Yes, TWO new things - two, because they just "go
together". We thought about these, and we spoke to
professional cutters, and we got a very good response
-and we were blessed with several "wish lists" in
terms of the features they'd want. We were blessed
with good engineering ideas, too. We knew-and they
confirmed--that precision and repeatability were critical
elements-just as they are on a standard faceting
machine.
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Andy Gulij of San Diego was a major contributor-and
when he was involved as the "test pilot" for the prototype
units, he brought a number of important details to our
attention-a longer range of travel, a higher speed of
reciprocating-practical hands-on advice.
Not the least important was the top item on his wish-list: a "Cheater" (I like to call it a "tweaker") that provides fine adjustment of a concave facet's position-linear and radial--directly analogous to the cheater on a flat faceting machine. We did it.
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Another key feature was on the wish-list of the late Jeff
Graham. We discussed it a year ago and Jeff was
immediately interested in the project, particularly the
Fantasy Machine - he said he had designs in mind
that he wanted to pursue.
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Jeff provided the idea of
accurate and repeatable horizontal angle indexing -
something we've accomplished by means of a
mechanism similar to the Index Gear on the Faceting
Mast.
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The direct precision and calibrated settings of these machines save time, but, in general-depending on complexity, these stones, as compared to flat faceting, take a much longer time to finish (you will see that they command a high price, reflecting that situation). But, results can be spectacular, and your efforts and patience are dramatically rewarded. We will be at the TUCSON GEM AND MINERAL SHOW in February-you may want to see them there. You may have questions now-email us. We'll answer all.
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The CONCAVE FACETING MACHINE ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The CONCAVE FACETING MACHINE allows for the
adding of concave curves to facets previously cut on a
flat standard design. This is a pretty straight-forward
operation that any faceter, with some practice, can do
nicely. There aren't many instruction diagrams-there
will be more on the way--but mostly, the faceter makes
judgments on which facets to do, and soon develops
an understanding of "what happens" to the
appearance-and soon develops more ingenuity and
originality to the design.
When the preliminary work on the faceting machine is complete-essentially, a preparation of the perform--the Mast is transferred to the Concave Machine (as shown in the photo)
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Some Features of the CONCAVE FACETING MACHINE ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
An Alignment Tool positions the Quill to the Tool axis-
setting a "home position" in less than a minute
Tool rotation speed is controlled independently from speed of tool reciprocation-separate motors A "Rigidizer" fits to the Ultra Tec Mast, eliminating swing (which needs to be held steady for the concave faceting) and flexing of the Riser Block-it takes less than a minute to mount, and all functions remain operable The Mast mounts on a "Tweaker" Block (a "cheater", if you like) with angular adjustments of +/- 2 degrees, and linear adjustment of +/- 2 mm Adjustable Splashguard height position Electrical operation: 110VAC/220VAC
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Certain features of the Fantasy Machine can be
subsequently installed-for example, the calibrated X
control (in-out).
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The FANTASY MACHINE ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The FANTASY MACHINE allows for "whatever you can
think of" in terms of the stone design-(including that it
can be used as a Concave machine--when the faceter
is not on a flight of fancy). Most typically, a relatively
simple perform is made on your Faceting Machine,
and then your Mast is transferred to the Fantasy
Machine (as shown in the photos). Then-it's what
you can dream of. In combination with the faceting
Mast, there are the three linear positionings (XYZ) and
three angular positionings (axial, radial, and planar)-
all settable and repeatable.
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The Tool Motor can mount in two positions, one, so
that reciprocation is in line with a cylindrical tool (as
shown in the photo below) and a second position
(lower photo) in which reciprocation is in line with a
grooving type (like a saw blade) tool. The stone's
design is limited only by the faceter's imagination. The
stone can be asymmetric-curves, dimples, holes,
grooves, channels-whatever. There are no standard
designs-(but many fantasy cuts can be seen on the
web-stimulation for directions to go)
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Some Features of the FANTASY MACHINE ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
An Alignment Tool positions the Quill to the Tool axis-
setting a "home position" in less than a minute
Tool rotation speed is controlled independently from speed of tool reciprocation-separate motors A "Rigidizer" fits to the Ultra Tec Mast, eliminating swing and flexing-less than a minute to mount The Mast mounts on a "Tweaker" Block (a "cheater", if you like) with angular adjustments of +/- 2 degrees, and linear adjustment of +/- 2 mm Adjustable Splashguard height position Dial-in positioning of Y direction and X direction-allowing fine adjustment and repeatability. Y travel (in-out) of 150 mm. X range (faceting range on long stone), +/- 25 mm. Dual positioning of the Tool Motor-at 90 degrees- maintaining reciprocation in line with the cutting axis. Repositioning of Motor takes less than a minute Planar angle setting through 180 degrees, in 5 degree increments Tool Reciprocation range adjustable, 0 to 30 mm Electrical operation: 110VAC/220VAC
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The photos in this announcement are all from the pilot run, and these machines are all spoken for. Deliveries of production units are planned for February. Modifications? All the operational mechanical features are proven, and are as you see them -- we've been testing and testing. There are several configuration changes scheduled for production units. For example: the X setting length will be increased an inch (Andy Gulij, in testing, said it felt a little tight); the metal enclosure for the reciprocating motor will be reduced in size: and several others (including configuring the CONCAVE unit so it can upgraded to some of the features of the FANTASY unit). The Concave Machine, item number 2627.7, price $2280. The Fantasy Machine, item number 2648.7, price $3680.
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A "PRETTY ROCK" COMPETITION ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Devin McRorie has announced a new idea in faceting
competition-an almost revolutionary idea in faceting
competition.
Devin's business IS "Pretty Rock" - (He's located in North Carolina, and his interesting website is www.prettyrock.com), and the Competition is appropriately named "Pretty Rock". It has an interesting twist to it. On the website, Devin writes: "Unlike many faceting contests, this is not about perfection. This is an old-fashioned beauty contest. After all we are PrettyRock.com not perfectrock.com! If you cut a stunner of a stone, but some of the meetpoints don't match, you still have a solid chance of winning. PRIZES! Even if you don't enter the contest, you'll enjoy reading about it-the approach to judging is novel. Read about it on his website. Many cutters steer clear of competitions-it makes them nervous-but here's one not to be nervous about. |
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EXHIBITION IN SRI LANKA ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"JEWELS 2009" is the name of the Gems, Mineralsand
Jewellery exhibition and competition being held on the
12th and 13th December at BMICH Colombo. There will
be a free gift of�a gem with every entrance ticket of Rs
50/=.
The exhibition is organized by the Gemmologists Association of Sri Lanka (further details 0117202032 or [email protected]). Ajith Siriwardena, Past president of the Gemmologists Association of Sri Lanka-and the Ultra Tec Representative in Sri Lanka will be there.
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Ajith Siriwardena, Past president of the Gemmologists
Association of Sri Lanka-and the Ultra Tec
Representative in Sri Lanka will be there.
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HAPPY HOLIDAYS TO YOU ALL-FROM ALL OF US AT ULTRA TEC!
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Quick Links... ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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Contact Information ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
email:
[email protected]
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