Build it Yourself: "Attachment Of The Hardware"

By this time, Your hand built stylus is complete and looking pretty much ready for use. First, One will need to cut an assortment of Dops sticks in lengths of 1 1/2" to 2" long and grind the ends to be used flat. If the 1/4'' steel rod is not as useable in the setup., One may cut them down or acquire a smaller steel rods and make Dops for the smaller stones. For larger stones, Adding more doping wax until the stone has a good sized and sturdy base to it. You can also use regular epoxy glue for doping as it has become quite accepted and used in the lapidary industry for this purpose.


Image: Variety of Dops all made from 1/4" steel rod and cut to the above described length.

After Doping up a stone, Insert the jam peg into the stylus, (don't forget to tighten the locking collar but not too tight) Your now ready to start cutting and faceting some stones.

At this point, You'll need something to cut the stones and gems on. Most factors use a lap machine, which is simply a perpendicular rotating wheel that is attached a motor and allows for an adjustable speed control. I have yet to construct this device on my own, but one may wish to Google this process from another sites or search for "Faceting" equipment or "Lapidary" tools.



Wizard has elected to rotate his home made faceting tool, horizontally or 90 degrees in order to achieve many of his facets. You can read more about his adventures here: "Shoe String Lapidary"

Slight modifications to any device can be used as a faceting wheel. Revelations of the wheel need not achieve high speeds, But I have been achieving better results at lower speeds. The lower speeds or revelations may take a bit longer to cut or shape the facets, but the facets will retain their sharpness and their flat surfaces.

The important thing you need is a method of control of the angle of cutting. This was originally done in Jam Pegging with the Peg. The Peg is simply a block of wood with a lot of holes in it and in the video included in the original post it shows how it was used.


Image: Simple method of a Control Arm. The Control Arm is very simple to make, But assembly and installation must be precise.

The Control Arm is made from 1" Aluminum stock measuring 4" inches long and two other stock arms are needed measuring 1 1/4 inches long. The stock items once assembled, will rest on a threaded rod with two lock nuts holding it in place. The thickness of the threaded rod isn't necessary, But I used 1/4" because it was available at the time and retains is shape and stiffness. A wing nut is used to allow for ease of adjustments.

Cut or file two channels in the 1 1/4" pieces to allow a 1/4" steel rod to pass with very little movement. Once you have made the channels place the 2 1 1/4" pieces at one end of the 4" rod and glue them together. Next, A critical installation is required. Make sure that the 2 side pieces are exactly 90 degrees to the 4" piece and once solidly fixed in place with glue be sure that the bottom of both channels in the exact same distance from the 4" piece. Mounting the control arm approx. 2 - 3 inches away from the cutting wheel, will achieve the proper angle correct facets.

A drilled hole is required in the control arm for the threaded rod to go through and the placement of this hole depends on where the rod is fixed in relation to the cutting wheel. You do not want this hole to be too close or too far. Taking your stylus, rest the arms of the small steel rod under it's belly in the two slots you have made and with a Dop stick in place place it on the cutting wheel.

Moving the control arm up, down and side to side, Will help you align the nuts then tighten in place. If the end of the jam peg's dop sticks extends past the cutting wheel, more adjustments are necessary to the control arm by lower or raising then retightening the loss housing and lock nuts.

To Be Continued: Faceting The Gemstone

Edited by: Wizard