Australian Facetors' Guild Limited

Is it possible to buy one of both, that way you are not relying upon either one for your work.  As far as a desktop magnifying light goes I will suggest going to an optometrist or a dentist and ask if there is a possibility that you could do a test view through what they use, most people are not unreasonable.

Hi John,

I have been experimenting with a cheap USB microscope mounted on the head of my faceting machine.  It seems to be working OK and is good enough to get most meets in.

it has a gooseneck fitting with 1/4” thread at the base.  This screws into an adjustable mount fitted to my machine. 

on my facetron the mount is a piece of brass from a camping gas fitting bored out to 1/2” with a 1/2” piece of rod passing through it.  The brass bolts onto a C clamp I made with 5x25 mm mild steel strap.  That clamps to the side of my faceting head.  For my VJ I made an aluminium bracket that lets me raise and lower the microscope then undid the mounting for the dial indicator that screws into the end of the axle at the end of the protractor and reassembled it with the clamp outside the assembly but held on with the same bolt.  It relies on friction on that bolt to stop the assembly from moving throwing out the dial indicator so the bracket needs to be light weight.

lighting is critical as you are looking for facet boundaries and light reflections from scratches.  This setup allows you to pivot the head under your lights to change the angle the light is reflected from the stone and see the sweet spots.

so far I have been able to see the surface scratches from 3000 grit as a slight haze disappear following polishing with 14000 grit.  With the right angles and a pinpoint light I can see the difference between a 14k and 60k polish with a loupe,  but with the microscope, there is only a feint change in reflection.

I feel the microscope speeds up cutting to the prepolish stage and would be good for teaching or where you have trouble using a loupe.  But you still need to use the loupe for competition cutting.