How do I align a dop stick without a key? How do I transfer to another dop and maintain alignment with the facets ? many thanks Wayne.
Not sure what you’re referring to as a “key”. If its setting a stone to be faceted on a dop for the first cutting, eyesight in my case is good for centering and aligning the stone properly. (I do have a very good eye for this, for those who don’t, using a transfer jig works very well).
In faceting, the only way to transfer a stone to cut the other half is to use a transfer jig. Pay the extra money to get a very good one. There are cheap ones on the market but they can have a lot of play in them or they are not smooth to use. You may have saved some money with the cheaper ones but you will be spending thousands of dollars worth of time faceting stones that have not been EXACTLY aligned on the dop for the second cut.
My overall best advice is to read and/or join a group that facets. You will find whole chapters just on dopping the stone to facet and then even more on transferring that stone.
Hope that helps!
I don’t have a ton of experience with other machines but my RayTech Shaw hand piece machine uses dops with a pin that sticks out near the base. This fits into a v shaped groove in the hand piece to align it . Then you make sure that pin is pushed against a stop on the transfer jig.
I’ve seen other machines with a groove in the dops, or with a flat angled cut at the base. There is usually something in the way they are made that only allows them to go into the machine one way.