My mom and dad were in a rock club in Dallas, TX and they would facet gemstones on a lapidary device by hand. One day I mentioned that this could all be done with a machine and they were like, yeah, right, OK. So, I'm not sure what made me go ahead and make one either because they were dismissive or just to see if I could do it. I don't think I did it out of spite but more just to see if I could and this is what I came up with.

So I made it, got it working and then showed them (the blue one pictured). They were sort of flabbergasted. My mom said she wanted one almost instantly! So, since she's German, I made her a Black, Red, and Yellow one to match the colors of the German flag. he he. I'm not sure she ever messed with it much, tho, as she was a bit scared of learning how to use it. Oh well.

So anyway, my dad setup a "show and tell" time to take it to their rock club to show it off. So I gave a demonstration of how it worked and showed a few diamond shaped stones I had made out of glass marbles with it. The initial reactions were like wow, but then I had really weird interactions like one lady she was like almost screaming at me to get it copyrighted and trademarked and patented or whatever! I was like ok ok whatever. Another guy was like telling me all the things I got wrong with it and how I should redesign it to make it the most efficient all powerful faceting machine ever. ok ok, whatever. I offered it for sale at the time, but nobody bought one. Shrug. They loved it, they hated it, they told me it was so much better than doing it manually, but in the end no one wanted it so yeah, ok.

So I made a Kickstarter. I set a threshold of a few devices (10?) or else I wouldn't go thru with it. Before the Kickstarter ended the count got up to 10 so I thought it was a go, but then someone backed out so 1 to few so it wasn't a go. I sort of thought that was the end of it.

Then I had a guy from California contact me and was pretty adamant about trying to revise it a little and putting it on Kickstarter. I was like OK, whatever, sure go for it. So he took it all and made a Kickstarter and he even got enough people to do it! Yay! At that point he gave me some money and told me there would also be more coming which I was very grateful for but I told him he needed to make it work for him first! So he made a few and sent them out, but then in shipping, they all got destroyed. I don't know why for sure. Like did he not use any packing material or what? Anyway, since he had lost a lot of money doing it, he decided it was best at that point to give up and give everyone their money back. So, there again, it looks like it was a dead product.

Every once in a blue moon, I'll get an email from someone asking about it. It's really a waste of my time and I certainly don't want to do tech support for it for free as that would really be a waste of my time. So yeah, I'm not sure why I'm posting this build at all other than for the vanity as it could be a nightmare of questions. I asked the guy from CA if he cared if I posted it a while back and he said he didn't care either so I guess, finally I got around to it, here it is. I don't want to be doing any tech support for it or really answer much of any questions about it so if you ask, you'll likely be met with, "figure it out for yourself" sort of answers. I hope you understand. As it is, I don't see much value it in since nowadays you can go on ebay and buy really nice faceted cubic zarconia (CZ) or other topaz gemstones for next to nothing (like what 10 cents or 25 cents or whatever) so I'm not sure why anyone would want to spend a lot of time and money to make a faceted stone with this when they could just spend like $10 and get a handful of stones already made. For that matter, why buy a lapidary anymore either. But there's always reasons like some special Texas Star facet or weird unique 100 facets faceting I guess, or perhaps some weird 100 face dice? But really, vanity, vanity, all is vanity?

So without further ado, here it is in all its janky glory: The Gem Creator Machine! There it is.

WARNINGS AND DISCLAIMERS: Of course, use at your own risk! If you poke an eye out, or electrocute yourself (water and electricity are a dangerous combo), or don't use a dripping system and get silicosis (grinding dust in your lungs) , or die in some special and unique or shameful way and get on the Darwin Award list, don't come crying to me, you've been warned! I mean if you died, it would be hard to come crying to me anyway unless I died too and then we met in the afterlife and you were complaining about it or you wanted to laugh about it that you got a gemstone thru the eye or something? But anyway, even then don't come crying to me! Think before you lick those live wires people!!! Be careful out there, put on the whole armor to protect against the firey darts of the devil! Besides, I expect to go to heaven because I know Jesus as my Savior, and yeah, it's said there's no tears in heaven, so really I wouldn't expect anyone coming crying to me anyway in the afterlife either.

What, you want to make them and sell them? Be my guest, you have my blessing. But again, I'm not your tech support, and I'm not a nice person if you call! Now of course, I'd like some sort of compensation if you do sell any of them, even a dollar would be nice, or at least a thank you message, or a post card of where you went on vacation with all your multimillion dollar profits would be excellent if not spiteful, but yeah, something, anything (within reason), as one should.

Have fun! Make a gemstone, and if you do, please post a make! I'd love to see what you make with it! My dad loves making those Texas star gemstones, and I'd love to see someone make one and post that! If you put together a machine and get it working, please also post a make, and maybe a video! It would warm my heart to see it alive and in the wild!

Proverbs 3:13:18. Titus 2:11,12. Matthew 7:13,14. Matthew 13:45,46

What do you need? I'm not 100% sure anymore as it has been years since I first designed it and made it.

You'll need probably:
Arduino Mega
8mm rods
8mm allthread and nuts
nema17 steppers
ramps board with drivers
2x16 lcd module (I think it's 2x16 but 2x40 will work too I think)
12v and 5v power supply box - it doesn't use much amperage so it probably doesn't need a big one like in the pictures
12v gearhead 60rpm or 100rpm motor that does a reasonable amount of speed but not too much.
Some smaller grinder wheels (what are those 4"?), I think I used 300, 600, 1500, and 3000 and probably Cerium Oxide to make polishing mud or glue the dust to an acetate disk. You might be able to use fewer steps like two sizes but it's just harder I think or more steps but it's slower to get there.
Of course all the plastic parts and screws to assemble it.
You'll need like jumper wires and whatnot
2@ 4x4 keypad modules
A piece of plywood to screw it all to.
I'm not sure what else. Hopefully you'll figure it out if you tackle it!

So anyway, take this little orphan project (is this orphan ware?) and dust it off, feed it, give it a place to stay, and maybe it will grow up and be something someday! Fly and be free!!!

Sure there's some things that would have made it nicer. If I were to mess with it, I'd probably add some endstops and maybe some more programming fun stuff and whatnot. So yeah, maybe someone will do that and post their remix? And good for you if you do!

Here are some of my original older videos that may help you:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X3SC4fJxHh4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XDiIx8IxXmU
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6CvsfSlkIPI&t=9s
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s2XcsUgpzf0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8An8wD4e6dY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AzlW_V1TC_Y
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KM5Ycyk-Rm8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Bl05EJjoso

Here's some of Frank's (the other guy who did the Kickstarter) videos that may help you also:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ap4soszUUE&t=158s&pp=ygULZ2VtIGNyZWF0b3I%3D
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nvJ4vsMggzs&pp=ygULZ2VtIGNyZWF0b3I%3D