Unfortunately class times with my local club so that I can learn to Facet are proving difficult as classes are during the day and I work full time, so I have taken a dangerous decision,.... an Imahashi machine came up for sale round the corner (literally) from me. Did a heap of research first and encountered both passion and hate, then found a video of the machine being used, quick and simple in expert hands... note "Expert Hands!" Those that love them appear to have been using these machines for years, wouldn't use anything else and produce some exceptional gems on them.
Anyway a few $$$s later I became the proud owner of the Imahashi FAC-8 with a P Handpiece, dops, wax, 4 quality laps, diamond grit, transfer jig etc, plus the original manual.
Since then I have fully serviced the handpiece so that everything works, it's tight and smooth so happy with its functionality, the lillypad looks as though it needs skimming as it has some wear hollows, around 0.5mm as per the 3 handpiece feet, but everything else looks good and tight.
It came with 30, 32 and 64 index gears with the 30 and 32 cheater cogs, but no 80, 96 or 120 and I would like a few more dops.
First question; Is anyone familiar with these machines and how good are they, certainly they lack some of the refinements of the more modern machines, but then I didn't pay $3.5k+ either.
Second, does anyone have any of the 80, 96 and 120 index gears and/or dops that I can purchase.
Also would be keen on getting a C handpiece with cams for Cab profiling.
One of the things I did notice is the lack of alignment mechanisms for dopping and dop engagement, the little 'scratch' on the side of the dops is all there is, and though these can be aligned in the collet, there is no way of getting any sort of accurate alignment in the transfer jig, some fine engineering can probably fix this to a degree, but any other tips would be appreciated.
Any input would be very much appreciated.
Anyway a few $$$s later I became the proud owner of the Imahashi FAC-8 with a P Handpiece, dops, wax, 4 quality laps, diamond grit, transfer jig etc, plus the original manual.
Since then I have fully serviced the handpiece so that everything works, it's tight and smooth so happy with its functionality, the lillypad looks as though it needs skimming as it has some wear hollows, around 0.5mm as per the 3 handpiece feet, but everything else looks good and tight.
It came with 30, 32 and 64 index gears with the 30 and 32 cheater cogs, but no 80, 96 or 120 and I would like a few more dops.
First question; Is anyone familiar with these machines and how good are they, certainly they lack some of the refinements of the more modern machines, but then I didn't pay $3.5k+ either.
Second, does anyone have any of the 80, 96 and 120 index gears and/or dops that I can purchase.
Also would be keen on getting a C handpiece with cams for Cab profiling.
One of the things I did notice is the lack of alignment mechanisms for dopping and dop engagement, the little 'scratch' on the side of the dops is all there is, and though these can be aligned in the collet, there is no way of getting any sort of accurate alignment in the transfer jig, some fine engineering can probably fix this to a degree, but any other tips would be appreciated.
Any input would be very much appreciated.
