Gem Faceting: My Ultratec V5 Faceting Machine Improvements

Here I share some improvements I’ve made to my Ultratec V5 faceting mast. I purchased my Ultratec machines two years ago. I really love the Ultratec V5 mast. It is well-designed and precisely built, with no play at all and excellent repeatability, allowing me to return to the exact same facet with ease.
The improvements that I made for my V5 mast are:

1) The most important one is the custom-designed 3D-printed piece, which allows me to change index positions with the same hand while holding the stone. I prefer to hold the stone with my fingers while cutting—it lets me apply more pressure against the lap and maintain better control of the stone.
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2) Another improvement I made helps me keep track of the cheater’s position. I placed a reference mark on the back of the rocker and attached a piece of transparent ruler to monitor the cheater’s position when it's far from its starting point. Since I frequently cut complex designs with fractional indices and do a lot of re-cutting, I often rely on the cheater. With this additional ruler, even if the cheater wheel has rotated multiple times, I can mark the exact position of a facet and return to it if needed.

3) To further assist in tracking the cheater position, I’ve painted half of the cheater wheel with a red marker, so I can easily tell whether I’ve rotated it forward or backward. Now, when recording the exact position of a facet, I use four numbers instead of two: the usual angle and index, plus the ruler position and the cheater reading, marking the white numbers with a plus sign and the red numbers with a minus sign. This way, I can return to the exact facet position quickly and efficiently.

4) I added a horizontal position mark on the mast to quickly and visually set it to 90º before fine adjustments.

5) I engraved a small mark on the quill end, allowing me to use a permanent marker to record the stone’s position when removing and reinserting it. Since I don’t use keyed dops, this helps align the stone more precisely with a facet.

6) While not a mast modification, I also show my marker holder, which allows me to open and close the marker with one hand while holding the stone in position. I use the marker frequently during faceting, and all around the workshop in fact, this small piece is really helpful!
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7) I marked the toothed detent segment for the index wheel, as it surprisingly came without any markings!

8) I also mark my index wheels with symbols for cardinal points, diagonals, triangles, and hexagons. This makes finding necessary indices much faster—often without even looking at the numbers.

9) Lastly, the screw that serves as the axle for this handle was constantly loosening, which was really annoying. You can't tighten it either because then the wheel won't turn. I had to add some Bluetack to the screw thread and so far it hasn't loosened and stays in place.

That’s all for now! I hope you find this video helpful!
Cheers, and happy cutting!