An Inspirational Opal Cutter

A good customer of mine in Australia called Murray has shared with us all his amazing and ingenious opal cutting machine made from various mechanical parts. I am so inspired to see that with some thought and a good deal of recycling and up-cycling Murray has made his dreams of cutting opal a reality.
Here is some of what he used:

• A sewing machine motor with variable speed pedal
• The framework is an old fridge
• The water system comes from an old motor cycle fuel tap and a drain hose takes the water outside the shed
• The pulley system is an old tyre tube
• The variable speed sewing machine motor makes it easy to work on different sized opal and to control different parts of the polishing process.

So if you're wondering what you need to get started with opal cutting, here is your answer. Just make it work for you with what you have.
Murray, you're awesome mate!

Here are some of the opals Murray has cut and polished on the machine.

There are no excuses now to get started.

I'd love to hear about more cool cutting set-ups and what works for you?