Hi
First, I’d like to say how much I’ve enjoyed this forum … you all
are great!
I’ve taken a beginning soldering course and have a couple of Alan
Revere’s teaching video’s but I’m pretty much learning by trial and
error (mostly error). This forum has been extremely helpful and I
would be at a loss without it.
I need to be able to securely finish my jewelry (who doesn’t). I just
finished reading the Jewelry Manufacturing Methods and Techniques -
Fabricating Custom Earrings-(which was great)
http://www.ganoksin.com/borisat/nenam/950Palladium-earrings.htm
and it mentioned using a pulse-arc-welder to secure the assembly…I
looked these up in Rio Grande and there all pretty pricey.
As a beginner who doesn’t have thousands of dollars to spend on one
piece of equipment is their a cheaper way for me to accomplish my
goal? I would really appreciate all the help I can get.
Thanks,
Liz
If you look in some of the suppliers catalogs, or ask one of their
techs you will find that they sell a product called “soldering
investment”. This is similar to casting investment, a white or
greyish white powder that is mixed with water. In the case of
soldering investment it is mixed to a thicker consistency.
A “modern day” smith (one without access to a laser or electronic
welder:) would superglue the parts into position - sometimes using a
modeling clay (one that is NOT grease based) to support the
individual parts while gluing. The parts are then imbedded into the
soldering investment in such a way as to expose the areas to be
soldered. In the case of a group of heads or crowns for example -
they would be placed upside down, allowing you to solder them
together at the bases.
Sometimes it is necessary to supply a “bridge” for the solder using
small round shot, pieces or wire, or even a tiny piece of sheet. The
work is then joined together with the solder, and the investment
dissolved in water. Boiling the water, or putting the water in a
beaker in the ultrasonic speeds the process. Basically, just another
kind of “third hand” - in some cases a fourth, fifth, and sixth
hand!
Brian P. Marshall
Stockton Jewelry Arts School
Stockton, CA USA
209-477-0550
instructor@jewelryartschool.com
As a beginner who doesn't have thousands of dollars to spend on one
piece of equipment is their a cheaper way for me to accomplish my
goal? I would really appreciate all the help I can get.
There’s always the way joining was done for centuries before the
pulse arc welder & the laser; soldering with a torch.
The pulse arc welder & laser are just more ways to join metals. They
do offer advantages, in some cases, that aren’t capable with a torch
& solder.
Dave
Liz, consider yourself in good company with, probably, the majority
of jewelers. Few individual jewelers and artists, at least in the
first few years of their careers, can think to afford that kind of
toy, or others even pricier like laser welders.
In the article you mention, however, the pulse arc welder was used
not because it’s better at “securing” the assembly, since soldering
does exactly the same thing, but because it can make such a joint
without requiring that the whole area is also heated up. The highly
localized heat of the welder makes it possible to join the top and
bottom of the earrings together after the pearl and stone are set.
That makes the stone setting easier. If you don’t have such
equipment, the simple fix (and the more traditional way to do such
jobs), is simply to do the soldering before the stones and pearls are
set. Alternatively, with some types of joints (and possibly with the
illustrated one), you can simply use some method of heat sinking or
heat protection to cover heat sensitive parts while the jump rings
connecting the parts of the earring were soldered together. There
are a number of ways to do this, from using a third hand to hold the
jump ring just above the surface of a container of water, while the
pearls and stones are below the water, to doing about the same thing
with a container of wet sand or soldering grain (which then may not
require the third hand), or wrapping the heat sensitive parts in
water soaked tissue, or using one of the several heat sink paste
products on the market. Remember that the pulse arc welders, laser
welders, and similar toys have only been on the market for a few
years now, and jewelry has been made for thousands of years without
them. For production shops, these tools can make some things possible
in much shorter times with less effort, and some things are possible
that were impossible or difficult before these tools came around, but
for the most part, the old tried and true methods that most of us
learned way back when, still work just fine. The heat related
problems are also often somewhat less when working in gold, because
soldering temperatures are lower, so you can get in, get out, and be
done without needing quite so much heat as is required by palladium
or platinum soldering.
Hope that helps.
Peter Rowe