Cutting jump rings

Jewelry Discussion
11

I want to start making my own jumprings & would like to know what
wire to use & must it be hardened & by what method…

Regards,
Audie Beller of Audie’s Images-

12 
do you all sand the edges of your jump rings after sawing?

Hi Jocelyn,

I’ve made quite a few sterling rope chains using 12 ga. 1/2 round
wire, as shown in Tim McCreight’s Complete Metalsmith. I cut the
links with a Jump Ringer tool, but there’s still a bit of a burr left
behind. I solder only the first and last single rings (to answer
somebody else’s question), as each of the others is looped through
multiple rings, adding strength. After constructing the chain, I put
it in a vibrating tumbler with stainless steel shot. This does an
effective job de-burring, polishing (burnishing) and hardening the
links. You can use the less expensive carbon steel shot, but the
maintenance of carbon steel shot can be challenging… stainless is
no bother.

All the best,

Dave Sebaste
Sebaste Studio
Charlotte, NC (USA)

13 
    cutting jump rings with a razor

Charles discussed this right here in Ganoksin! The description and
illustration are at

If any Orchidians have tried it, please tell us about it, e.g., how
thick the wire can be, what the cut ends are like, does the process
distort the rings, etc.

Janet

14

Hi Dennis,

I don't know about a razor blade...I use a jeweler's saw to cut my
rings.

I’d think the razor blade idea might work with a little
experimentation on lighter gauge wire. However, to cut heavier gauge
wire, the Koil Kutter works well. There are Koil Kutter models for
Proxxon & Dremel motor tools as well as for Foredom #30 handpieces.

Dave

15

I always use an ultra thin separating disc on my flex shaft. The
kerf is minimal, the cut is smooth-- no jerking from sawing
motions-- and the coil easily held on a dowel, in pliers, etc.

Wax the disc and wear eye protection! These discs are fragile and
not cheap, but they get the job done beautifully.

Andy Cooperman

16

where can i get the Koil Kutter

17

The Koil Kutter is available from:

David D. Arens
Gemstones Etc.
3649 N. Pellegrino
Tucson, AZ 85749
gemstonesetc@gci-net.com

Cheers.
John Fetvedt
http://www.jef.com

18

I wanted to throw my $.02 (US) in on the subject of jump ring
cutters. There are two cutters that I know of - the Koil Kutter (by
Dave Arens) and the Jumpringer (by Ray Grossman). I own and use
both. I purchased the Koil Kutter (KK) initially because I did not
own a flexshaft (a requirement for the Jumpringer) and wanted to be
able to use my b&d rotary tool. It is also quite a bit cheaper than
the Jumpringer. If you do not have a flexshaft or a lot of money to
spend, it is a good place to start. However, if you have a flexshaft
and you plan on cutting on a regular basis, in production, large
sizes or different shapes, I recommend the Jumpringer. It is a much
more precise tool and is more verstile than the KK in that you can
purchase different coil holders for different shapes and the round
coil holder has sides for multiple sized rings. Much better with
larger rings than the KK. For production, I much prefer the
Jumpringer - I keep my KK on a rotary tool as a backup when I only
need to cut one or two coils and don’t want to change out my
flexshaft. If you have the money, though, in my opinion the
Jumpringer is the better tool.

Carrie Otterson

Note From Ganoksin Staff:
Looking for a rotary tool for your jewelry projects? We recommend:

19

Interestingly enough no-one has mantioned cutting the jumprings (by
saw) on the same mandrel they were formed on. This is a tip I learned
from David La Plantz years ago. Having formed the rings on a mandrel,
steel or brass (or for massive 18mm+mm dia ones, plastic rod) using
the same method as shown in Charles’ Ganoksin article. I have a slot
in one end which I use for sawing and a hole in the other end for
locating the wire, then mount the mandrel in a vice (US: vise) and
saw then through right on the mandrel.

Hold the top bunch of rings in a pinch grip and saw 5 or 6 at a time
putting the saw in the slot, then most importantly withdraw the saw.
The j-rings slide off the mandrel all in a bunch.

Bri
B r i a n A d a m
e y e g l a s s e s j e w e l l e r y
www.adam.co.nz

20

Hi Trevor

 Wrapping on an aluminum tube, locking the ends down in slots cut
in the ends of the tube and then taping the coil snugly with an
end-to-end overlapping wrap of masking or painter's tape is
sufficient to accomplish this

The only thing I would be concerned about here is the contamination
of aluminum in the silver filings. At least wood doweling can be
harmlessly burned off.

Karen Bahr “the Rocklady” (@Rocklady)
K.I.S. Creations
May your gems always sparkle.

21 
The only thing I would be concerned about here is the contamination
of aluminum in the silver filings.

Hello Karen,

Re: cutting on aluminium tubing vs doweling:

I can see where that could be a legitimate concern. Frankly my focus
has been on getting stuff made rather than scrap recycling issues. I
guess I’ve got a few things to learn there too … when the time
comes.

Might be interesting to try some serious hardwood dowels to see if
they offer the “stiffness” that the aluminium tubing has over the
average doweling.

Cheers,
Trevor F.

22

For some time I have seen references for Koil Kutter but have not
been able to find out where to order. The Orchid reference I saw
was in 1997 with a compuserve email address which I doubt is
current. Can anyone steer me to someone from whom I can order?

Eve Welts (@Eve_Welts1)
Certified PMC Instructor and sometimes chain maker.

23

Here is some about the Koil Kutter made by David Arens I
picked up over at Wet Canvas. Hope this helps, Mona

Dave Arens, Tucson

Here’s the tool list.

Gemstones Etc.
3649 N. Pellegrino Drive
Tucson AZ 85749
520-749-2413
E-mail:gemstonesetc@gci-net.com

Koil Kutter $69.95

A device to easily and safely cut coils of wire into rings. The
device attaches to any 1 in (25 mm) diameter flexshaft hand piece,
e.g. # 30 Foredom hand piece, or motor tool, e.g. Dremel (or similar)
or Proxxon. The device consists of a replaceable cutter blade mounted
on an arbor, a cutter guide, a coil holder, wrench & instructions.

Koil Mandrels $39.95

A set of 23 mandrels, 2-13 mm in 0.5 mm steps, for winding coils.
All mandrels have one end slotted for holding wire and will fit in a
3/8 in (9.5 mm) chuck.

Koil Winder $24.95

A manual winder that can be clamped to a work surface. It will
accommodate all the mandrels in the Koil Mandrel set.

Link Stretching Pliers $14.95

A pliers with an adjustable stop for stretching round, fused or
soldered rings into uniform length oblong rings. As a result of the
stretching all joints are also tested.

Chain Draw Plate $12.95

A corian draw plate with holes from 3-13 mm, used to draw handmade
chain to a uniform size.

Replacement Kutter Blade $9.95

1.25 inch diameter, 114 tooth high speed steel blade.

Solder Aid $3.50

Finger & hand grip for aiding squeezing solder from 3/4 in. diameter
(approx.) paste solder syringes. Includes clean out wires for 16 and
20 gauge needles.

Soldering Stand $3.00

A 4 =BD inch high metal stand to support link assemblies & chains
while soldering.

24

Hi Trevor You could use copper or brass tubing instead as they won’t
contaminate the same and especially with copper you can still reuse
your filings in water casting. That is what I do. Mix filing that I
have gone over with a magnet a couple of times with fresh casting
grain (I use fine to offset the extra copper that may be in my
filings) and melt and pour into a large bucket of cold water. My
students love seeing ways of reusing scrap and the funky shapes and
cups are great for decorating.

Karen Bahr “the Rocklady” (@Rocklady)
K.I.S. Creations
May your gems always sparkle.

25

Charles’ recent article in the Ganoksin Tips (#106) make me think
that a recent discovery of mine on this subject might be of general
interest.

My needs were to make a number of teeny little jump rings from .75 mm
wire with an inner diameter on the rings of 1 mm. In a case like this
wrapping with tape and such just gums things up and obscures the work
so I needed a different approach.

Extrapolating from recent suggestions in this thread here’s what I
did:

  • take a piece of brass riveting wire 1 mm dia., 6 inches long.

  • cut the wire in half and you’ve got two pieces about 3 inches long
    each.

  • chuck up 1/2 of the wire in a power drill and “turn” in down a bit
    with a standard bastard file. It helps to lay the wire flat against
    your bench or benchpin or whatever while your do this in order to
    support the wire. After about 20 seconds of flat-filing the wire at a
    modest rpm the wire was about .94 mm dia.

  • with the turned wire still in the drill, wind up a coil of the
    (annealed).75 mm wire. I did this by bending a small dog-leg in the
    wire and slipping that between the drill’s jaws in order to secure the
    wire for coiling.

  • slide the new coil off the turned wire and then onto the un-turned
    1/2 of the riveting wire. The point is that the coil made on the .94
    mm turned “mandrel” will be held quite snugly on the un-turned
    portion. Wiggle the coil down to one end of the wire so that the
    dogleg you made earlier is furthest from the end of the mandrel. This
    dogleg is going to be pretty handy while you’re sawing off your rings
    so you want it to be on the last ring of the coil that you’re going
    to saw through.

  • if you are having trouble moving the coil on the un-turned mandrel
    try rotating it counter to the coil’s twist direction, as if you
    might want to uncoil it. This will temporarily give you a bit of slack
    and the coil will be easier to move.

  • chuck the 1 mm wire + coil into a pin vise and then gently clamp
    that into your bench vise (copper jaws on the bench vise will be
    kinder on your pinvise than the standard steel jaws).

  • here’s the dogleg trick: while you’re cutting at least the first
    2/3 or 3/4 of the coil you can use the dogleg to tighten up the coil.
    Gently apply a little pressure on the dogleg with the thumb of your
    off-saw hand and you’ll see that it snugs down quite nicely and your
    sawing should be a little easier.

  • fwiw, I used a #8/0 blade in order to get a nice fine, clean cut
    that needed no further dressing before soldering up.

My thought was that this turned/un-turned mandrel trick would be
generally applicable to any small sized jump ring making process.
I’ve since used it for 1.5 mm inner dia jump rings made of 1 mm wire
and the process was equally successful.

Cheers,
Trevor F

26

Follow-up to

At the request of one of our members I’ve put together a web page
with a step-by-step pictorial of the process I described for making
and cutting very small jump rings. That page is now available at
http://www.touchmetal.com/smalljumprings.html

I hope that some of you will find it useful.

Cheers,
Trevor F

27

Thank you Trevor. As I work mostly alone, I love to see how other
people tackle routine tasks and the ideas that they bring to the
workplace. Thank you for sharing the My arthritic
hands will be grateful too. Ruth in the UK.

28

thanks trevor. it was great of you to take the time to put up that
page.

jocelyn
Jocelyn Broyles
Designer/President
www.jocelynbroyles.com
Costa Rica ph(011 506) 376.6417
U.S. fax (253) 669.1679

29

Use the jump ringer former and cutter. Rio carries one that works
great. It is called the “Round Jump Ringer System” they also have
mandrels in oval. Basic complete system order # 110-160. page 530 in
2006-7 tools catalog. ($275. and worth every bit).

Have fun, it is terrific for making masses and cutting of jump
rings.

Jennifer
Ventura, CA

30

Neels

Can anyone tell me if there are any "Low Tech" ways of mass
producing and cutting of jump rings?

I am positive this will make everyone in the group cringe due to
safety concerns, but I wrap my wire around a wooden dowel and use a
half inch round saw blade in a Fordom hand piece. If I have more than
a couple of inches, I wrap it in blue painting tape and cut it. So
far no damage to me and dowels are cheap. Also reduces the amount of
sanding as the cut is in the desired angle.

Terry