Diamond bead reamer problems

Jewelry Discussion
1

Hello all,

Recently I have added beads to some of my necklace designs and
thought that the diamond bead reamer set from Rio grande would be a
useful item to have as some of my beads are too small for the silver
wire I want to use. So having bought a set I started to use the
thinnest point and had it break within the first three minutes of
use. I was using water as a lubricant as the instructions say
but… Do any of you know how to prevent this in the future or
is it a usual thing? I was using it on a antique glass bead which had
a hole only slightly smaller than I needed.

Thanks for any help you can give.

And special thank you to Hanaman and his untiring efforts to keep
this wonderful forum alive and blooming.

Sharron in Saigon on a lazy Sunday.

2

Sharron,

I do mostly bead work and use a flex-shaft tool with a fine diamond
bit as a bead reamer. I spent more money replacing reamers than my
flex-shaft from Harbor Freight cost me (around $50.00 last year).
Using water as coolant/lubricant go very carefully and slowly
drilling from one end than from the other. Too much speed too soon
will cause the beads to shatter.

Good Luck,

Vera Battemarco