I am trying to make some silver tubing and having been following the
very useful advice given on this site in the past. I managed to make
my own drawplate out of a piece of hardwood and went down the drill
sizes in my general home drill kit. The difference between each bit
was 0.5mm and I am having problems drawing down from hole to hole. Is
this too big a size jump. I don’t like to use wax and it might
inhibit the solder flow once I get to that stage.
Thanks.
half a mm would not be as problematic if you’re dealing with say, 8
mm tubing. As the tubing gets smaller a half mm becomes a bigger
step, percentage wise.
Do you have a taper leading to the hole? Is it polished? Loupe the
hole and you might see tooling marks. To get rid of them reciprocate
your cutting/polishing tool while its turning at low speed. The idea
is to make the polishing lines NOT concentric with the hole. Think of
the way an automotive cylinder is honed to make a crosshatch pattern.
Each little groove is another source of friction. Your life will go
easier if you lubricate in some fashion, which can easily be cleaned
off before soldering. Anneal as required.
Georgie, you get my vote for the most intrepid Orchidian out there.
But your difficulties could be many things. My drawplates do go
in.5mm increments - there’s a .25 here and there. You need some big
stout pliers, if not official draw tongs. And you must use
lubrication - we use Vaseline. In tubing, it’s easy to draw it, until
the edges meet, and then it gets really, really hard to draw - it’s
like a 2mm wire, which is a lot to draw. I try to make it “perfect” -
so the edges meet at the size I want, then I give it one last pull,
for roundness. Trying to reduce the size IS difficult. Also, your
troubles could be related to the taper of the holes on the backside.
They need to be very smooth and even. I do congratulate you for
making a drawplate out of wood - realize that the forces involved
are extreme - it may have a fairly short life…
I must apologize - I replied to this before <above>- most of it
was (hopefully) useful. But I just pulled some wire, and my
recollection was wrong. It's a carbide drawplate from 2.8mm to
tiny, and the holes aren't.5 mm, they are.1mm steps - quite a
difference, and a couple are.05mm.
i would suggest going to a machinist locally and trying to get a
steel draw plate made, if you just want round or square tubing( some
can do triangular stock).Wood is very difficult to use in making
thick walled tubing (in particular ) or for drawing any large gauge
sheet down. thin gauges may be easier…26+, and in that case use
liquid or paste bur lube, wintergreen oil or any non-petroleum based
oil ( things like wd-40 will react with your pickle negatively) or
try mixing melted beeswax with a little almond oil, or coconut oil,
1:3 as your lubricant. sometimes pure ( unclarified with propolis
still in it,) or beeswax or bayberry waxes are too
sticky,particularly as the weather gets cooler and the ambient
temperature stays lower in your workspace.remember to anneal the
metal,if you want to stick with your home made drawplate, although
you can get an economy grade Indian/Pakistani plate for as little as
12-14.00 that work well enough to make tubing or draw wire down
/shape wire from findingking.com, Contenti,mosterslayer, or a myriad
of web sellers, or by mail from Jewelers Studio in the Woods ( email
me for their address if you want to go that route).I find wood draw
plates are better for hardening than drawing…hope that helps…
Hi Georgie,
I managed to make my own drawplate out of a piece of hardwood and went down the drill sizes in my general home drill kit. The difference between each bit was 0.5mm and I am having problems drawing down from hole to hole.
Typically drawplates to draw wire & tubing are made of tool steel.
It has more tensile strength than wood & can be finished to a
smoother finish that wood. The better drawplates will have a carbide
insert in each hole that when finished properly is smoother than
tool steel.
I’d suspect that a 1/2 mm difference in size between holes is too
great, especially at the smaller sizes. It may work at large sizes
over 13 mm with thin wall tubing, but if the tubing is smaller than
about 10 mm or has a thick wall you’d have problems. The typical
difference in size at the 3 mm size between holes in a steel
drawplate is 1/10 mm. When the size gets down to about 1 mm the size
difference is 1/20 mm.
Dave
if you do not like to use wax, try using a bar of Ivory soap, it
will also act as a lubricant, and when you want to remove the
residue, water will easily disolve it, the other part of your
question regarding the size incriments,
Perhaps if you countersunk the holes in your drawplate you’d have
better luck. It’s not that difficult to make a mild steel drawplate.
You will need to contersink and perhaps polish the insides of the
holes. It helps greatly if you use a drawbench. I use one
constructed from a boat wench that has been doing a great job for
over 15 years. Remember to leave yourself a long tongue or solder a
wire on that you can get a grip on to use as the “dog”.
J.M.Richardson
would suggest going to a machinist locally and trying to get a steel draw plate made, if you just want round or square tubing
Gesswein has a drawplate with 31 holes from 3mm to.5 mm for $39.95…
You can heat the tube and to pass it on, a natural candle. There is
not problem because with the heat of the torch, once finished the
process, the remainders of candle evaporate. If you still have
doubts, can heat and to put in sulphuric acid for a moment and then
to rinse.
Regards from Adriana in Santiago de Chile