Dear All,
I have tried to draw a silver wire. When I hammering it and put it
into the rolling mill silver piece surface was cracked on a one
point. Then I put it into furner and hammering agene. When the peace
was smaller and smaller there were more cracks.
I think this was due to silver mantel. How I prepare better silver
mixer for draw a wire. If the silver piece is going to crack how I
make a good silver piece using the existing silver.
Thanks,
Indika Ranatunga.
Indika,
I have tried to draw a silver wire. When I hammering it and put it into the rolling mill silver piece surface was cracked on a one point. Then I put it into furner and hammering agene. When the peace was smaller and smaller there were more cracks.
I am trying to understand what it is you are doing. It sounds like
you are hammering your wire, which will make it very brittle, and
prone to cracking. As long as you anneal the wire often, ( heat it up
a a dull red glow and quench in water after it cools), you should
have it in it’s softest form, and easy to work with.
You can do a lot to metal, but periodic annealing is vital.
I hope that helps…
Jay Whaley
Hi there, when having problems with cracking wire I find it best to
sand or file out the cracks and then anneal the wire ( heat it to
dull red hot and let it cool), letting it cool to the temperature
where it can be touched safely, then make sure that you always send
the wire through the mill in the SAME direction. to help myself know
which side went through first I file a small point on the end that I
feed through the mill first. if you reversedirection on the wire …
you compress the molecules against each otherand cause them to crack.
Silver can be melted and reworked several times before it becomes “
old” and cracks a lot upon working, but this can be helpe d by adding
1/2 fresh metal to the old to refresh it and make it workable again.
When I use a drawplate to reduce wire or even a rolling mill i make a
rule to always re-anneal it after four or five rolls or draws. hope
this helps.
They are correct in saying it sounds like you need to anneal more
often or keep the metal hot before quenching. Another problem can be
contamination in the metal from the crucible. Every once in awhile
the crucible should be cleaned (heated until the slag can be poured
out) or just replaced. Be careful of fumes when melting scrap. Some
may contain older solder which can contain toxic metals. It would be
nice to know how you are going through the process.
Steve Ramsdell
Dear Steve,
They are correct in saying it sounds like you need to anneal more
often or keep the metal hot before quenching. Another problem can be
contamination in the metal from the crucible. Every once in awhile
the crucible should be cleaned (heated until the slag can be poured
out) or just replaced. Be careful of fumes when melting scrap. Some
may contain older solder which can contain toxic metals. It would be
nice to know how you are going through the process.
You asked the steps of my wire drawing procedure. I had explains it
step by step. Please correct me.
Fist I collect silver and then put into a crucible.
Then the crucible is covered by charcoal and heat silver(I do not
use any special cleaning methods only clean the crucible with a peace
of metal).
After it is melted pour it in to ingot and try to keep it as a
rectangle.
If It is not shape enough I hammer it to get the shape.
After hammering and get reduce to some extend (hammered three or
four times) and I heated it till it gets red and dip in to water and
hammer it to reduce the size.
When it reduces to a size where it can pass through the rolling mill
I stop hammering.
Then I pass through the rolling mill till it’s come to the size
where it can pass through the draw plate.
Then I draw a wire through the draw plate to get the exat size.
Thanks & Regards,
Indika Ranatunge.
Hello, Indika -
I am late in replying, maybe you have had a better resonse…
Wait until night to anneal this. In a totally dark room, ‘red’ hot
will be different than a bright room ‘red’ hot. When your eyes are
adjusted to the dark, you will see the first red of the annealing
process. In full daylight, or a bright-lit room, you won’t see the
annealing color. When you see the red-hot, it’s TOO LATE.
I think your process is OK, but when you see the color in regular
room lighting, it’s already way too hot.
I do much better annealing metals if I wait until nightfall and have
a very dim room.
best regard,
Kelley