Has anyone had any experience gluing diamonds? I’m thinking of
drilling a setting-hole into glass, then gluing a diamond into the
hole. I’m planning to use Devcon’s 30 minute epoxy, and clean up with
acetone. Any thoughts?? Thanks
Sydney Cash
@Sydney_Cash
It will look kinda crappy…
The glue, in contact with the back of the diamond will change the
optics of the stone, reducing it to the look of a gunky dirty
diamond such as one sees in jewelry that’s been worn for years with
never a cleaning, not a bright reflective one. If you could keep
the glue to only be in contact with the girdle, it would look
better, but this will be quite hard to do. I’d suggest setting the
diamond in a tube, in the normal bezel/tube setting manner, and
gluing the whole tube into the hole in your glass, keeping the
diamond free of any contact with glue. THAT will work just fine. If
the hole in the glass goes all the way through, it even allows you to
easily clean the diamond later. if it doesn’t, then be sure the
bezel /tube edge is burnished down really tight to the diamond,
sealing it well, and be sure the glue is also fully sealing the tube
in, without gaps. That way, perhaps dirt and grease, (etc) won’t get
behind the stone.
Also, be aware that the longer setting-time epoxies are stronger and
longer lasting, and tend to be more moisture resistant over time.
Devcon 2-ton is OK, but I prefer the “epoxy 220” or "epoxy 330"
types from Hughes. They’re made specifically for gems, metals, and
the like.
Peter
Careful I think the epoxy will YELLOW, thus the stone will look
yellow. Try a CZ first. You might like super glue better or even a
hotstick glue gun.
David Geller
I remember seeing a glued diamond ring in a store on Balboa Island.
There were 3 oval diamonds glued in a line, glued at the girdles long
ways and glued at the culets. I asked about it and learned a super
high tech epoxy was used, but he wouldn’t say which kind. The ring
was extremely expensive.
Jeffrey Everett
Sydney,
Adhesives do not hold as well on polished surfaces. The low surface
area, lack of mechanical bond (adhesive entering in and around nooks
and crannies) combined with differing rates of expansion and
contraction of diamond, adhesive and substrate will cause premature
failures on polished surfaces. Abraded surfaces offer much better
results. I doubt you want or are able to abrade the diamond’s
surface though.
In other circumstances air-abrasion (sand blasting with media other
than sand) works best. It is the least stress inducing method.
Sanding leaves many small scratches where stress tends to focus
initiating cracks. Air-abrasion creates a large increase in the
available surface area, and also creates peaks and valleys into
which the adhesive obtains an even better bond thru mechanical as
well as chemical methods.
I have more info about this on my website.
Happy Holidays,
Steve Green - Rough and Ready Gems www.briolettes.com
Gem briolettes and precision ultrasonic drilling