and was thinking about buying the diamond and carbide tip. Again, I
was looking in Rio. I have also looked into the Badeco tips that
Frei & Borel sell which they state will fit a foredom. The tip for
the badeco does not seem to have the sharp point Rio has.
Different tips for different uses. The diamond point is a sharp
facetted shape. It’s used to give an overall glittery finish to a
surface, sometimes referred to as a laser finish (just a marketing
name, as lasers aren’t involved), or a diamond point finish. It’s
interesting in that as you chatter the point over a surface, because
the tip keeps it’s same alignment, each impact produces multiple
little reflective surfaces that end up being in the same plane, so
the whole surface of the work will have multiple angles at which it
reflects light from many of the impacts at once, which differs from
the general glittery/sparkly look of finished produced by things like
mizzy wheels or rotary diamond abrasive points. Carbide tipped
points might be either that same sort of facetted point used for a
finish, or might be flat or otherwise shaped points used in the
original purpose of use as a setting hammer. The carbide lasts
longer when setting very hard metals, like some white golds.
The Badeco tips, on the other hand, are mostly stone setting shapes.
Unlike the fordom standard tips, the badeco are quite carefully
hardened and tempered, and hold their shape very well. With the
Fordom tips, often they’re sold unhardened, with the assumption that
the user will shape them as desired and harden them. The badeco tips
are, frankly, my favorites. Some of the set are less useful for me,
but others may like them. There is, for example, a little cup shaped
point useful for shaping the end of a rivet, or perhaps more
strongly shaping a large bead in pave work on very hard white golds
(seems dangerous to me, but I’ve seen a few situations where it
actually needed to be used that way). And there are a couple
textured tips which can be used as a surface finish similar to the
background chasing tools called matting tools. Those too can be used
as setting hammer tips, but I’ve not personally found much use for
them that way. One big difference between the badeco tips and the
standard fordom ones is that with the badeco, the threads on the tips
are also tempered, and tougher. I’ve got a number of the cheaper,
standard fordom tips where the threads are getting worn, letting the
tip easily loosen in the handpiece. Never seen that happen to the
badeco tips…
While researching past threads on orchid, it seems like this is a
topic that comes up quite often. I thought I’d bring it up again
because I’m not satisfied with the info I’ve been able to find.
I recently purchased a foredom hammer handpiece H.15. I’m looking
for a general introduction and video demos to the uses of this tool.
Could anyone share their experience or point me in the direction to
where I can get some info? Wow…What are all the different hammer
tips used for? How does one go about safely using this tool to flush
mount setting and what Hammer tip is appropriate? Ok, which of the
not one but three “knurled rings” that is supposed to adjust the
hammering do you think the instructions are talking about?
Maybe I’m not in the right circles (occasionally taking local metals
classes and teaching myself through books and general fooling
around) but it sure seems like there are a lot of tools out there
that I wish I new more about. General tools that aren’t covered in
the “putting together your studio” in the intro of almost every
metals book I own. I’d probably own more of these my sterious tools
if I could see what they could do… Hello Foredom.
First thing I would say about the hammer hand piece is that is
designed to be used at lower speeds and therefore you really should
use it on the foredom LX or some similar high-torque/low speed motor.
That being said, you can use it with the high speed motors, but it
has the potential to overheat if used above the 5000 rpm of the LX
motor it was designed for and will not have the impact of the low
torque motor.
Concerning flush setting, or gypsy setting, the hammer is not used.
Rather the stone is burnished into place after carefully cutting a
seat that the stone will literally snap into. (check the archives for
discussions on flush or gypsy setting). You can hammer stones in but
this not the best procedure for this type of setting.
The impact adjustment ring is approximately mid way up the handle
and will turn to adjust the hammer impact. You can feel the
difference by placing the hammer tip on your finger and running it in
different positions of the ring. Turn it one way for more impact the
other way for less. Looking at the picture I would say this would be
the silver ring that turns easily. I don’t use this specific hand
piece, mine are much older models, by about 20 years.
The variety of hammer tips can be used to texture, hammer, set
stones in bezels, channels and prongs. If you have more than one tip
you can shape them on a grinder to fit your needs.
You have purchased a great tool, I have two of them one for backup,
it will last you years and allow you to do a great number of things.
As with any tool there is a learning curve so be patient and practice
with it to see what it will do and how you can make it suit your
needs. Best if luck. Frank Goss
calling or contacting foredom (Mike Zagielski) is the best way to
get the user manual that should be at least read. .he may be
contacted through email too and asked if he can put you in touch with
their technical support team that can send you or instruct you in
non-warranty voiding ways to make adjustments to which ring.
I have foredom and badeco and a Pfingst hammer handpieces- I like
the Foredom over the others, but the motor you are using it with has
a lot to do with the results you get- the higher the torque at a
lower speed the better, so if you have more than one pendant motor
or flexshaft to choose from you may want to go with the one you have
learned to use/control best choosing a lower speed and the ability to
use the foot pedal or a rheostat to get the finest control over the
unit.
Shaping the tips is important to get the result you want from the
operation you need for each piece- if you are doing flush setting
you don’t want a pointed or beveled tip as it comes from the vendor.
However, diamond tips are not to be reshaped and are not for that
operation, so if you bought one save it for decoration like
illusion setting or removing mistakes, like smoothing out a hole or
inverting a divot accidentally made by, for instance, the tip
skipping over an area of metal. I think it’s wise to have a few of
the carbon steel tips on hand- some pre-shaped if you make similar
settings frequently or do a lot of them as for a production run of
one design. Marking the angle of force you want when setting the
pre-shaped tip is also helpful to get consistent results ( provided
you remove or change them in a handpiece) with something like a
bright enamel paint pen or paint intended for model making ( Testor’s
brand or an equivalent). It is better than putting a groove or
otherwise incising anything into the tip that runs the length to the
area that will fit into the collet. The carbon steel ones wear down
with the repeated motion somewhat and invariably, even though they
are hardened, seem to shrink- which I believe is simply from
friction over time and generally happens faster if run at too high a
speed.
Working with the handpiece on practice material is a good idea until
you learn how to use it with your equipment and your own hand. Some
people bear down on the handpiece while others hold it rather
lightly letting the hand’s grip guide the force where it is needed.
.Use good magnification and perhaps teach yourself to guide it rather
than trying to “push” the tip where you want it to go is my best
advice. Use a metal with similar qualities as the setting material
will be ( for instance don’t use soft copper for practice unless you
are going to use 22kt yellow or a coloured gold that has no nickel in
the alloy, Don’t use nickel/ german silver unless you are going to
work in white gold). Again shape the tip- use whatever tools
necessary to do it right or you will wind up grinding it down to a
small bit unnecessarily- an angle finder, good measuring tools, and
even making an impression of the setting in it’s unfinished state and
using that as a guide to find your angles are all viable methods to
get a good result with minimal shortening of the anvils. .Hope this
helps, . … .rer
Thanks folks for taking the time to give me some info about this
tool. I’ve got a message out to foredom.
Meanwhile, would you know how I would use the tool to flush mount?
Currently, I undercut with a 90 degree hart but, slip in the stone
and burnish the metal around the edge of the stone by hand. What
shape tip should be used for this type of setting?