How to carve 14 gauge silver sheet

I was assuming he was hand-cutting based on the earlier messages.

I’m going to sacrifice some of my 14 ga sheet on the altar of experimentation. If it doesn’t work, into the crucible it goes, to reborn pure and smooth, free of the twisted marks of failure.

Yes! I love his work and his teaching.

Does anyone know a way of holding your work that’s an improvement over the basic: left hand thumb and fingers supported on the bench pin?
I’ve seen 5 lb engraver’s blocks for sale new for C$150 and wondered if they’d be stable enough to allow both hands to hold a flex shaft handpiece for detailed work and also heavier grinding.

hi,
re: engraving ball vises, here is a short video on ball vises from grs, which might give you an idea of scale, weight, etc for your reference.

i have the standard ball, it is around 19lbs, and feels very solid.

i recently purchased the micro ball, for working under the microscope. it is 4lbs, much smaller base, shorter in height, and easy to move around while still staying within view

i might have liked the weight/ feel of the micro xl better…which is s little heavier at around 7lbs, but the wider base looked like it might tilt less…?

re: using both hands for the flex shaft, i was wondering what you meant by that…?

you would still be using your left hand to hold onto the ball and manipulate it…

juiie

hi,
i take that back, you dont have to hold onto the ball…you can lock it down…i usually brace my right hand (flex shaft) with my left hand…fingers kinda touching…and braced on ball…if that makes sense…

julie

There is a Silversmith in the UK called Paul Wells who scores and bends sheet metal. He will be exhibiting at Goldsmiths Fair and you can access his information from their website. It may inspire a way of executing your designs…

I just looked at Paul Wells’ website, pretty amazing…Rob

hi,

consider using Thermo loc

julie

I bought a MicroBlock 3 inch ball from China on Ebay (4.5 lbs) some months back and it has worked out fine the few times I have used it. There was lots written about folks taking them apart to fix them so that they spun smoothly, etc., but mine worked fine out of the box, spins like a top, etc. Comes with a 30 pc kit of jaws and attachments. -royjohn

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Hi Roy John,
Have you ever let it stand-alone: no hands stabilizing it while you apply a tool of any kind with both hands?

To bbbsimon regarding PMC:
could you estimate the relative cost of buying a kiln such as Rio’s US$1000 one and the high cost of fine silver PMC versus sending waxes to a casting house, including shipping, etc?

hi,

i had an idea!

take a look at youtube- search hammer and chisel engraving, to see larger balls being used.

julie

Hello JohnK,
I hadn’t ever done that before, but I just walked down to my basement shop and tried it. Here’s the thing. The ball is meant to swivel easily on the white plastic (delrin?) ring with which it is supplied. If you push tangentially to the radius of the ball, it moves quite easily. If you exert pressure downward thru the center of the ball, it doesn’t move. I put a piece of cloth between the plastic ring and the ball and between the base of the plastic ring and my bench pin and that make it harder to move the ball, but it still does move when pushed tangentially. You could doubtless use something even rougher than the cotton cloth I used or clamp the ball down so that it didn’t move, but I think you would be using the ball for something it isn’t designed for. It is designed to move easily as you use your various prong pushers, graves, air gravers, etc. In fact, the scrolls you can make with the air graver depend on the ball swiveling and being propped at the proper angle.

As I say, if you are working with pressure radially into the ball, I think you could apply a decent amount of pressure without the ball moving, but you’d probably have a minor catastrophe if it did decide to move or if you slip. If you want something like the jaws of the engraving ball, you can get a $12 “universal work holder” which has a weighted base or will clamp into your bench vise. This item has the same pins as the engraving ball and if you have the ball, any of the little jaws in the engraving ball set would also fit. -royjohn

hi,

the engraving ball has two hex key screw adjustments

one screw opens/ closes the vise jaws/ clamping action

the other screw is used to adjust the rotation/ spin of the top half of the ball…when loosened the ball spins freely…as it is tightened the drag is increased until the ball no longer spins

the bottom half of the ball is weighted

the ball vise sits on a rubber or leather ring, which allows for tilting the ball…

my rubber base is like a rubber lawn mower tire…one side has round hard plastic discs… this side tilts/ rotates more easily

the other side is just rubber, so there is more friction and requires more effort to tilt

the weight of the ball is also factor in its stability

julie

hi royjohn,

my grs micro ball came with a hard plastic base, and i felt that it tilted a bit “too” easily…like you, i tried a few things and finally settled on stretching two rubber gloves over the base as a temporary soltution🤣

(i saw in a video that the micro XL ball indeed came with a rubber base…instead of hard plastic like the micro…not sure why the different bases…)

i inquired at grs, and found that they offer a rubber base for that size ball, which provides a bit more friction on the tilt (in case you are interested)

I find that if i call the fabulous people at grs, they are often able to identify pieces and parts more easily than scouring their website…

julie

Hi Royjohn, thank you for taking the time and trouble to experiment… and for the clear explanation of the results!

Hi JohnK,
Glad to be of some help…I never thought about using the ball with two hands on the tool and I think it really is not for that kind of use, while a cement stick in a vise or the universal work holder I referenced would work better for that application. However, I was surprised at how easily the ball moved on the white plastic base and I couldn’t find a cheap rubber base to use with it…I think I will look for a small toy truck tire or similar that could do the same thing…make the ball a little more resistant to movement…the cloth on the plastic base did work pretty well, tho’ -royjohn