Hi All, I've been trying out Jet Set (sold by Rio Grande) which is a new plastic for holding jewelry while setting. Unlike the setting wax (Diamond cement) it do not dull drills. That is great but the problem is I can get most of the stuff out with the sonic and the steamer but there is still residue left in the hole behind the diamonds. This is really annoying. Any got any solutions?"
Dear Jim, On rare occasion this situation has come up. When I came
up with the Jett Sett fixturing system I was making it for myself
with no thought of selling it to anybody else. I was just tired of
having my pieces breaking out of the shellac, flying across the room,
and then pulling my gravers out of my left hand. I modified the
formula to match the way that I did my work and the way that I did
pave to give me specific properties. I wanted the Jett Sett material
to be hard, shock resistant (unbreakable), non shock absorbing (not
bouncy), reusable, easy to work with, non-toxic, comparatively
inexpensive, etc… I had been using it for several years before I
was actually encouraged to sell it. I think it is pretty good stuff
and of course I am a little prejudice. It suited me. Since I got my
utility patent many years ago there have been some companies that
have started selling similar products even though they are clear
patent violations, but that is another story. The good side of this
is that because of the popularity and press that Jett Sett has
gotten, many people have become aware of a safer and often better way
to do many of their tasks even if it has been with the materials from
companies that are violations of my patent. While not the perfect
solution to all setting situations, it is certainly better than many
options.
With all this said, it sounds like you are setting in a plate doing
pave or flat plate setting. I would never suggest that anyone change
the method of setting that they have learned for the sake of a
fixturing material but this same issue is one that may also help with
cleaning issues later by your customer. When you are cleaning out
the hole that will eventually be the seat for your stone, the shape
and size of the hole underneath the stone are very important issues.
If your hole is too small, dirt and oils can more easily collect
between the stone pavilion and the seat and give the stone a poor
appearance. If the hole is too large, then it obviously makes
setting the stone securely difficult if not impossible. The thinness
of the plate, the type of metal, and the depth and shape of the
stone dictate many things in your setting. I try to organize things
so that when I am setting a pave plate, I can use a drill bit or ball
burr that is at least 75% of my stone girdle diameter to pass the
hole completely through the plate. After that I tend to switch to
bud burrs rather than cone burrs to take the hole to just slightly
less than the diameter of the stone. Then I use hart burrs to
complete the seats, etc… I choose bud burrs because of the
rounded shape as compared to the cone burr. The bud burr shape
leaves a space that is easier to clean later because it does not so
closely mimic the shape of the stone pavilion, for diamonds anyway.
Now in the case of Jett Sett sticking into those gaps, the smaller
and closer the space shape is to the shape of the stone, the more
difficult it will be to remove or clean. So here are two methods
that you can use that will work in different situations. Keep in
mind that Jett Sett is not soluble in water and resist most
chemicals, by design.
-
Put your jewelry item into the water that is in the heating pot
that you use for the Jett Sett material. Take another piece of Jett
Sett that you have previously made into a mass and heat it up as
well. When sufficiently warm, remove both from the water and use the
Jett Sett mass in a manner that is similar to taking lint off a
sweater using tape, to stick to the the trapped Jett Sett and pull it
out. If this fails, go to method (2). -
Jett Sett is soluble in a solvent that is commonly available to
the jewelry business called “Attack”. After soaking in Attack,
rinse, steam, and clean as usual. I always offer this as a last
resort because one of the main goals of using Jett Sett is to refrain
from the use of chemicals.
That is a long answer to a seemingly simple question but I thought
it was worth saying.
Best Regards,
J. Tyler Teague
JETT Research
(Jewelry Engineering, Training, & Technology)