Lazer to adjust rings set with stones

Hello to you all

Has anyone heard of this lazer technique used to resize sterling
rings set with stones or pearls ?

Apparently, there is not risk of the stones cracking since there is
no heat.

I sell a lot of rings, and always feel bad when a customer really
loves a ring but it’s the wrong size !

Thanks for your precious advice

Lasers have been around for some time now, but they only recently
became useful on silver. You should look into the PUK spot welder
made in Germany.

The unit cost is far less than a laser and can do most everything
that a laser can. You can retip prongs around soft stones without
worry, and for resizing silver rings it’s a breeze.

Mark Gerrasch

While I do use the laser to size some high risk silver rings, I also
use the torch to do most of my silver sizings, even on rings with
Protecting the stones well, and getting in, flowing the
solder quickly, and getting the heat away ASAP, is usually what works
best for me.

Same technique as sizing any ring with a laser only higher power
than gold, platinum or just about any other metal. Do it all the
time.

Gary

I have been told lazers do not work well with silver as the silver
reflects the lazer beam. A puk welder might be better though I am not
sure.

David cruickshank:
jewellerydavidcruickshank.com.au

I have been told lazers do not work well with silver as the silver
reflects the lazer beam. A puk welder might be better though I am
not sure. 

Silver is the most reflective of the metals in the visible range.
pure gold is actually more reflective in the infra red, and pure
copper not far behind. All three of these are hard to weld with a
laser as a result. Silver, in addition, is also much more thermally
conductive, so it wicks the heat away (just like it does with a
torch).

The result is that laser welding silver takes considerably higher
power settings than do most of the other metals (very high karat gold
is almost as hard to weld, for the same reason.)

What that means is that in general, those older laser welders that
were lower in maximum power settings, had trouble welding silver. As
the technology has improved, even the cheaper table top welders are
being supplied with maximum power levels sufficient to weld silver.

Silver has one other problem in welding, which is shared by some of
the other metals too, and that is a tendancy for the welds to crack.
Some lasers deal with this more effectively than others. Those with
variable pulse shaping are better able to optimize their settings to
the needs of such problems, but all of the current lasers are
generally better at this than the machines of five or ten years ago.

Also, silver is not all silver. Standard sterling silver is harder
to weld well than fine silver. Fine silver takes more power, but
doesn’t have the cracking problems. Argentium silver laser welds
fairly easily, much more easily than standard sterling.

As to PUK welders, while they don’t have quite the sensativity to
the reflectivity of the metal, they’re certainly just as affected by
the thermal conductivity of the metal, so silver can take higher
power settings with a PUK too. And PUK welds on sterling might have
the same potential problems with weld cracks.

Peter Rowe

I do this task with a TIG welder. I have a Miller Dynasty 200DX. The
200 stands for 200amps max out put. This is far more energy out put
than the strongest lasers. In general three spot welds at 1/10 of a
second each will weld a 2mm thick gents silver ring. The welds
produced have full penetration, making it unnecessary to fill a "V"
joint. I use a butt joint that works just fine. TIG will allow for
stones to remain in the mounting. I will be the first to admit I
admire the ease at which a laser can do some tasks, but in this case
the laser is inefficient at this task. The PUK is under powered. I
am using 90 to 150 amps to make this weld. TIG is the best solution
at less cost than other welding methods. If silver is a large part
of your work you should look into TIG.

Please tell us more about jewelry and TIG welding! I’ve never heard
of anyone using these. I work in silver.

Joris