I needed a small piece of 3.5 mm square Sterling Silver wire with sharp edges to make a cross. I didn’t want to buy it and 3.5 mm is larger than the largest hole in my square draw plate. I normally just run round wire through the square grooves on my rolling mill, but that leaves rounded edges. I melted a quantity of clean scrap and poured the largest round ingot that my mold will make. After forging it all around into a rough square shape, I annealed it and then rolled it down to about 4 mm square in the square grooves in my rolling mill. I annealed again and then set the flat rollers to 4 mm and started rolling in small increments. I made sure to roll once and then rotate the square 90 degrees so that it was rolled at the same setting in both orientations. By slowly reducing the opening and annealing, I was able to get to 3.5 mm kind of square. It was a bit trapezoidal in shape. I went back to the square grooves and, without a lot of pressure, was able to reshape the wire so that it was square and not trapezoidal. It finished at 3.45 mm square. Now to make it into a cross. Lots of fun…Rob
Rob… Can you roll it out or cast it slightly large then sand it flat to size with your sanding disc in the drill press?..D
I use a 220 belt on a wet lapidary expansion wheel. You can also use rubber abrasive wheels and abrasive paper in different grits laid flat or on an arbor…Rob
Sanding disc on a drill press. Dazed and confused on that one. How, why and help with this idea. Please more information
With a rigid sanding disk in a drill press the disk should be parallel to the table, thus ensuring parallel sides of the finished wire.
At least, that’s the idea.
Holding anything that is small, flat against a sanding disc, would be a challenge. In the lapidary world we attach the piece of lapidary material to a dop stick. I might try a belt sander. I have peeled the end off several fingers trying to do this without some kind of holding device. Someone suggested yesterday, on another discussion board, to use a sticky eraser to hold the piece down against the abrasive. The challenge is figuring out how to get the piece off the abrasive disc, belt or whatever, if it is powered in some way, without the piece flying across your shop. We play a dangerous sport…Rob
It seems to me the easiest way is to just get your hands on a square draw plate and draw it down to the size you need.
Look at the original post. I have a square draw plate, it just wasn’t big enough for what I needed…Rob
Rob please post images of the cross when you have made it.
I so wish I had a rolling mill1
Cheers
Willie
Willie…Following should be a link to pictures of four heavy crosses made from square wire…Rob
The first and fourth may be the same cross photographed in different light. I made an identical pair several years ago…Rob
Oops! My bad.
No problem…Rob
They are beautiful Rob! Thank you for posting them - what size are they ?
Thanks for liking them. I don’t really remember how long they are, probably 1” - 1.5” high…Rob
I just found one of the pounded crosses. It is 2” long. I usually line the cross bar up so that the midline of the bar is 1/3 of the way down the length with each side bar and the top bar the same length. In reality, I assemble the entire cross with all arms a bit longer than the desired finished dimension and then cut them down after they are soldered. This is a bit touchie and a time to break out the dividers…Rob
I am glad to see that I am not the only Meixner with troubles making crosses. I make 90% of the crosses I sell out of 2.5mm square wire. I have a file with what amounts to a 2.25mm thickness. I file a notch half way through in two pieces of the of the metal. I am just sloppy enough that this gives a tight fit when I press the two together. Then it is cut the pieces to the right length which has it’s own difficulties. Solder on a bale. Treat the surfaces for the finishes I want and tumble until I am happy.
Don
I once tried to cut a cross out of fairly thick sheet silver. Because I have astigmatism I finished up having three goes at getting every thing straight and squared up! It was a very basic straight sided cross too! The perils of being an Auntie who does jewellery making!
Rob do you use a mitre vise jig to square off the arms?