Judy -
Why not a cap/cover that could be snapped on over the collet end of the hand piece and protect the bur.
don’t know how you have your flexshaft set up, but mine hangs, and I
just let the whole thing dangle - I’ve never had a problem with
whatever’s attached to the Flexshaft getting damaged or hung up on
anything…
Ivy
I'd like to have a titanium grate for soldering. Right now I use little "L" shapes made of 16 gauge titanium, cut in 6mm widths. All the steel grates are huge heat sinks. Titanium doesn't absorb the heat and you can't accidentally solder to it. A fine grate would be especially nice for soldering argentium sterling.
I don’t know where people sell titanium grates or meshes.
McMaster-Carr sells “expanded sheet”, with 1/4" by 1/2" diamond
shaped holes. A square foot of that sheet will cost you $91.67 Part
Number: 9259K11
That might not be too useful for you. You could also get a solid
sheet: McMaster Carr:
12" by 12" by .035" 9051K12 $94.46
Reactive Metals is cheaper:
12" by 12" by 22 ga (.025"/0.635mm) $42.65
And then use a cnc mill to drill an array of holes in it.
Regards,
Sebastien Bailard
reprap.org - self-reproducing 3D printer project
I want a set drill bits that drill square holes!
yeah, but try this for a close second. Drill with round drills, then
use a die filer with small square needle file set on a short stroke.
The result tends to be slightly tapered, but you can get good square
holes with considerable ease. Much easier than hand filing. The
trick, of course, is either finding an old style die filer like the
swedish “diprofil”, or affording the new ultrasonic ones.
Peter
G’day Ray. If you care to spend a good deal of lolly you can get a
machine called a Spark Erosion Machine. With this you can
drill/erode polished holes in hardened steel of any shape and size
you like, and even turn corners in the hole! You use brass electrodes
of the shape you want, and the machine uses the brass to drill the
hole in metal clamped in a bath of kerosene. In Sheffield the Cutlery
dept of the British Iron And Steel Research Association demonstrated
the use of brass caststings of one half of a pair of scissors to make
a die in hard steel to stamp out many pairs in steel.
Another thing I saw was a large Hard Bastard file, brand new, with a
hole of the shape of a brass section of a complicated brass curtain
rail in which the piece of rail was a beautiful slide fit in the
hole in the file.
I left BISRA in 1957 to emigrate to NZ (never regretted it) and I
know the Association has been defunct many years now but the
technique is still in use
Cheers for now,
John Burgess; @John_Burgess2 of Mapua, Nelson NZ
Even more than that, I'd like to have weights to temporarily hold stuff in place while soldering. What I'm thinking of is something like you use when welding, only there you use magnets. If the weights were zirconia ceramic with a zigzag edge, they wouldn't draw too much heat, or the weight could have a loop of titanium that you positioned your soldering against.
What about using quilters’ “T” pins that are chrome plated, and just
pushing them into a block? I don’t know if solder will not flow on
them, because I’ve never had to use them right up to a solder joint.
Might try and give a report back to the Forum.
How about really inexpensive soldering boards that you can discard when they load up with glassy flux?
Or a soldering board that actually sheds the glassy flux when bathed in water?
I only use a charcoal soldering block on top of my soldering board
(solderite) usually. I use the compressed German blocks, with the
name PaNa, available from Rio Grande and a few other places. I use
separate ones for granulation (don’t use flux on that one at all)
and general soldering. When the glassy flux is impeding my work, I
take the block to a nice patch of cement, rub it across the cement
(cement and cinder blocks work too), and rub until I have a clean
surface. Oh yes, I wait until both front and back are glassy and do
both at the same time. Compressed charcoal blocks don’t need binding
wire to hold them together, can be sprayed down with water, and last
a very long time even with students abusing them. The only drawback
is that you can’t push pins in. You have to drill a hole in the block
itself. Has some advantages though, like that hole is going to be
there for a long time and your block isn’t going to fall apart. Try
'em, you’ll like 'em.
Hi John Burgess,
Would your etching process work for tapering pin stems, too? It
might overcome the problem with most of the other methods–that they
don’t work so well if you want to finish the stem after you’ve
constructed the piece.
Lisa Orlando
Albion, CA, US
Between John De Rosier’s clip idea and Judy Willingham’s tube
thingie I may have an answer that suits my working style ( Hibachi
Jeweler) Slit a section out of a hose or flexible pipe of correct
dimension lengthwise, making in essence a tube with a C cross
section, screw to underside of benchpin at an angle. Pop it in, pop
it out. Ah, late night tinkering later on I guess.
Thanks
alastair, a fast way to taper the end of a wire before you draw it
is to pass one end of it into your square rollers about 1/2". Do
this repeatedely until it is quite small and then anneal it. You
soon have enough wire to put thru a draw plate and grasp it from the
other side. Its quick and no metal waste.
Have fun.
Tom Arnold
I want a set drill bits that drill square holes!
What you need to look for is a floating chuck and a drill bit with
one less flute than the numbers of sides on the polygon you desire.
So for a square it would be a three sided drill bit. They are out
there, so happy hunting.
Now I need to find a glass hammer.
Between John De Rosier's clip idea and Judy Willingham's tube thingie I may have an answer that suits my working style
Neil, I was thinking about your question, and it seems to me that a
very simple solution would be to screw a section of PVC pipe to the
side of your bench where the handpiece can just dangle in it when
not in use. Just drop it in there when it has a delicate bit in
place, and nothing can knock or bump it. Doesn’t have to fit any
special way, probably take 5 minutes to set up, at most (more if you
have to go to the hardware store for the pipe).
Noel
Even more than that, I'd like to have weights to temporarily hold stuff in place while soldering.
You can make these pretty easily. In Charles L-B’s book “Cheap
Thrills in the Tool Shop”, he describes how to make solder weights.
I don’t remember exactly how he put it, it has been so long, but I
keep a couple on my bench. Start with a rectangular tin, such as
from Altoids or Band-aids. Drill a hole at one end, like at the
narrow end of the lid of the band-aids tin, and insert a piece of
steel wire heavy enough to stay straight. File a rounded point on
the wire and bend the last half-inch at right angles away from the
tin. I also bend the part inside the tin into a zig-zag so it won’t
rotate but will stay in one position in the tin. Then fill up the
tin with nuts and bolts, rusty tumbler shot, or something else with
some weight to it. To use it, you set it on its side so the weight
rests on the wire tip, and one edge of the tin. The wire tip acts
like a “finger” to hold parts in place while soldering. You can
adjust the amount of pressure by raising or lowering the base of the
tin with bricks or whatever.
If this is not clear, and you don’t have access to Charles’ book,
email me and I’ll snap a pic and send it.
Noel
Thanks to all that have responded! It will take awhile to digest
everything that was mentioned and to follow the previous threads as
well. Please note that we are not only open to receiving new ideas
but we are open to working with (and paying) people who invent and
build a prototype of a new product that we can market.
Michael M. McKinnon
Vice President
Whitney Worldwide
www.whitneyworld.com/jewelry
651-748-5000
I want a pair of parallel needle nosed pliers that have a skinny awl
on each jaw so that when I close them down they will flare the ends
of a 1mm sterling tube which has very little clearance for things
like hammers.
Some clever tool person - make one -eh?
Justine
Would your etching process work for tapering pin stems, too?
G’day; A fine taper is just that and I can see no reason why etching
(electro or chemical) would not work
Oh - and I don’t think I can claim much credit for this. To me it is
one of those things that come under the heading “Dang! why didn’t I
think of that?”
Cheers for now,
John Burgess; @John_Burgess2 of Mapua, Nelson NZ
Noel, Good idea, simple usually works well…
I was playing with the setup and for my way of working, which at
times is frenetic, I’d like something both simple and fast. I want
the handpiece within easy, ‘don’t have to look’, reach. An important
consideration for me is that because my bench is right there in view
of the client, I want to present a neat ‘surgical’ appearance. Which
of course totally goes against my absentminded, cluttered,
disorganized nature. This new location is challenge. So I will try
all the suggestions While we’re on the subject of dangling
flexshafts… My torch is next to the hanging shaft, I haven’t had a
burn in a few years but I’m probably about due. I wonder what people
do to safeguard their equipment?
A pin stem is fairly easy to taper because its something short, you
can manipulate it by turning in some fashion or other. A wire for
drawing is more cumbersome and you need a slower taper Try this, I
adapted the idea from bamboo flyrod making. Cut a groove in a
suitable block of hardwood. Lucite or similar would probably work
too. Use a stiff blade like a backsaw. Cut so that the groove is
deeper at the edge of the block and slowly gets shallower as you
approach the center. It should be parallel to the long side of the
block, close to the side edge. You could carefully chisel the sides
of the cut if you’re dealing with heavier gauge, or tilt your saw to
widen the groove. You are in essence creating a graduated V block.
Simply lay the wire in the groove after straightening and file away
rotating the wire between passes. Draw the file in line with and
toward the end of the wire and it won’t jump out of the groove. Move
the end of the wire from the deeper part to shallower as you go so
that only a small percentage of the wire is above the surface. Use a
big file. I like an 8 inch #2, cuts without grabbing.
Hi Gang,
Another possible solution for snap in/out holder for #30 handpieces
is a spring loaded broom holder. The type that’s sort of ‘C’ shaped
with both ends rolled up. It can be attached to the bench top with a
screw through the center of the ‘C’. The handpiece is then pressed
between the the ends of the ‘C’.
I haven’t looked for any of these, but home centers, hardware or
restoration stores may have them.
Dave
Even more than that, I'd like to have weights to temporarily hold stuff in place while soldering.
Here’s a way to make weight’s for soldering.
It requires some scrap steel & wire. I like to use a steel bar 3/8"
thick X 1/2" wide 1 1/2" long. For the wire I use 3/32" steel
welding rod. A piece of straight 12 or 14 ga steel wire will work as
well. If desired, titanium bicycle spokes will work. They have the
advantage of not adhering to solder.
Here’s how to make them.
Draw diagonals across the 3/8" x 1/2" end of the steel.
Mark the intersection of the diagonals with a punch.
Drill a 3/32" hole aprox 3/8" deep where the punch marks are. If
other than a 3/32" rod is used, drill a hole the diameter of the
wire.
Cut a piece of 3/32" welding rod/wire aprox 4" long.
Point 1 end of the rod/wire. See the pointing process below.
Depending on the application, the rod/wire may be left blunt or or
formed into any other shape. Pointing it reduces the amount of heat
transferred to it.
Remove any burrs from the other end of the rod/wire.
Insert the blunt end of the rod/wire into the hole in the piece
of steel. The rod/wire can be secured by soldering with soft solder,
Loctite or by pinching the hole with a blow from a hammer.
Grasp the pointed end 1" - 1 1/2" from the end with a pliers.
Form the pointed end 90 deg to length of the wire. When formed,
the point should be perpendicular to 1 1/2 x 1/2" side of the steel.
Pointing the rod/wire.
Point the rod/wire requires the use of a bench grinder & a variable
speed electric drill.
Secure the straight rod/wire in the chuck of the electric drill.
Start the grinder.
Hold the end of the wire along the side of the grinder wheel at a
very low angle.
While holding the rod/wire at this low angle, run the drill at a
slow speed.
Observe the tip of the rod/wire, when it gets the desired shape,
stop grinding. The tip will probably have turned blue, but for the
use to which it will be put this won’t hurt.
Remove the rod/wire from the drill chuck.
Here’s how to use the weight.
Assemble the items to be soldered.
Place the point of the weight on a part to be held. Position the
weight in a convenient location so it won’t interfere with the
soldering operation. If required, multiple weights may be used.
Apply firecoat, flux & solder.
Dave
Note From Ganoksin Staff:
Looking for a compact drill for your jewelry projects? We recommend:
- Reading our guide to the best compact drills for jewelry work here
- Searching for more discussions about compact drills here on the Orchid forum
Does anyone know where to get one of those little two ended metal
thing-a-ma-bobs you use to “punch” holes in a piece of metal instead
of drill it?
You apply pressure at either end (two different size holes) with a
threaded handle and it punches out your little 1/16" hole or whatever
size it is. It fits in the palm of your hand and consists of one flat
rectangle of metal and the two threaded handle things, one at each
end. These are great for kids, non-electrical situations and leave a
nice clean hole. Additionally mine never seemed to get
dull…unfortunately it seems to have left my tool box for parts
unknown.
Karen
Hi John,
In Sheffield the Cutlery dept of the British Iron And Steel Research Association demonstrated the use of brass caststings of one half of a pair of scissors to make a die in hard steel to stamp out many pairs in steel.
There are examples of this in the local museum. I understand that
the technique is now very common in die making. I have even seen
where an old fork has been used as the electrode to make a die to
produce replicas of an old pattern. At James Neil’s tools a new
design of spanner would be made by hand in copper and a die made
from that. Then, the first half dozen or so spanners struck from the
die would be in copper and would be put on one side to use as
electrodes in the future. There are very simple spark eroders about
which are designed to remove broken screws from car engines etc.
They work in a pretty uncontrolled manner by using the vibrations of
a solenoid to jab an electrode onto the offending part and then pull
it away - as the electrode breaks contact, the resulting spark eats
away at the metal.
Ian
Ian W. Wright
Sheffield UK