Production Jump Rings

Jewelry Discussion
1

I’ve been making jump rings using the Jump Ringer System & a Foredom
Series S with flex shaft and foot control. I want to automate the
winding process and use the longer mandrels & coil holder.

Is it possible to use the Foredom to coil the wire (rather than the
drill setup shown in the RG catalogue)? What
attachment/skills/knowledge would I need? Any related suggestions
would also be appreciated.

Can 12" metal knitting needles (ends cut off) be used as mandrels in
the long coil holders?

Marilyn

Gardiner Design
53-365 Bennington Gate
Waterloo ON N2T 2L1
Tel: (519) 747-2479

2 
    I've been making jump rings using the Jump Ringer System & a
Foredom Series S with flex shaft and foot control. I want to
automate the winding process and use the longer mandrels & coil
holder. Is it possible to use the Foredom to coil the wire (rather
than the drill setup shown in the RG catalogue)? What
attachment/skills/knowledge would I need?

Yes, without any other attachments you can use your Foredom to wind
your coils provided the mandrels you use will fit into the chuck in
the hand piece AND the wire you use is not so thick that it stalls
the Foredom’s motor. If either of these conditions prevents your
using your Foredom, you could use our Drill Stand which is in the
Jump Ringer section of Rio’s tools catalog. In order to use it, you
will need a 120 volt (not a battery operated) electric drill. If you
already own one, use it. If not I suggest you buy one with a 1/2"
(12mm) chuck. The Jump Ringer Drill Stand comes with instructions
for its efficient use. Whichever you use, start the winding at a
slow speed and, after it’s winding smoothly, increase the speed to a
comfortable level.

Can 12" metal knitting needles (ends cut off) be used as mandrels
in the long coil holders?

Yes, the Long Coil Holder will accept coils up to 15" long. You can
use 12" knitting needles for winding or our 16 piece Long Mandrel
Set which contains graduated diameters from 1.5mm to just under 1/2"
in 15" lengths. If you have any other questions, please let me know.

Ray Grossman

3

Over the years I have experimented with many methods opf making jump
rings. One of the things that has been mentioned was the use of
knitting needles. I have a complete set of them that I rarely use
anymore. They work very well except that when you use a cutoff disk
in cutting there is a tendency for the cut to be too deep and you
wind up mauling the needle.

Nowadays I use wooden rods. They are readily available in the
smaller sizes as skewers for barbecuing.and the larger sizes may be
had at lumber yards or hardware stores. You start your winding by
drilling a hole through the side of the rod and inserting the wire
through the hole. You can then wind by hand or insert the rod in the
chuck of a stationary drill. The best machine is a small variable
speed drill press. It is best to wear a pair a gloves as you feed
the wire onto the rotating rod. The length of the rod is determined
by the guage of the wire and the diameter of the rod. Otherwise when
you get toward the end of the wind there may be too much flexing of
the rod, especially if you are using a heavier guage of wire and are
pulling against the rod for a tight wind. The beauty of using the
wooden rod is that when you cut the rings you can cut all the way
through without worrying about damaging the rod…after several
uses it can be thrown away without worrying about the very
negligible cost. The best wheel to use is probably a 3/4 inch
carborundum. Aluminum oxide wheels don’t cut as effectively.

Be sure to wind at a controlled slow speed and do wear goggles or
safety glasses throughout the procedures. Cut off disks are
especially dangerous inasmuch as they can break and become
projectiles that can severely damage your eyes.

Ron Mills, Mills Gem Co. Los Osos, Ca.

1 Like
4

The original question concerned the winding of coils as the first
step in producing jump rings. It has been my experience that the
mandrels should be metal and not wood for the following reasons:

  1. Steel rods are available in far more size increments than wood
    dowels and skewers so that the exact size needed may easily be
    selected.

  2. Metal rods are stiffer than wooden ones so winding is easier.

  3. If coils are wound on the metal rods and cut on wooden dowels
    the metal rods will last indefinitely.

  4. Steel rods are manufactured to far tighter tolerances than
    wooden dowels. The jump rings you produce today will be the exact
    size you need and exactly the same diameter as those you wind on
    the same mandrel 10 years from now.

We looked at cutting coils with separating disks many years ago. The
drawbacks that Ron Mills points out are the very reasons I developed
the Jump Ringer.

  1. If the instructions are followed, the Jump Ringer is perfectly
    safe to use because the spinning blade is totally enclosed in an
    aluminum housing to protect eyes and fingers.

  2. The cut is absolutely straight whereas using a separating disk
    freehand can be quite tricky resulting in some wasted wire and,
    more importantly, wasted fingers and eyes.

  3. Constant replacement of shattered separating disks is time
    consuming.

Ron is right about the limitation of the length of the winding rod
especially when using heavier gauge wire on small diameter rods. We
have solved this problem with our Jump Ringer Drill Stand. The stand
simply screws or “C” clamps to the work bench and secures any
portable electric drill in a horizontal position. The drill must be
a corded one, not battery operated. We suggest one with a 1/2"
(12mm) chuck although a 3/8" one will do. The drill is securely
clamped in the stand, its trigger is locked in the “On” position and
it is plugged into your Foredom foot control. Now you have complete
control of the speed of the mandrel with your foot and still have
two free hands - one to control the wire feeding onto the mandrel
and the other to control the flexing of the winding mandrel. The
winding should begin at a slow speed. Once you see that it’s going
well, you can speed it up to quite a rapid rate. Our Long Jump
Ringer Coil Holder (also known as the High Production Coil Holder)
and standard Guard/Guide will make quick work of perfectly cutting
up to a 15" long coil in complete safety.

Ray Grossman

5

One means of producing longer coils from which to make jump rings is
to Use “music wire” as the mandrel. Music wire is available in most
hardware Stores and comes in four foot lengths in a great variety of
diameters. The Music wire can be mounted in an inexpensive variable
speed electric drill. If the drill is plugged into the foot control
from a foredom, the rotational Speed of the drill can be
convemniently controlled and both hands are left Free to handle the
wire being coiled. The long coils can then be cut to fit The longer
coil holder.

i hope this is of help.
Howard Siegel, chainmaker

6

I saw a winder a client brought in it had a hollow Chuck she just
slid the coil to the back and continued making the coil.

I did make this using a 3/8 keyless chuck The whole thing cost around
$80.00

Trouble today is jewelers would rather spend 4 days making this than
buy one for $80.00.

Regards
Kenneth Singh
karat46@aol.com

7

Hi Kenneth,

   I saw a winder a client brought in it had a hollow Chuck she
just slid the coil to the back and continued making the coil. I did
make this using a 3/8 keyless chuck The whole thing cost around
$80.00

Saw your post on Orchid.

If you’re interested in making these on a production basis, Shars
Tool Co. at the following address has both 3/8 & 1/2" Chinese made
hand tightened chucks at a good price ($8.50). The 1/2" are
available with both a 1/2" - 20 & a 3/8" - 24 thread… In my
experience Shars is a good co. do business with.

Shars  Tool Company
1720A Wallace Ave
St Charles Il 60174

800-718-3544
630-443-6822
FAX 630-443-6823
www.shars.com
email: sharstool@aol.com

Dave Arens

8

After many different set-ups, I purchased the High Production Jump
Ringer set and I have to say that it saves me oh so much time and
effort. I wind 14" coils consistently and accurately, even on 1mm
mandrels (I purchased a couple of smaller sizes of drill rod for the
smaller sizes I needed that the JR set didn’t provide). Having my
hands freed up is invaluable to having perfect coils. As far as the
cutter, I haven’t had to replece the blade yet, after a year of
cutting. It still cuts like butter. :slight_smile: Another caveat to wood dowels

  • depending on the amount of pressure you exert as you coil, your
    rings can come out with varying ID’s because the wood is soft and the
    metal cuts into it. I’ve also used many that had slightly flat spots
    in different areas that I didn’t notice until after I’d used them to
    form something, which subsequently came out slightly off-shape.

I’m really looking forward to purchasing the different shaped
mandrels and holder in the near future.

A satisfied JR customer,

Carrie Otterson

1 Like
9

I buy my jump rings pre-made from Rio Grande however I noticed many
of you conversing about making your own. Do you find this is that
much more cost effective? And if so are they easy to make? Do you saw
them open…which can take forever…or do you use a special tool?

Laura

10

Perfect jump rings are made easily, consistently, safely and quickly
in any quantity. Any one can do it using our Standard Jump Ringer or
High Production Jump Ringer.

Whether it pays to make your jump rings or to purchase them ready
made is solely dependent upon the quantity you use. I suggest that
the next time you receive a shipment of them you weigh them and
calculate their cost per oz., dwt or gram. Then check with your
supplier for the cost of the same weight of the same diameter wire
in the same metal. Compare the two and the answer will be obvious.

Ray Grossman

1 Like
11

If you make a lot of jump rings, most folks use either the Koil
Kutter (which Dave Arens on this list makes and which I’m going to be
buying as soon as I can scrounge up the money) or the Jump Ringer
which people have been talking about in this thread, and which is
quite expensive.

The Koil Kutter is much more economical and many people like it
better than the Jump Ringer. Some people prefer the Jump Ringer and
apparently have the extra money to spend. Look back in the Archives
for past discussions on the pros and cons of each system, there was
an extensive conversation on this pretty recently.

Sojourner

12 
If you make a lot of jump rings, most folks use either the Koil
Kutter (which Dave Arens on this list makes and which I'm going to
be buying as soon as I can scrounge up the money) or the Jump
Ringer which people have been talking about in this thread, and
which is quite expensive. 

The Koil Kutter is much more economical and many people like it
better than the Jump Ringer. Some people prefer the Jump Ringer
and apparently have the extra money to spend. Look back in the
Archives for past discussions on the pros and cons of each system,
there was an extensive conversation on this pretty recently.

I must reply to the above. What follows is the knowledge gained in
53 years of experience in one phase or another of the jewelry
manufacturing trade. I am addressing this to Sojourner and to all
others who might think as he does. Absolutely no malice is intended.
It is merely an effort to advise.

Cheap is expensive.

If you make or intend to make your living in a manual trade, use the
best tools you can find for each task. You get what you pay for.
When you use cheap tools, you pay for them many times over. Your
additional costs occur in one or more of the following ways: lost
productivity, shorter useful tool life, poorer quality of product
and the loss of the simple pleasure of working with high quality
implements.

Sojourner writes that he will buy the “Koil Kutter” as soon as he
can “scrounge up the money”. To him I say that if your goal is to
have to scrounge up the money to buy cheap tools for the rest of
your life, you are right on target. If however, you want to be
successful, wait a little longer to buy quality. Pretty soon you
will be able to afford quality without the need to compromise or
wait.

Ray Grossman

1 Like
13

What about this jump ring maker on Shor International?

Is it the same as the Jump Ringer System that is being discussed?

Ardetta in Michigan

14

What about this jump ring maker on Shor International?
http://shorinternational.com/JumpRing.htm

I’ve used the Jump Ringer for nearly two years and can’t imagine
what I did without it. I second the idea of affording the best tools
that you can buy for lasting quality work and ease of use.

Ardetta - I’m afraid the link you show looks like a shoddy knock off
of Mr. Grossmans wonderful tool. I wonder how it will hold up to
constant use over a period of time? I hope Mr. Grossman has a patent
out on his tool and will avail himself of the powers that come with
that patent.

sadie
(www.sadiesjewels.com)

15

All,

I agree wholeheartedly with Ray’s sentiment that “cheap” tools are a
bad thing. I always buy the best tools I can afford that are suited
to the job at hand. Using a well designed, well made tool is part of
the joy I get from working with my hands. I even enjoy the time it
takes to maintain a well made tool because I can appreciate the tool
for itself during maintenance and see how it connects to the joy of
using it. Anyone who has ever sharpened a chisel on a stone and felt
the vacuum of the perfectly flat back holding the stone and chisel
together and thought “Wow, I can’t wait to make my first cut with
this…it will be a delight” will understand what I’m talking about.

Where I disagree with Ray has to do with the implication in his
message that economical or less expensive equals cheap. I own both
the Koil Kutter and the Jump Ringer and have used them almost daily,
side-by-side for years. Each of them has its pluses and minuses, but
the idea that one shouldn’t buy the KK simply because it costs less
doesn’t make sense to me. To me, cheap means not suited to the job,
just pretending to be long enough to get your money, likely to break
the first time you use it, and likely to do a half baked job of the
task at hand even if it doesn’t break. This description does not
match the KK or the JR!

The KK is a much more economical way to get into jump ring making.
When I started out, if the only option for producing lots of jump
rings had been the much more expensive JR, I probably would never
taken the plunge. I used the KK exclusively for some time. It makes
jump rings very well, and the many 10’s of thousands of jump rings
out there I’ve made are evidence of this fact. The KK’s main
shortcoming is that, up until recently, the only coil holder
available was pretty short, about 3 1/2" coil length. You can now get
a longer one, about 10"-12", I think. One great advantage of the KK
is that it can be driven with a moto tool thus is very portable.
This is important to me because I take to lots of demos and
workshops. The only other downside I’ve seen to the KK is that the
cutting fluid I use attacks the epoxy used on a part of the coil
holder. Annoying and maybe something the manufacturer should have
thought about, but it gave me a chance to practice my blind riveting
skills :-). Oh, and those moto tools are really loud!

The JR’s main advantage is that you can make a really long (14"+)
coil if you get the high production version of the coil holder. On
days when I need to make 40k-50K rings, this is a great productivity
gain. Also, you can get a cool electric drill mount from Ray for
powered coil winding. Just add foot pedal and off you go. Note that
for long mandrels, I had to cobble together a tail stock to hold the
other end of the mandrel to keep it from whipping about. Luckily, I
just happened to have a manual winder from my KK to press into
service :-). The JR is only available to fit a flex shaft, but
that’s not a big deal if you already have one. It is a very big deal
if you are staring another $200 purchase in the face! Ultimately, I
ended up getting a spare handpiece so I could leave the JR attached
all the time. My main issue with the JR is that no matter what I do,
I cannot cut rings heavier than 15ga. The specs claim all the way to
12ga, but try as I might, I’ve never been able to get there. I don’t
think it is operator error, though, since no other JR owner I’ve
talked to has been able to get this to work either. I haven’t yet had
time to get the micrometer out and measure the parts to see what the
deal is, but it’s on my list. The KK cuts to 12ga just fine. Haven’t
had a chance to measure it, either.

My advice to everyone who comes to my workshops is this: if you are
only going to make the odd chain here or there, just get out your saw
frame and get going. Hand sawing jump rings builds character! If you
are going to make a lot of chains, get the KK. If you decide you want
to make handmade chains your specialty (as I have), get the long JR
and the drill stand.

Sorry this turned into such a tome…but jump ring making is a lot
of what I do…when I’m not buying cool tools just because I’m lucky
enough to be able to!

Regards,

Tom Colson
Renaissance Gecko Designs

1 Like
16

I am a chain maker and chain teacher. I have both the jump ringer and
koil kutter. I have cut coils up to 12 ga sterling silver with both
cutters. I use bees wax to lubricate each coil to be cut and am
careful not To “over feed” (push the cutting head faster than it is
able to cut through The coil) when cutting a coil. I always allow the
power source to come up To full speed before starting a cut and try
to maintain this speed down the entire length of the coil that i’m
cutting. Lubrication of the coil is very important.

I have also found that either cutter is easier to use if the coil
Holder is placed in a vice so that the cutting head can be held and
guided With both hands.

I hope that these comments are of help.
Howard Siegel, Laptique, Ltd.

1 Like
17 
    I agree wholeheartedly with Ray's sentiment that "cheap" tools
are a bad thing.... Where I disagree with Ray has to do with the
implication in his message that economical or less expensive equals
cheap. I own both the Koil Kutter and the Jump Ringer and have used
them almost daily, side-by-side for years. Each of them has its
pluses and minuses, but the idea that one shouldn't buy the KK
simply because it costs less doesn't make sense to me.

Thank you. Less expensive doesn’t necessarily mean “cheap”, and more
expensive doesn’t necessarily mean “higher quality”.

You pretty much hit the highlights of the pros and cons of each
system as I recall them from past conversations. As I cannot
currently envision myself EVER wanting to cut 50,000 jump rings at a
time, the Koil Kutter will suit my needs admirably.

And btw, the way I “scrounge up enough money” for any new tool I
need currently involves doing without food. Consequently, I DO have
some tools that actually ARE cheap, but they’re adequate for now,
whereas if I waited until I had the money for better tools, it would
reduce my ability to be productive to zilch. I will NEVER have the
money for better tools if I don’t start bringing something extra in
now.

Currently the only way I have to do that is via jewelry sales,
which, while I’ve been doing well and would be doing much better if I
had had the time the last couple of months to be more productive,
still hasn’t come up to the point of repaying for my investment in
either tools or materials. It probably won’t, either, for at least a
couple of years, as I will continue to add tools as I have the cash
for them.

I’ve been extremely fortunate to have been the recipient of a box
full of tools that I thought I wouldn’t have the money for for some
time to come, including a little torch head and hoses and a
flex-shaft and burrs. Thanks to the generosity of an Orchid member, I
have the chance to become more productive and therefore more
profitable because I have these tools. This has accelerated my time
schedule quite a bit.

Also, I’m a “her” and not a “him”. At least last time I checked.
It’s admittedly been a very long time indeed since anybody cared one
way or the other, LOL!

Just FYI, since you can’t tell over the internet from my nickname.

Sojourner

18

Hi Howard,

You report that you use bees wax to lubricate your coils when using
your jump ringer. How do you effectively remove the wax to solder the
jump rings cleanly?

Thanks for your help,
Regards, Sarah
Botswana

19 
    I am a chain maker and chain teacher. I have both the jump
ringer and koil kutter. I have cut coils up to 12 ga sterling
silver with both cutters. I use bees wax to lubricate each coil to
be cut

Hi All

First, I want to say “Thank you” to everyone who has replied with
advice, comments & suggestions concerning my initial question.I have
ordered the long coil holder and drill stand & will proceed in that
direction.

I’m curious to see the few rods that are included because I saw a
reference somewhere to there being a groove for the wire-end on these
rods.

Are there any pros & cons re using bees wax vs Bur Life to lubricate
the blade?

I’ve tried using dowels in the coils in the coil holder, but prefer
to use a strip of narrow painter’s masking tape along the base of the
coil to hold it together. This makes it easy to tranfer the rings to
a length of copper wire for polishing in my vibratory tumbler. I too
like to put the end of the coil holder in a vise so both hands are
free for cutting.

I had never used a Foredom before, and have learned the hard way
that the blade arbor has to be really tightened in place.

My biggest frustration has been the parallel usage of Metric &
Imperial measurement in the industry – and then mixed in with this,
the differing ways of stating the gauge of wire. Example: a supplier
sells 20 gauge but is it B&S or some other system of measurement? Is
the weight an ounce or a troy ounce? The vendor does not always
specify. A mandrel may be sized in fractions of an inch or in mm. I
buy in both the US & Canada & this adds to the mix. My calipers have
become my best friend!

Marilyn

20

Sarah rhodes

You asked how bees wax is removed from jump rings after being cut
With a jewelers saw blade in a coil cutter.

Generally, the sterling jump rings that i make are used for weaving
Chains and are not soldered. The bees wax is removed from the
finished chains during tumbling with a small amount of detergent
added to the water and stainless sreel shot in the tumbler.

There are a few chains that require soldering of some of the jump
Rings. I generally use paste solder for this operation and do not
clean the jump rings prior to soldering.

I hope this is helpful.
Howard Siegel