If only the world could be more like Orchid. I am so grateful for the
many helpful answers to my pesky little rusty screw problem. After
all the suggestions, some beyond my abilities, and my own futile
attempts, I took the mill to our nearby, old fashioned, hardware
store where they offered to help me out. They did and voila, out came
the offending screw. So the next time you head out for the big box
store for tools, try your locally owned hardware store first, if your
town is lucky enough to still have one - the kind where the employees
are actually knowledgeable about the merchandise and service have a
real meaning. Not everything costs more and even if it does, think
about the price of losing these valuable establishments.
By the way - the cost - 33 cents.
Beverly Jones
Pasadena
To Beverly
33 cents and you will remember that store forever. That’s why a
simple repair on a bracelet that isn’t charged to the client can be
worth thousands of dollars of promotion. That’s what I mean - treat
people like the very special people they are.
Barbara
I wish to apologize to the group. What I mean is a welder or a
welding shop will make a simple A-frame with a jack to create a
hydraulic press. Do not use THE Boony Doon press design for it is a
copyright infringement which was my mistake. I wasn’t thinking - too
many students asking too many questions and I get brain-dead. Use a
generic A-frame pattern. My press was ordered from a welder sight
unseen for at that time, I really didn’t know what a hydraulic press
looked like and it was part of a group order made by a friend. My
press wasn’t that well-made so it required additional welds to make
it safer. I have personally seen 5 handmade hydraulic presses, all a
little different, from various artists’ studios. Again, do not use
the Boony Soon hydraulic press design. I will keep my big mouth shut
and will not ask questions or volunteer info again.
Joy
I wish to apologize to the group. What I mean is a welder or a
welding shop will make a simple A-frame with a jack to create a
hydraulic press. Do not use THE Boony Doon press design for it is
a copyright infringement which was my mistake
There is a free to use design in the Susan Kingsley book.
Elaine
CreativeTextureTools.com
There is a free to use design in the Susan Kingsley book.
And, it doesn’t require any welding.
Plus, that design had the needed engineering work done, so it’s
properly designed for safe use, though without some of the
refinements for safety that the Bonny Doon Design later added.
That issue of safety, though it’s been mentioned before, cannot be
overstated. Designing your own press or other high pressure
equipment, if you don’t have the engineering skills needed to do it
right, is not a good idea. Just because an “A” frame your welder puts
together may look good, doesn’t mean it’s safe.
Putting pieces of metal, dies, and whatever, into a press and
putting 20 tons of pressure on it, is a very different animal than
hitting a manual punch with a hammer. If something breaks, or just
slips out of alignment, at those pressures, the resulting accident
can easily be lethal. People can be, and have been, killed when even
properly designed presses have accidents. Our jewelry presses are
smaller than most of those offending industrial presses, but the
potential remains, especially when innovative but untrained (in press
safety and engineering) artists come up with new tooling they feel
will work. When such tooling unexpectedly fails, and something snaps
and flies across the room with enough force to seriously injure or
kill someone, is the wrong time to come to the conclusion that
perhaps it wasn’t a good idea after all.
That doesn’t mean presses cannot be used safely by artists. They can
be. It just means don’t be cavalier about the design and tooling, and
the risks involved of getting it wrong.
Peter
resulting accident can easily be lethal. People can be, and have
been, killed when even properly designed presses have accidents.
Peter - can you please provide documentation for such an accident i
am curious about this and am having some difficulty locating
documented incidents of a press in jewelry studios resulting in fatal
accidents
goo