We made a vulcanised rubber mold of a ring with bead set diamonds
already in place. Does anybody have any suggestions for removing the
left over rubber from the underside of the diamonds? I have tried
soaking in acetone andthen burring underneath as much as possible,
but there is still some residue there. I am concerned about any
future torch work (tipping, sizing, etc) down the line.
-BK in BWA
Hi Brent.
Try lighter fluid. (Naptha) It’ll dissolve the brown gunk from
burning in the gates, and it’ll definitely cause the rubber to swell
if you leave it soaking too long, so clearly it does affect
vulcanized rubber.
FWIW,
Brian
Dear Brent,
We have a FAQ article on this subject on our website at:
http://www.ganoksin.com/gnkurl/ep7ztr
Best Regards,
Michael Knight
castaldo.com
Boil it out in lye. Get some drain cleaner, add it to some water.
Never ever add water to lye. Always add the lye to the water. Bad
things will happen if you don’t. Put the ring in, cover and bring to a
boil. Simmer on low till the rubber is dissolved. Sonic and steam. I
always do this before tipping diamonds. Have fun and make lots of
jewelry.
Jo Haemer
timothywgreen.com
We made a vulcanised rubber mold of a ring with bead set diamonds
already in place.
We manufacture several kinds of rubber, including natural rubber,
RTV silicone and heat cure silicones. I am not aware of a good way to
remove any rubber you may have used, other than pick at. If somebody
has a cure for this, I’d like to hear it.
Regards,
Bill Mull
Zero-D Products, Inc.
Rubber of all types is easily removed from metal jewlery models by burning with a low-temperature flame or even a match.
The end result will be a light grey or white ash that can be cleaned off in an ultrasonic or any other common method.
Doi this outdoors with the wind at your back-- I don’t know what’s in the smoke but you surely don’t want to breath it.
Michael
That’s what I do. It works. Just do it under ventilation.
Same here low flame.