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Ring mandrel for soldering question

Jewelry Discussion
#21 
ring to get stuck on the rod when it contracts during cooling.
Another tool that sounds good on paper but maybe not so good in
practice.

Since nobody else has mentioned it, I will… All the mandrels I’ve
ever seen aren’t just tapered, they are ~strongly~ tapered. That
means that if you use it to solder two rings together they will be
off-center - if you use it to solder wirework “in the round” it won’t
be a cylinder, it will be a cone… If it’s good for you, then it
is. Mine stays on the shelf 4 years out of 5. Every once in a while
there’s something it works for.

#22 
ring to get stuck on the rod when it contracts during cooling.
Another tool that sounds good on paper but maybe not so good in
practice.

My experience is that it is flux that causes a ring to stick to a
soldering mandrel. I move them toward the tapered end before that
happens.

There are special tweezers for soldering rings together that bring
both rings into alignment so they are automatically aligned as long
as both rings are the same size, otherwise you can align the back of
each shank to be at the same level.

As far as what John said about the taper making a cone, I can usually
put the smaller side on the mandrel first and tap it up the mandrel
with a hammer to make both rings equal in size.

Richard Hart G.G.
Denver, Co.