Does anyone have any amazing tips on how to keep your pieces from
wiggling about when you rivet them. When I drill they tend to catch
and move around. I’ve tried clothes pins, rubber cement, tape,
prayer, none of these work too well. Ideas?
Here is an example of what I am working on…
http://www.fireflyjewelrydesign.com/urban.html
Hi Tracey:
I looked at your picture and I was wondering if you might cut use
brass sheet and make a cut out of your design. You would then cut
your design again in silver and place the silver cut out into the
hole (of the same size and shape) in the brass. I think it’s called
a jig? This would hold your silver piece in place mostly.
Kim Starbard
Cove Beads
As I recall from school days we used “Super Glue”, then drilled,
filled, sanded, polished, or any other cold processes. When ready to
de-bond (before riveting/cold joining) we would heat and hot pickle,
and clean with acetone / nail polish remover, or simply soak in
acetone then wipe up. Afterwards we riveted or any other cold
joining style desired.
I hope this is helpful,
Respctfully,
Ed
Tracey,
How about that jetset stuff? It’s very user friendly and reusable
over and over–
Janet
I find the best way to set rivets is to drill the first one through
carefully and set it, then drill the second one and complete the
rivet, then drill and rivet the remaining holes. Though this seems
counterintuitive, I’ve found it much faster and less prone to
problems, for you don’t have to deal with the troubles you are
experiencing, nor do you have issues with the holes no longer lining
up.
Regards,
Amy J.
Tracey,
Try using a ring clamp, the type that either uses a wedge or a screw
to tighten it.
Joel Schwalb
@Joel_Schwalb
www.schwalbstudio.com
I would think prayer would be the thing…LOL… It’s hard to know
exactly what you mean. One thing is to drill only one hole (Iooked
at your site), either rivet it or put in a “Plug”, like brass wire
to fit, which will hold it in place while you drill the others. For
clamps - we use clothespins for the steamer and gluing, but what you
need is either a Pony clamp, or some of those new plastic clamps
(They tend to be cobalt blue with yellow tips) are really useful.
This is a “Whatever works for you” situation…
Tracey,
Nice work…
I have 3 suggestions for holding your pieces in position while
drilling: 1st - We’ve used ordinary Elmer’s Glue to hold a sawn
frame to a sheet backing while drilling for rivets. (Does take time
for the glue to dry) Simply drop the piece in water to separate the
two. 2nd - There is a 4" version of the “Vise -Grip” welding clamp
pliers. They have a swiveling disc on each jaw that conforms to the
sheet metal. Pad these discs with leather, plastic, rubber, or even
cardboard. They are adjustable for the amount of pressure you wish
to apply. 3rd - The small machinists clamps utilizing two bars and
two screws. Use these in pairs. They can be found in Grizzly, Enco,
McMaster Carr, and MSC sites and catalogs.
Any one of these will beat clothespins or chewing gum.
Brian P. Marshall
Stockton Jewelry Arts School
Stockton, CA USA
209-477-0550
instructor@jewelryartschool.com
jewelryartschool@aol.com
I assume you’re using a drill press? At the jewelry studio I use,
there is a homemade contraption made out of wood, I’ll try and
describe it: There is one bigger flat board. Nailed to it are two
more smaller boards. They come together in a V shape. There is a
reverse bevel on the smaller boards, to hold the piece down. When
yout want to drill something, you push the piece in as far as it will
go into the V, and then use one hand to push/holding the piece in
place, and the other to lower the drill press. If the piece needs to
be lifted, the we shove a couple extra boards underneath.
The V is around a 30 degree angle. The bevels are about 45 degrees,
so viewed from above it looks like
| ^ |
| / \ |
|/ |
and viewed from the side it looks more like
++/ ++
Oliver Juang
oj@soda.CSUA.Berkeley.EDU
Tracey Bell asked:
Does anyone have any amazing tips on how to keep your pieces from wiggling about when you rivet them",
…and it brought to mind a question of my own… Awhile back, I
accepted a commission for a bracelet, whose joints have just been
driving me bonkers! The overall style of the piece is a slender
stretched “s” (or shallow sine wave) pattern, thematically similar to
#BRC233 on p.939 of Stuller’s Mountings Book, v.37, but without the
bezel-set Diamonds between links, and with each link about 20mm long
and ending in either a male (1 knuckle) or female (2 knuckles)
tongue-in-groove. Can anyone advise me as to how to rivet – or
flush-hammer – the ends of the hingepins, so there aren’t any fused
balls on either side, to destroy the otherwise slinky, serpentine
flow of the piece?
To clarify, I know all about countersinking/enlarging the outer ends
of the pinholes, and using a tack hammer and/or pin punch to deform
the pin ends (i.e. a tennis bracelet). What I can’t seem to figure
out is how to apply the necessary force to one end of the pin without
simultaneously either deforming the links or damaging the surfaces on
other side of the bracelet! (Via “mental reverse engineering”, I can
envision using a completed bracelet to create a wood, metal or even
JettSett die to hammer against, but how can I complete the first
bracelet, to get me there? It feels a lot like the “unemployable
until adequately experienced” quandary I kept banging my head on,
after earning my G.J.!)
Many thanks, in advance,
Doug
Douglas Turet, G.J.,Turet Design
P.O. Box 242
Avon, MA 02322-0242
Tel: (508) 586-5690 Fax: (508) 586-5677
doug. at .turetdesign.com
HI Tracey,
When I want to hold two pces metal together temporarily, I use
’Superglue’ - or at least, one of the cheap variants of this. These
cyanoacrylate adhesives will rapidly bond the pieces together so that
you can drill and file them within minutes but will also release
easily if you just heat the metal a little (as with a few waves of a
torch or on a hotplate for a few seconds). Any glue residue can be
removed by wiping with and acetone soaked tissue.
Best Wishes
Ian
Ian W. Wright
Sheffield UK
I sometimes use super glue. A little heat, a little acetone and its
off.
Robin C. McGee
Just make sure you use a punch before you drill, and let the drill
do the work–don’t press too hard. If the punch points line up, and
the drill holes line up, you should be okay. Unless there is
something I’m missing?
—Dragon
Hi Tracey,
There have been lots a great tips offered, some I will probably try
myself. However. it looks like you use paper and plastic in your
pieces, so some of the tips just wouldn’t work for you in this
application.
I use the blue painter’s masking tape, taking a few strips of it and
wrapping them criss-cross around the pieces to hold the work
together securely. With flat work, this is fairly easy.
But before you tape the whole thing together, drill all the holes in
the top piece on it’s own. Then do the taping. The holes in the top
piece will act as pilot holes, so you will get precise placement of
the holes in the other pieces. Drill through one pilot hole into the
rest of the piece, install that one rivet before drilling the rest
of the holes. The first rivet will hold your work together securely,
allowing you to more easily drill and rivet the rest. It is easiest
to drill each subsequent hole and install the rivet one at a time,
before moving onto drilling the next.
I use an old cordless drill to drill the holes. A good tip to keep
your drill bit from wobbling off the exact spot and moving your work
out of alignment, even with the pilot hole there, is to use a center
punch. It’s a carpenter’s tool you can find in any hardware store.
Choose one with a nice fine point. While your work is taped
together, insert the center punch through the pilot hole, lightly
strike the top of the punch with a hammer
(just once), and this will create a tiny dent. Rest the tip of the
drill bit into this little dent, and drill.
Good luck and have fun!
Nancie
I looked at your picture and I was wondering if you might cut use brass sheet and make a cut out of your design. You would then cut your design again in silver and place the silver cut out into the hole (of the same size and shape) in the brass. I think it's called a jig?
Good idea, thick plexiglas would work, I make a plexiglas shape by
laying a stone on top, faceted stone upside down, trace around and
then cut out and file smooth, and use that to make the bezel,
especially for calibrated stones. I make the edges 90 degrees to the
top and bottom, makes it easy to get straight sides. I can make
bezels much faster this way. I make it 10% larger using a copy
machine, gluing the paper to the plastic if I am going to cast parts.
Richard Hart
I looked at your site to be sure I understood the question correctly.
On the assumption that both parts are similar in size and form, my
solution would be a sturdy board (wood or something similar) and a
couple of small blocks. Align three blocks so that the workpiece
rests steadily on three points. Correcly done you can now exchange
workpiece and find the exact position. Using a small drillstand it
should now be possible to drill the pieces one at the time and still
get the holes in the same position.
Hope this tip isn’t too muddled to understand.
kindly
michaela
Great ideas, thank you!
A bit more info, I can’t heat or use acetone on the piece when I am
done because there are paper, plastic, or other found objects
sandwiched between the pieces of metal. I don’t have a drill press,
I use a hand crank drill. I’ve decided this is the biggest problem.
I think I am going to go with a small drill press with a machinist
vise. I was trying to avoid another large tool that I need to plug
in, but using a hand drill takes for ever.
Thanks Again!
Tracey
Hi Doug,
I am always playing with JettSet for jigs. This might do it for you,
although it’s tough to tell without a picture of the links. If you
were to superglue your links together in the configuration needed to
flatten the rivets and depress them into the thermoplastic until it
hardened, then wouldn’t your links stay put when laid into the
depression? You could then drill out the spot in the thermoplastic
underneath where you need to support your riveting just large enough
to insert a finishing nail to act as a tiny anvil against which you
could hammer.
If this particular approach is off the mark, I still think that
JettSet is your best bet to accomplish this.
Good Luck!
Linda
A bit more info, I can't heat or use acetone on the piece when I am done because there are paper, plastic, or other found objects sandwiched between the pieces of metal. I don't have a drill press, I use a hand crank drill. I've decided this is the biggest problem. I think I am going to go with a small drill press with a machinist vise. I was trying to avoid another large tool that I need to plug in, but using a hand drill takes for ever.
If there are a number of rivets on your piece drill the first hole
using a ring clamp to hold everything together, then use small nuts
and bolts to hold all your layers together. Drill a second hole as
far away from the first as your design will allow and bolt this one,
you will probably not need the clamp for this. You can then drill
and rivet all the intermediate holes before replacing the two bolts
with rivets.
This is the way ships were built before the introduction of welding.
Bill Bedford