Soldering diamond crown setting

Hi all

I was wondering if you would share your advice on soldering a
diamond, still in it’s white gold crown setting into a new ring band.
The old stone and setting is about 15 years old. I have seen people
soldering right next to the stone, but I’d like to know just how dumb
that is.

Thanks in advance,
Zee

Zee,

Diamonds should stand up to normal gold soldering temperatures
without harming them, allowing you to re-tip heads, or solder
directly onto the diamond. The heat of platinum soldering is too hot
for diamonds, however. First, be sure the diamond you are soldering
next to is perfectly clean. I like to clean diamonds in a heated
ultrasonic cleaner, followed by a good steaming. Inspect with a loupe
to be sure it is spotlessly clean, before fluxing with a borax flux.
Any oils or dirt on the diamond left on the diamond tend to be burned
onto the diamond’s surface, and is often impossible to remove later.

Jay Whaley

Zee,

It used to be that red, white and blue stones would take heat with a
few exceptions. Now, unless you know for sure the diamond wasn’t
filled, treated, etc. I would eject it first.

To do this I would clean off the old solder on the head. Drill the
hole in the ring, if that is what you have. heavily firecoat the
head and diamond to keep the firescale down as well as the ring. I
would use a medium or easy white gold solder and solder the head with
diamond back in. Let it cool and pickle. Clean up. You should be
fine.

Russ
Russ Hyder
www.thejewelrycadinstitute.com

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Zee,

Soldering next to a diamond or with diamonds in place is done daily
probably thousands of times across the nation. I have done this for
years… didn’t like it the first time I did it & I won’t like it
the next time! BUT… Everyone that gets into repairs and sometimes
in manufacturing gets the thrill at one time or another. I have never
hurt a diamond doing this… but I still don’t like it! I just
finished a piece started by another jeweler that I had to “Solder
In” 16 stones. … His stones were a little too large and I had no
choice.

I first make sure the stone / stones do not have surface inclusions
of any kind. Thats a death sentence for a stone. I make sure as well
that the mounting and stone are clean clean clean!! I then coat the
entire mounting and stone with a boric acid & alcohol solution and
set the rascal on fire. Let it burn until it burns off all the
alcohol. There will be a very light white powder all over the piece
when this is done correctly. I try to do this with everything in
place and ready to solder / weld. If you can’t for some reason…
just make sure you disturb the white powder residue as little as
possible. Then, simply flux as little as possible where you are
going to solder and have at it. I DO use a heatsink if possible and
sometimes even cool jewel. I always take every precaution I can to
lessen the heat as much as I can. If you use the cool jewel you
won’t need the boric treatment. for the stone but it will help with
any oxidation.

Once you are finished… don’t forget and toss the piece into the
pickle… You’ll have a lot of little diamonds!!! The pits to glue
back together!!:wink: Ha! Let the piece cool and once Completely Cooled
put it in some pickle to get off any oxidation you can. Then just
clean it up.

DeArmond Tool
http://www.classwax.com

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