I often receive requests to make matching wedding bands for
engagement rings bought at other stores. My usual method for doing
this involves turning a wax blank to a size smaller than the
customer’s ring in my lathe, placing the blank on a ring mandrel,
heating the customer’s ring and dropping it over the mandrel and
pressing it into the wax. After the melted wax hardens I pry the ring
out of the wax and then cut away the wax until I have a matching
band. I use green wax. Some of the melted wax is usually left inside
the claws of the engagement ring. I find it difficult to remove. If I
use my steam machine, the wax melts and flows over the diamonds and
makes a supreme mess. Does anybody know of a solvent which will
disolve wax, or can anybody suggest another method of removing the
wax?
Most likely you are lathe-turning “file a wax” or its equivalent; the
solvent is xylol.
The solvent for all types of wax is plain old denatured alcohol–the
paint store variety, not the drug store variety.
Michael Knight
I use a magnetic pin tumbler for about 4 minutes it works great on
removing the wax. Before I used that method I would hang the ring
over a boiling pan of water. The steam will melt the wax gently and
allow it to drip off without blasting it all over the place like a
steamer. Also a really hot ultrasonic will do wonders.
Hello Hoods, Get a small jar, I use a baby food jar, twist a couple
of pieces of long insulated eletrical wire to make a spider looking
thing and fill it half way with Citra-Solv and suspend it in your hot
ultresonic. The wax will melt away in no time! I get Citra-Solv at
the heath food store, mak sure it is not the diluted kind. John
I use the same method and had the same problem. My wax solvent
formula is 50% Rey Wax Gloss and 50% Mineral spirits. Works like a
charm. I usually place it in a small jar with a lid that I then drop
in the ultra sonic cleaner if I am in a hurry. If not I just leave it
in the solution over night. Now you have Frank’s seceret formula
for wax removal… cheap at the price. Frank Goss
I discovered a product that I use for presicely the same job you
refer to. I bought a micro matic wax tool a couple of years ago and
they have a product that the manufacturer sells that cleans the tips
when they get caked with wax and carbon residue. The company is
named Belle de st. claire. I couldn’t get my hands on thier catalog
this morning, but email me if you are interested. I believe they are
listed in the JCK directory as well. The product is called tip
cleaner.
Larry Seiger
Does anybody know of a solvent which will disolve wax, or can anybody suggest another method of removing the wax?
There are all kinds of waxes. Some are Paraffin waxes which are quite
soluble in Mineral Spirits, aka Paint Thinner. Others, like Beeswax
are complex mixtures of Alcohols, Esters, etc., etc., and are soluble
in Lacquer Thinner. I would make a 50/50 mixture of Mineral Spirits
and Lacquer Thinner and use it as a general purpose solvent to clean
up your wax and other oily, greasy things. It’s also wonderful for
removing gummy label residue etc. One Caveat: Don’t use it on plastic
without testing it on an inconspicuous place first. It’s OK for
polyethylene and polypropylene but it may soften polystyrene, acrylic
and others. Regards…Bob Williams
Heck of a thing that nasty wax that stays stuck in the head and stone
area. I use the same technique. This method only works best with
diamonds, although I have used it on ruby/saphire as well. I make
sure the ring is clean of all dirt and grime before I work with the
wax, (bomb it or use red devil lye to soak it in) once that is done I
steam and ultra sonic it and melt it to the matching band. Then I
cafefully warm the ring with my torch, regular flame until the wax
burns off, it sort of starts on fire then poof gone. Air cool the
ring and stick in the lye for a moment. I have tried solvents from
Gesswein, but it takes forever, days of steam/sonic/solvent before its
ready. A bit of warning, be careful not to over heat heads and don’t
panic if stone looks yellow some wax leaves a film which will come
right off in warm lye. Hope this Helps, Linda
I have been using lighter fluid (benzene) for years. It is about the
only thing I have found that cleans up wax without leaving a residue.
Just be sure to ventilate well while using it.
Cheers from Don at The Charles Belle Studio where simple elegance IS
fine jewelry!
Dip the ring in your boric/alcohol mix or whatever you use for that
first an light to get a light film on the eng ring. The wax does
not stick nearly as much, and what does comes off much easier! JUst
dip again, light, and burn off with torch while applying copius
amounts of flux to area where wax is. Pickle while still quite warm.
This procedure works quite well for me. A.J.
I have been using lighter fluid (benzene) for years.
The problem with benzene is that it is an aromatic ring compound
(think of a hexagon of C’s with equal signs between every other C and
minus signs between the remaining spaces). Aromatic rings have a
propensity to intercalate with DNA (slip inside) and hence could cause
a mutation during cell division. All this is written to state that
benzene is a carcinogen. Its use was banned from our organic chemistry
labs.
I do not have the literature available to spell out the dosage, etc.
so I am going out on a limb here.
David
“Solvent for wax”: People tend to interchange benzene(dangerous
stuff) with benzine (a lot safer genetically & carcogenically
speaking), same as with silicone (generally an oily liguid) with
silicon ( a major component of plain 'ol sand). Please watch thy
smelling,eh? (Tell me what I misspelled privately, thanks). Jim Skladany
"Solvent for wax": People tend to interchange benzene(dangerous stuff) with benzine (a lot safer genetically & carcogenically speaking), same as with silicone (generally an oily liguid) with silicon ( a major component of plain 'ol sand). Please watch thy smelling,eh? (Tell me what I misspelled privately, thanks). Jim Skladany
Hello, To dissolve the wax, I use trichlor?hyl?e. This is very
effective. The vapors of this product are toxiques, but it is very
easy to return it without danger. It suffices to put it in a glass
receptacle and water recouvir! The trichlor?hyl?e remains
gentiment to the bottom and does not release more vapors! It is
denser than water. I use a small receptacle in glass that returns in
my machine to ultrasons. The results are perfect. Greetings. JC
Sulka
OK, OK, guess I better fess up to my mistake. Not that I mispelled
benzene or benzine. In fact, the “lighter fluid” I have been using to
smooth or desolve waxes all these years has been NAPHTHA!
Can’t wait to hear all the comments on that.
Cheers from Don at The Charles Belle Studio in So FL where simple
elegance IS fine jewelry!
I have been somewhat following this thread…so I don’t know if
anyone has mentioned this product but I swear by it. It is call Tuff
Orange.It is a critric solvant which is wonderful on wax. I also use
the nylon scrubby things that all the liquid soaps are packaging with
their product. It looks like nylon fish net.That is for course
cleaning and removing scratches. This might sound weird but ‘cheap’
knee high nylons with tufforange is the follow up. the elastic top
band is equal to medium and the foot and leg is the fine.The nice
thing about TuffOrange is that it won’t hurt you. I use it in school
where I teach.The knee highs have to be’cheap’ the more expensive ones
don’t have as good a texture! For more info on TuffOrange go to :
tuffproducts@tuffcleaningproducts.com
Sue