I’ve been working with traditional blacksmith here in Benin, they need help to upgrade their pieces.
We are working with Copper and yellow pieces that we melt (pretty sure its bronze or brass)
Now im working on some copper glass
We cast it and it was not that bad
I was wondering How could i fill the missing parts
I want to start TIG Welding since a lot of piece came back damaged after casting anyway
We Dont want to braze because we dont like the look of the jewelry with 2 different yellow colors
What kind of Welding TIG station should i buy? Its only for Bronze Brass copper and stainless steel (maybe silver in the future) Id love to stay under 300 dollars
Also on this copper glass i have a copper piece that i would love to remove but i don’t know which rotary tool bits i should use… any sugestion? (I have a rotary tool from INGCO… pretty cheap… ill invest in a dremel…)
For cleaning up the left over sprue on the bottom of the cup, there are a number of different options, but carbide burs should do the trick. Don’t forget that they’ll need some kind of lubrication, like jeweler’s bur lube or bee’s wax.
Remember that these kind of grinders will throw a lot of metal dust and filings in your face. Ideally, you’d wear full face protection and a respirator, but at least be sure to wear safety glasses.
Here’s a set that will fit a Dremel for about $13.
Here’s a video showing cleaning up a bronze sculpture with a TIG welder and small grinding tools.
I don’t have a recommendation of what TIG welder to buy. But a quick internet search shows that there are a number of them available in your $300ish budget.
Hi Haile,
Interesting pieces. For something that large you might want to use a larger carbide burr in a full size electric drill (and the above mentioned protection from the metal shavings). A rotary tool like a dremel will make for a long job with that, but will be useful for many other things. Welcome to the slippery slope into tool addiction.
As you refine your designs and process you can reduce your sprue size and work toward less labor to complete each step of the process.
