Hi,
I need to make some gold hoop earrings with 0,2mm thin walled tube. So I wanted to make slightly tube from slightly thicker material 0,4mm and draw it with aluminium core inside to reduce wall thickness and later dissolve aluminium using Sodium/Potasium hydroxide.
Question is - if I use aluminium core will gold tube wall thickness decrease while drawing or aluminium core will decrease its diameter and gold will stay the same?
I know that big manufacturers use steel core for decreasing tube sidewall thickness but it is not possible to do for me becasue of scale/cost/equipment so I would like to use aluminium.
My experience is that you don’t need an inner core to draw down tubing. Further, the wall thickness remains the thickness you started with.
Judy H
Yes, I know you dont need inner core for drawing but it is needed for reducing wall thickness but usualy if is done with steel. Fabricating long tube with very thin walls is much more difficult. Also having core helps with bending such thin tube to required shape.
So the question remains - can I use aluminium core for drawing gold tube to reduce its wall thickness or aluminium is too soft for this application?
Hi,
i cannot recall specifics, but i “think” there are 2 scenarios for drawing down tubing…one way results in tubing walls becoming thicker while the other way maintains wall thickness…i just cannot recall which is which…
tubing with closed/ soldered seam versus open/ unsoldered seam…
try searching the archives…
julie