Work sequence

[Melanie De Castro Pugh]

Hi all, well thanks to Dennis's fabulous guide, I've pretty much worked out what most of my Dremel toys are for. Which leads me to my next dopey question, what order do you do things in? At the moment, I:

Make the thing (I tend to use silver, copper and brass with cabs and sometimes faceted stones)
File the rough edges
Fine sandpaper to smooth

...and it all gets a bit confusing after that! I have a tumbler with steel shot and burnishing soap; polishing papers; flexshaft with diamond burrs & graded rubber polishing doozits; felt wheels with Dialux red, white and blue; steel brushes, brass brushes; ultrasonic.

I suspect I have slightly too many things here, and as I am trying to show a friend how to make stuff, I want to put a workflow together for her (as well as being more productive with my own time!)

Many thanks for any forthcoming advice!


Melanie

http://www.spinysharklythings.com

[ps_bond]

Your diamond burrs are going to be more use in the making stage - they're for coarser material removal.

The ultrasonic is for a final clean of the item; it'll get any residues off.

In between... Rubber wheels I use for shaping, leading up to prepolish (pumice wheel, very fine but still needs polishing afterwards).
According to Cousins, the sequence for Dialux is blue/white/red - I've only got green, which I use for polishing steel, so can't comment.
Or you could use the tumbler.
Or you could use the brass brush (with soapy water) to get a matt finish. The steel brushes will probably do the same, albeit more aggressively - depends on the brushes.

Wear eye protection :)

[Dennis]

I don’t have much to add to what Peter has already said Melanie, but the purpose of your work sequence is threefold:

Firstly to decide on an order of soldering, so that you are less likely to melt what went before.

Secondly to hide your solder lines by (as far as possible) not cutting back the surplus metal too close until all other soldering has been completed.
Solder lines are concave, because liquid solder forms a meniscus. If you polish it flat and heat again a new meniscus forms, so the line re-appears

The last purpose is to devise as few finishing stages as possible to achieve your desired result. Unwanted marks show more with a high finish so you have to be more meticulous for that. In the end you must work out your favourite routine which develops over time. But you sure as hell don’t use all the options. For instance after radial disks I go straight to a soapy brass brush and/or my tumbler. After Scotchbrite mops I go no further. No polishing compounds at all. Dennis.

[Melanie De Castro Pugh]

Thanks fellas, I guess my workflow will fall into two camps, pretty much. Power tools and tumblers for blissful alone time in the shed, and polishing papers and a burnisher for when I have to come indoors and interact with people ;-)


Melanie

http://www.spinysharklythings.com

[Melanie De Castro Pugh]

Oh, and thanks for the advice on hiding solder lines, Dennis, I noticed just that effect yesterday!

And Peter, I do have a very fetching pair of safety glasses. Combined with a mad hat to keep long hair well away from blowtorches, flexshafts and anything else. With that and a tie-dyed pinny, I give the overall impression of an escaped lunatic when I emerge from the shed holding a new shiny thing aloft ;-)


Melanie

http://www.spinysharklythings.com

[Dennis]

I do have a very fetching pair of safety glasses. Combined with a mad hat to keep long hair well away from blowtorches, flexshafts and anything else. With that and a tie-dyed pinny, I give the overall impression of an escaped lunatic when I emerge from the shed holding a new shiny thing aloft ;-)Melaniehttp://www.spinysharklythings.com

Well Welsh women gathered on the cliff tops in their high hats to frighten off invaders, so its traditional Dennis.

[teatowell]

Solder lines are concave, because liquid solder forms a meniscus. If you polish it flat and heat again a new meniscus forms, so the line re-appears

Thank answers so many questions - thank you Dennis!

[Melanie De Castro Pugh]

Well Welsh women gathered on the cliff tops in their high hats to frighten off invaders, so its traditional Dennis.

Well, I'm really an English, but under the Welsh Rugby Union rules, I've lived here long enough to qualify!


Melanie

http://www.spinysharklythings.com