Bead setting

[ps_bond]

Finally had some time to spend on practice rather than deliverable setting, so I went back to doing some small stuff:

4148

Not clean enough yet for customer use, but not bad. Stone at the rear ended up wonky.

1mm CZs set along the side of a 1.1mm square wire. Once I've done a few more I'll look at setting into the adjacent side too, that should be a laugh.
Still keen to go and get some training in this in Holland early next year...

[trialuser]

Crikey Peter - you should have been a neurosurgeon - how on earth do you do that

[ps_bond]

No coffee and a powerful microscope :)

Conceptually, it's simple. Burr out the seat with a round burr, cut away all the metal that isn't required so that you're left with pegs, seat the stones and split the pegs with a sharp graver to splay them over the stones.

Like I said - simple.

In practice, getting the burr precisely central can be interesting. Not cutting too much metal away is fun. Seating the stones level - actually, handling stones that size - is tricky. Finally, when you're splitting the pegs to lock the stones in, you're obscuring the view and going by feel. I'd estimate the beads are probably in the order of 0.1mm in size, maybe 0.15ish.

I'm still messing with the workflow to improve things, seeing which tools work best for me, that kind of thing. More practice will help too.

[Carl Grigg]

Very fine work that nice one. If one where to attempt to make a ring with a similar setting I guess one would shape the ring first? having older eyes and no microscope not sure I could do it but fancy giving it a go. Mind you I think Maplin have a usb microscope wonder if that would work.

[Dennis]

Looks like we all need a microscope now, Peter. Beware cheap options Carl, or you will just add a further dimension to your problems.

[ps_bond]

This type of setting is done on finished objects - fully polished. Which leaves the fun of polishing up any dings & scratches you put in afterwards...
I'd have my doubts about the USB microscope; getting used to the hand/eye coordination changes are quite enough to be dealing with. I know some engravers use something similar for teaching, but I don't know of any using a screen for working.

Larger stones are easier in many ways.

[Keia]

As my husband likes to say "Skills to pay the bills" You must have the patience of a saint :worthy: