I Got Fed Up With This.

[Dennis]

I was given this boulder opal to turn into a pendant and decided to mount it in just a decorative frame, with a swivelling bail, so that either side could be on view.

Having followed Faiths tale of her double sided earrings, I got out the Polymorph to support it for setting, but rather than boil a kettle I softened it in a mug of water in the microwave, and when embedded, cooled it rapidly in our freezer. This saved time, but releasing it, turning it over and repeating the process several times involved far too many trips to the kitchen. I was right fed up. What would you have done?

Long bezels take a lot of pushing over, so I also experimented with using a Dremel engraver as a hammer tool, as suggested by a member some months back. It sort of worked but not as well as sheer elbow grease. Dennis.

[enigma]

Its beautiful Dennis!

I rarely use anything to hold my work other than having it on a sandbag and holding with my fingers, the only thing Ive had to resort to a holding agent for is stones set in earrings as they are just too small but this looks big enough to hand hold?
I don't know about the Dremel, it maybe doesn't have enough adjustment as to power and speed? the hammer handpiece on the foredom is fairly smooth on silver though so definitely quicker for finishing large bezels ( I know, Im lazy, I got told off for it on the course I did LOL )

In any case its a lovely pendant, I love how you carried the rope edging onto the bail too.

[Patstone]

Dennis that is gorgeous. Do you sell stuff or does your other half have a vast collection.

[josef1]

I use a small hot air gun I think originally it was used for heatshrinking insulation on electrical cable, It works great an not as aggressive as the paint stripper type

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/LS-300-220V-300W-DIY-Electric-Heat-Shrink-Gun-Power-Hot-Air-Heat-Gun-Tool-/322028005024?_trksid=p2141725.m3641.l6368 this type of idea(the one in the link was the first one I found obviously it would need to be CE marked etc)

[Faith]

Hi Dennis,

That's really lovely and what an excellent idea to have a swivelling bail :)

Making my earrings was a similar tale I'm afraid, I heat thermoloc on a little square of Teflon (from eBay) in the microwave, cool as you say, then get it out again with boiling water. What I did find tho is that after I'd got the stones trapped, but the metal not fully pushed over, i pushed the stone into the thermoloc culet side down, made an indent and was then able to pop the earring back out again by bending the thermoloc before it was 100% hard. That gave me an earring shaped indent to just hold it down in with one hand while I finished the pushing, and obviously I could turn it over as much as I wanted.

For non symmetrical stones I guess you could do the same but make two little indenty moulds...

Faith :)

[AndyP]

I was given this boulder opal to turn into a pendant and decided to mount it in just a decorative frame, with a swivelling bail, so that either side could be on view.

Having followed Faiths tale of her double sided earrings, I got out the Polymorph to support it for setting, but rather than boil a kettle I softened it in a mug of water in the microwave, and when embedded, cooled it rapidly in our freezer. This saved time, but releasing it, turning it over and repeating the process several times involved far too many trips to the kitchen. I was right fed up. What would you have done?

Long bezels take a lot of pushing over, so I also experimented with using a Dremel engraver as a hammer tool, as suggested by a member some months back. It sort of worked but not as well as sheer elbow grease. Dennis.

Hi Dennis,

That looks lovely - really good!

I'm very new as you know (couldn't solder a couple of months ago, and certainly not up to teapot soldering standard yet!), but if you had a kettle in your workshop, this re-useable silicone is great stuff:

http://www.metalclay.co.uk/oyumaru-instant-mold-moulding-compound/

It softens quickly in hot water from kettle and cools/sets quite quickly (a couple of minutes probably) - I've not tried the polymorph granules so I've nothing to compare to, but I find the Oyumaru really useful - only downsides are it comes in a weird assortment of colours (although I actually don't mind!) and its maybe not so good if you are wanting to take moulds with very fine detail like fingerprints etc. But for a quick mould to support the changing shapes of your workpiece it'd probably be ideal :-)

Andy


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[Aurarius]

Dennis, you seem to have the original pointed carbide bit fitted in your engraving tool. Can I take it you removed this and instead used a flat ended bit you made yourself (out of brass or steel) to do the hammering?

Here are four rope twist pendants I did a while ago. The bezels are from either 0.4 or 0.5mm sterling sheet. They were all hammered over using my Dremel engraving tool on a fairly high setting.
93909391

[AndyP]

Dennis, you seem to have the original pointed carbide bit fitted in your engraving tool. Can I take it you removed this and instead used a flat ended bit you made yourself (out of brass or steel) to do the hammering?

Here are four rope twist pendants I did a while ago. The bezels are from either 0.4 or 0.5mm sterling sheet. They were all hammered over using my Dremel engraving tool on a fairly high setting.
93909391

Hi Aurarius,

Those are very nicely set in those bezels - out of interest which type of Dremel do you use?
I have a very cheap flexdrive thing which works well for grinding with burrs etc, however isn't particularly nice and certainly doesn't have anything like a hammer setting. It also seems looking at other threads on here that there are different qualities of Dremel (a bit like the difference between a tradesman type De-Walt drill and the nasty cheap ones in diy shops).

Just wondered what is deemed to be a "good" Dremel?

Thanks

Andy


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[Dennis]

Hi all. What an informative set of replies.
As you see, I deliberately avoided the Show and Tell section, where traditionally just anodyne 'likes' are expected and hoped for a more interesting discussion. Well it worked and I have taken on board all your comments and advice.
Thank you.
In reply to Pat, I don't sell what I make. Regards, Dennis.

[Aurarius]

out of interest which type of Dremel do you use?

Andy, what Dennis and I are referring to here when we say Dremel is this:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Dremel-Engraver-Compact-Accessory-Stencil/dp/B0095DIETC/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1473712026&sr=8-1&keywords=dremel+engraving+tool

It's not a rotary tool but a percussion tool with a reciprocating head that performs a crude type of hammer action. Obviously a proper hammer handpiece used with either a pendant motor or micromotor would be better, but it would be many times more expensive, and you have to have either a pendant motor or a micromotor to begin with, of course, for it to be useable.

I bought the Dremel engraver because I was having trouble pushing over bezel walls in sterling (thicker ones, at any rate) just using a hammer and punch. This tool has made life much easier.

My main tool for jewelry work is a Foredom K1070 micromotor. I have a Dremel 4000, but keep it for rough work such as reshaping silicone polishing wheels. I don't use it to make jewelry.

[Patstone]

Well Dennis perhaps you should sell, the stuff you make is beautiful. I "do" a craft show once a month but am thinking of stopping as I dont sell much and its way underpriced, just covers the cost of the silver etc. You must have a huge stash, I know I have and you have been at it longer than me.

[AndyP]

Andy, what Dennis and I are referring to here when we say Dremel is this:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Dremel-Engraver-Compact-Accessory-Stencil/dp/B0095DIETC/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1473712026&sr=8-1&keywords=dremel+engraving+tool

It's not a rotary tool but a percussion tool with a reciprocating head that performs a crude type of hammer action. Obviously a proper hammer handpiece used with either a pendant motor or micromotor would be better, but it would be many times more expensive, and you have to have either a pendant motor or a micromotor to begin with, of course, for it to be useable.

I bought the Dremel engraver because I was having trouble pushing over bezel walls in sterling (thicker ones, at any rate) just using a hammer and punch. This tool has made life much easier.

My main tool for jewelry work is a Foredom K1070 micromotor. I have a Dremel 4000, but keep it for rough work such as reshaping silicone polishing wheels. I don't use it to make jewelry.

Ahh.... Thanks I see! I couldn't see how a rotary Dremel tool would be able to hammer. The engraver does seem a good, value option.

By the sound of it, you've made a replacement tip then with a flat end. I guess if you have a lathe you could make yourself a variety of different sized flat tips.

Thanks for the info.

Andy


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[Paul Kay]

Ahh.... Thanks I see! I couldn't see how a rotary Dremel tool would be able to hammer. The engraver does seem a good, value option.

By the sound of it, you've made a replacement tip then with a flat end. I guess if you have a lathe you could make yourself a variety of different sized flat tips.



I have the same, but there is no need for a lathe to make replacement tips for bezel setting, just get some steel or brass rod the same diameter as the engraving tip (1/8" or 3.1mm approx I think) cut to length (20mm) and either semi-smooth or polish the end to your preferred profile.

[Patstone]

How does the Foredom hammer work, and don't say up and down. Is it a good purchase or a waste of money, use my motor a lot.

[Aurarius]

Is it a good purchase or a waste of money, use my motor a lot.
If you do a lot of setting, particularly with bezels, then I'd say it's a good investment.


How does the Foredom hammer work, and don't say up and down.
In and out.


I have the same, but there is no need for a lathe to make replacement tips for bezel setting, just get some steel or brass rod the same diameter as the engraving tip (1/8" or 3.1mm approx I think) cut to length (20mm) and either semi-smooth or polish the end to your preferred profile.

I didn't have any rod in the right size, but I did have some slightly oversize. All I did was put a section in my Dremel 4000 and use this as a "lathe", holding the spinning rod against some wet and dry paper to take down its diameter to the right thickness.

[Dennis]

If you are short of a steel rod and don't want to invest in a lot of stock, you might consider the stem of a 3.2mm twist drill, available singly from local ironmongers, which fits exactly and can be cut to the required length with a carborundum cut off disk.

If you want the end flattened like a traditional bezel pusher, you can forge it with a hammer on a steel block when heated to red hot. Dennis.

[josef1]

3.175mm is an 1/8" may be easier to find and for all intents the same size

[Susie]

Andy, what Dennis and I are referring to here when we say Dremel is this:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Dremel-Engraver-Compact-Accessory-Stencil/dp/B0095DIETC/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1473712026&sr=8-1&keywords=dremel+engraving+tool

It's not a rotary tool but a percussion tool with a reciprocating head that performs a crude type of hammer action. Obviously a proper hammer handpiece used with either a pendant motor or micromotor would be better, but it would be many times more expensive, and you have to have either a pendant motor or a micromotor to begin with, of course, for it to be useable.

I bought the Dremel engraver because I was having trouble pushing over bezel walls in sterling (thicker ones, at any rate) just using a hammer and punch. This tool has made life much easier.

My main tool for jewelry work is a Foredom K1070 micromotor. I have a Dremel 4000, but keep it for rough work such as reshaping silicone polishing wheels. I don't use it to make jewelry.

How do you reshape your silicone wheels?


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[Susie]

How do you reshape your silicone wheels?


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Ah forget that question. Just found a you tube vid of someone using a drill and a file. Doh!


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[Faith]

The silicon/rubber wheels are pretty soft, I do as Dennis suggested, using diamond sharpening plates (I got a set of three for about £8 from ebay - the kind that look like a giant nail file rather than the kind that look like a cheese grater). Just run the wheel up in the dremel (or equivalent) and touch to plate. It does obviously produce a bunch of powdery rubbery dust, so I probably wouldn't do it with a file I was gonna use for my silver - just because I expect it'd be irritating to unclog the file.

Faith

[enigma]

I try and keep mine from wearing into unusable shapes by altering the angle as I use them as much as possible :)