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Little Reds
13-07-2009, 12:47 PM
My white gold melts crack when I roll them - has anyone got any tips to stop this

MuranoSilver
13-07-2009, 02:19 PM
It very much depends on the gold you are melting - is it fresh gold/casting grain or is it recycled gold. White gold can have deoxidizers in it's alloy mix (silicon copper, zinc etc). It cracks more easily when you try to mill it.

What gold are you using & what process are you following, e.g how are you annealing, what are you trying to achieve with the rolling mill..

Nicola x

bubbleshell
29-07-2009, 09:06 PM
I have just worked with 9CT white gold sheet from Cooksons for the first time.

9CT gold is harder than 18CT. The higher the CT the softer the material.

I found that when I was forming the sheet gold to solder into a ring two part of the gold started to crack at either end.

I solved this by taking my time and annealing the gold at frequent intervals until cherry red like silver, best to do the annealing in a shadow so you can see when the material glows red. Take your time and look for when the material is resisting you pressure you are applying to form the piece. If you take your time forming the material and do this slowly and softly you will see when the material is just starting to resist and therefore are more likely not to over stretch the material.

I found that once I was annealing the material correctly and frequently the cracking stopped. I was then able to clean the cracks well and solder them with 9CT white gold solder.

The annealing process will help when rolling the material. Just remember to take your time little by little at a time and after each roll though the mill just test how felxible the material still is when almost not fexible at all then anneal once again.

If you can possibly try working in 18CT upwards as you will find this easier to form.

I hope this works for you.

Bubbleshell