Flush setting any tips

Morning,
I'm having a go at flush setting this morning, got to say i'm a bit nervous, i have drilled the setting (hole) and the emerald sits in nicely, any tips please on what to and what not to do would be great.
Thanks in advance.
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Dear Summer,

Most of us would chip in to trouble shoot for you, but I for one would baulk at teaching you stone setting from scratch. It is just too big a subject.

However, you would do well to consider investing in a book: either 'The Workbench guide to Jewellery techniques' by Anastasia Young, wnich covers many aspects of making, or a dedicated book, 'Creative Stone Setting', by James Cogswell.

That said, I can see from your picture that the stone you propose to set is far too wide for your ring, and you will not have enough metal at the sides to keep the stone safe. Also the culet will poke through the hole.
As a rule of thumb, the stone should only occupy about a third of the width of metal for flush setting.

You can rescue what you have done by soldering on a piece of tube for tube setting instead. Dennis

Hi Summer, in the meantime I would suggest you watch Soham Harrison on You Tube who will show you exactly what to do. He also calls flush setting gypsy setting.
Good luck

Theresa

Thank you Dennis and Theresa, I didn't realize it was around a 3rd Dennis, I do have Anastasia Young The Workbench Guide to Jewelry Techniques but in the flush setting part it doesn't specify how much space would be needed, the sone i was going to use is not poking through so that bit would have been ok, yep probably do a different setting instead :-D done the tube setting before, so flush was a new one for me, ah well we live and learn :-D
Theresa love watching Soham Harrison bet i've not even scratched the surface on his you tube vids .... love his voice :-)

Peter has a pic somewhere in the archives showing what happens when you have a stone in a curved surface, you really want the same depth all the way around.
It helps that you have soft silver, but maybe emerald is abit much of a challenge for a first go.:)

Cheers Chris, I thought it might be but i'm a tryer if nowt else :-D yes see what you mean about curve, i've put it in the "to sort out later" pot :-) All's not lost with it though, will probably do the tube setting.

Hi , me again :-)
So flush setting, i have set a ruby in this ring, I think it went ok, it doesn't come out even when i push with some force from the back .... but i'm off center lol i marked out my center with a marker did my small punch before drilling pilot hole ect so i must have been out somewhere along, any pointers please, and any constructive criticism on the setting but please be gentle :-)
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Itsnot far off centre, but a small round burr is sometimes better than a centre punch. Also start with a small drill and work up to stay in the centre better.

I guess you must have watched this as advised by Theresa above: https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=so...zIJcvzUtmahNgD

Im not sure it even is off centre, you have a small bulge out in the top right corner which may be whats making it appear that way?
If you could push that over a bit I think it would be pretty much unnoticeable if it is off centre?
Looks like a good job for a first flush set, I tend to find it either goes well or it doesn't for me!

What a pretty design Summer and nicely pierced!! I think something has been out, very slightly.
How did you measure your centre point? Was your initial pilot drill absolutely vertical? Did your letting in of the stone 'wiggle' at all??
Just a few thoughts of errors I've made meaning that settings have strayed out of place!!

Morning ,
Hi Dennis, yes the drills i stated with a 1mm and moved up to 1.6, thinking about it there could have been movement along the way as i drilled with a hand held rotary. I watched that you tube vid about a year ago, he didn't get it centered either :-D I learned that setting from watching him ( building up the silver to set the stone) I don't know if you recall the first time i wanted to set an iolite in a fused pendant, see i get confused easily, i thought gypsy and flush were two different things, Duh me.

Hi Enigma, thanks, it is off though, you know how it is when you know there's a problem ... everyone in the world can see it too ... even if they can't :-D lumpy bit might be because i textured the flower so maybe that didn't help with drilling.

Tabby thanks, i would love to take credit for the flower but that was a cop out on my part, I got a pack of 20 from cookies :-D Made the band though. Just used the ruler to find my center, then eyeballed it, I definitely went out some where, my initial start was with a punch point but the rest was with hand held motor tool so really i guess more pressure to one side could be a reason, the stone was a tight fit no wriggle room at all. Sat wondering now whether to get the stand drill out, only put it away about a month ago as i'd not used it lol, not that that will held with centering but it would make sure i don't lean one way or the other. :-)

You could use some dividers to mark out the outline of where you want the stone to be..then keep your drilling inside that.
It is very easy to go abit off centre, just one of those things to keep an eye on & take your time.

or, if you can outline the perimeter of your circle, this method may help.....http://www.mathopenref.com/constcirclecenter2.html

Such a pretty ring. After too many attempts to find the centre of anything, always getting it not quite right, I bought the centre locator from cooksons, works great. Weird thing is, it always looks off centre to me - but when its done, it isn't (off centre, that is). (probably explains why I always get it wrong left to my own devices) :)

It's not possible to critique your work since the image is lacking crispness close up...probably something that could be pointed out since 99.9% of handwork isn't perfect every time, though It's knowing what those details are that is the key.
Most customers won't know the difference, but I guess if your wanting to learn, you may as well aim as near perfect as it could be.

Thanks Chris Tabby and Joellla, for the link to Tabby,
I've taken another photo Chris, hope this is clearer, i think when we take close-ups any problem stands out so much more, so true we aim for perfection, don't always get it but learn from it :-)
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Not much wrong there :)
Metal could be abit flusher to the stone in places & the burnishing has a couple of places to tidy up..but as you say, it looks better in real life.
Now you can flush set, It's just working on fixing those nitpicking details next time.

Quite a bonus working under a microscope, as it forces you to neaten up magnified work, but there is a limit to what's worth bothering with.

What a useful site. Thanks Jill:dance:

Thanks Chris that is a huge compliment from such a professional as yourself, got to admit im a bit scared of pressing on to hard in case the ruby cracks but will have do it i know :-)