Sparkle/sparkly texture using graver?

[emsterv]

a diamond tipped anvil

Aha! Searching the internet, I've come across the term lazer/laser finish. I think this is what I'm ultimately looking for (and possibly what several of you have been referencing, I'm just too green in this area to pick up on it!). I found this picture of a bead online and this looks very much like what I'm trying to achieve. To quote a page:

The diamond point is a sharp faceted shape. It’s used to give an overall glittery finish to a surface, sometimes referred to as a laser finish (just a marketing name, as lasers aren’t involved), or a diamond point finish. It’s interesting in that as you chatter the point over a surface, because the tip keeps its same alignment, each impact produces multiple little reflective surfaces that end up being in the same plane, so the whole surface of the work will have multiple angles at which it reflects light from many of the impacts at once, which differs from the general glittery/sparkly look of finishes produced by things like mizzy wheels or rotary diamond abrasive points.

Nick, I found the rings on the Show and Tell and your texture seems to be more uniform and a bit less chunky/3 dimensional than what I'm trying to achieve. Do you think what I'm looking to do could be achieved by using the same type of handpiece?

Lastly, my budget is going towards other things at the moment so I'm not going to invest in a hammer handpiece just yet - would it be possible to use a diamond tip with a hammer for the meantime for experiments, or would this damage the tip?

Thanks so much for all your help!

[Patstone]

There isnt a lot of info on hammer handpieces, can you use them with a Foredom shaft drive or is it a totally different animal. Can you get the same effect as the bead using hand tools.

[Goldsmith]

There isnt a lot of info on hammer handpieces, can you use them with a Foredom shaft drive or is it a totally different animal. Can you get the same effect as the bead using hand tools.

You can buy a Foredom hammer handpiece Pat, http://www.suttontools.co.uk/foredom...handpiece.html


James

[Patstone]

I saw that one, but I wondered if it would fit and work on the normal Red label SR Flexshaft. Dont want to spend another £400 ish for another type of motor if it will work with the one I have already.

[emsterv]

Whoops can't seem to edit my last post, but I meant:

"Do you think what I'm looking to do could be achieved by"using the same type of bit", not "using the same type of handpiece"?"

[Nick martin]

Pat,

Its not the foredom flexshaft ( LX / SR ) its the handpiece. You need the hammer handpiece and it has a reciprocating action which turns it into a mini anvil if you like, although you can adjust the strength of how hard it impacts. The diamond tipped anvil point that you insert as you would a burr ( although you screw this one on ) is about £20 or thereabouts. I get mine from Suttons.

Nick

[Nick martin]

Hi Emily,

Id say yes. I purposely made my texture look uniform as that was the look I was trying to achieve.

Its actually easier to achieve a less uniform coverage as you dont need to be as precise with the hammer handpiece, and you can also adjust the impact strength of the diamond anvil point which will also give a different look if you combine both hard and soft impacts.

Nick

[Patstone]

Yes Nick I understand that bit, but what drives it, presumably the shaft part of the motor fits into the handpiece the same way as the quick release handpiece. What I want to know is when you put a burr in it the burr goes around but a hammer goes up and down, what makes it go up and down. All I have is the Foredom motor and shaft with a quick release handpiece. Just looked on Sutton's website and the handpiece no.15 ? Is £107. Can't find anything for around £20. Can you send me a link please.

[Nick martin]

Hi Pat,

The specific hammer handpiece has different mechanisms inside of it, so whereas the quick release spins the burr in a rotary movement, the hammer handpiece moves it up and down to give it an anvil like movement, and the foot pedal simply controls the speed of it.

You can buy direct from Foredom in the US, or like I did from Suttons who are the importer. I think I paid about £110 or something for mine.

Nick

[Patstone]

Ahhh, that's what I saw on the Sutton's website, so the handpiece fits the normal shaft and the "anvil" bit is the replaceable "burr", so all I would have to buy is the handpiece and whatever end I needed. Thank you very much for your help Nick, much appreciated.