Basic tips for scoring with the disc include: anneal
the metal before you begin.
Do not press hard; if the disc wears quickly
you are pressing too hard. The disc is very hard (nine and a half-it will
cut ruby and sapphire) but brittle. Let it cut its own way.
Wear safety
glasses and breathing protection-the dust is not good for you. I like
beeswax as a lubricant because it binds the dust into a paste on the surface
of the metal instead of putting it in the air. The lubricant increases
the cutting speed so go carefully when you start. Let the disc drift gently
away from you (right handers), if you pull it towards you it will tend
to sink rapidly through the metal. Go over the same area a number of times.
Because the disc wants to leap over the edge away from you and come back
on the other side lift the disc off before you arrive at the far edge
and turn the metal around so the part near the edge is towards you before
continuing. When you see a distinct raised line on the other side it is
time to stop. If you go through burnish it closed before soldering .Such
scored lines, where metal has been removed, need soldering to gain strength.
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This shows carving into the metal sheet
with the silicon carbide separating disc. Notice that the sheet is held
in the air, not against the bench pin, this is in order to be more sensitive
to the pressure used (rather like working in wax) and incidentally,
decreases the noise of using the disc. Again, I recomend using a sticky
wax like beeswax, not a lubricant like Burrlife®. |
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Here you can see a plastic hood I rigged up from
a plastic spring water bottle. A vacuum cleaner (preferably with a HEPA
filter installed) is installed into it to collect dust. if you use the
beeswax the dust problem is significantly reduced. Remember not to press
hard. If you find your disc wearing you are pressing too hard. |
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Here are the finished grooves. Multiple light passes with the disc
are preferable to pressing hard and going through the metal. The sheet is
continually turned over while working to see what the raised line on the
front looks like. |
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Here is what the raised line looks like when the metal is ready
to be bent up. By this time you are most of the way through the metal,
and the raised line represents where the disc has literally pushed the
metal upwards. |
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The metal was annealed before the scoring was begun. At this point
the piece is bent up gently with the fingers. If you are bending curves
it is very important to begin each bend at the furthest, tightest inside
of the curve, first one, then the next in order to avoid parts you did
not bend yet kinking in the opposite direction to the bend you want. don't
try and bend it too much at once, gently start each indentation and then
go back and deepen them. |
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Here is what a piece looks like after bending. In copper,
fine silver and platinum one can bend it up in one go, gently. In sterling
and gold alloys it may take several rounds of bending a bit, then annealing,
then continuing to bend to reach the degree of bend you want. If you are
going to anneal during bending flux the scored line to prevent it oxidizing
and after annealing use hot water, not pickle, to remove the flux residues
before continuing to bend. This will keep the scored metal clean and encourage
the final solder to flow well. |
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A selection of scored and bent pieces. It is often
a good idea to overbend a little before soldering to have a tight join.
The final position can be slightly adjusted after soldering. |
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As you can see, in 'dirty' metals like copper and even
sterling I am a big believer in using lots of white paste flux to ensure
a proper soldering. My experience is that when students fail at soldering
most of the time it is because their flux burned out. If you use a lot of
flux this problem is avoided. On fine silver and gold alloys the problem
is not so acute and other, thinner, self-pickling type fluxes may be used. |
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I usually use wire or stick solder to do this operation,
in silver and gold I may carefully place individual balls (not chips) of
solder instead to avoid accidental spillages. |
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Once the soldering is complete, and the piece pickled
clean it can be left as is as a finished form, or opened back out again
in order to turn the sodlered fold edges into line folds. Here you can see
how the piece is supported everywhere during the opening to get an even,
uniform result. |
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While I often leave the sharp raised ridge alone after
opening it can also be confirmed slightly with a rolling mill or gentle
stroking with a planishing hammer to upset and thicken the visual look of
the fold edge ridge. |
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Here is an example after opening up. The surface pattern under the
scored and bent fold edges has been applied using a paper dis. |
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A fold that has been opened up completely. At this point one can score
again and repeat the same process to produce different lines, or to add
three dimensional form to the sheet. You can again see the surface texture
produced by the paper die technique. |
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Here is an example of the same form after folding up and soldering and after
opening up again and confirming to turn the fold edge into a line fold. |
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Another view of the same two pieces. |
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Here is a brooch I made using these methods. It is about 15 cm long. |
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A brooch. The center marks were made as pinched extruded
line folds. The circular mark was a completely circular scoring, when
folded up before soldering the piece looked like a cup or shallow beaker |
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A brooch, copper, gold plated, note how the scored line runs around the
bend in the middle of the sheet. |
