[Jewelry making - Article 00634] - Re: [Orchid] Platinum channel set rings to size

[Peter W . Rowe]

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>      Today, the ring had a few .11 diamonds and 3 of them clouded up to
>     a milky white.

    You got the diamonds too hot, or perhaps they were not properly
    cleaned first. Diamonds, when very clean, and coated with boric acid
    or a good flux, can take fairly high temps as in normal gold
    soldering.  But even coated and cleaned, they don't withstand the
    temps needed for platinum soldering or welding. Platinum is not a
    good conductor of heat, so working quickly, perhaps with some
    tweezers strategically placed as heat sinks, you can solder platinum
    somewhat close to set diamond (I usually figure no closer than about
    3mm),  without the heat traveling far enough to damage the diamonds. 
    But if the diamond is glowing much at all, not to mention the bright
    incandescent temp of soldering or welding platinum, they are gonna
    burn, which leaves them white and frosty/milky looking. If large
    enough, they can be repolished, with only slight loss in weight, but
    the cost of repolishing usually exceeds the value of a melee
    diamond.  . Now, if you want a good argument in favor of laser
    welders, this kind of work is it. Though a laser, at higher powers
    especially, is still quite capable of causing major damage to a
    diamond if you actually hit the diamond,  when used carefully you can
    weld platinum that's literally in contact with the diamond, without
    much risk to the stone.  One of the rings we manufacture is a narrow
    channel set eternity band with fifty .01 diamonds set girdle to
    girdle all the way around. with the laser, I can cut that puppy to
    size it, and weld it back together seamlessly.  occasionally I'll
    kill one of those melee when doing this, if I aim wrong and actually
    blast the diamond, but most of the time there's no problem. I sure
    wouldn't want to try this with a torch... 

Peter

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