[Jewelry making - Article 00045] - Re: [Orchid] Cutting Jump Rings

[Trevor F]

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>     Where are y'all getting the steel/copper/aluminum rods to use as
>     mandrels for all these jump-ringing operations? 

Hello Jessee,

    One good option if you want to do the place-an-order thing and leave
    it at that, assuming we're talking winding mandrels and not mandrels
    that are going to get hacked up, is to buy a set from Dave Arens,
    Frei & Borel, or whomever. Typical sets are in the 1mm to 12 or 16mm
    range by .5 increments, more or less. They cost a few bucks but
    they're usually graded, slotted, possibly drilled through and ready
    to go. Can save you a lot of hassle. 

    A good metals supply place can be invaluable if you're a DIY guy, the
    kind of place that supplies machinists and welders. The one is used
    to frequent could get me pretty much any size from 2mm to 25mm in .5mm
    increments, in any of the standard metals, within 3 days if they
    didn't have it in stock. There were two catches: (1) minimums varied
    from 3 to 10(?) ft and (2) you had to pick the stuff up at their
    shop/warehouse (no deliveries, no shipping, nada). If you could live
    within those restrictions it was a real gold mine for the eager
    metals fetishist.  Stuff like brass and iron was usually pretty darn
    cheap too.  Drill rod, tool steel and aluminium rather less so. 

    These days I just buy standard sizes and turn an appropriate chunk
    down on my table-top lathe if I need something special or
    particularly specific. 

    For teeny sizes a good hobby supply shop usually does the trick. 
    When I go scouting for one I look in the yellow pages to find the
    shops that supply gear to model railroaders as these guys seem to use
    all the right stuff (wide variety of sizes, metals, shapes, etc). 

    And I quite agree, wood mandrels are generally _not_ the material of
    choice. 

Cheers,
Trevor F.

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