[Jewelry making - Article 00425] - Re: [Orchid] Sizing a ring with a laser welder

[WADEDESIGNS]

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    This post and a few others about tac welders prompted me to do a
    little experimenting this morning. I had a job in my box that I have
    been putting off for a couple of weeks. And to make matters worse it
    belongs to my wife. It is a platinum ring set with diamonds and a
    very nice tanzanite that she picked out for herself at the Tucson
    show several years ago. It needed to be sized from a 5 1/2 to a 6
    1/2. I did not want to heat this tanzanite at all and was left with
    the thought of running it over to a friend who has a laser welder. 

    I own a PUK111 welder and have been using it to weld orings and to
    tack items together before soldering. I decided to see if it would
    size a platinum ring. What did I have to lose? Worst case I would
    have my friend laser a new 1/2 shank on it. To my amazement it did a
    beautiful job. I fit in the right size piece of sizing stock turned
    it to full power and welded all the way around the seams. It never
    got too hot to hold in my fingers. I put it on a ring mandrel and
    tapped it up the last 1/8 of a size and the weld held. It had a tiny
    bit of porosity that was easily taken care of with a burnisher.
    Sanded and polished, the seam is much less visible than any that I
    could have done with and easy platinum solder. This from a machine
    that cost me $2695.00  Is that about one tenth of the cost of a
    laser welder? 

John Wade
Wade Designs
wadedesigns AT aol.com

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