[Jewelry making - Article 00013] - Re: [Orchid] Making Metal Balls at the End

[Guido]

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Wendy,

    the advice others have given about using a Smith Little torch with a
    fine tip and a hot flame is good. You can also use a heat shielding
    product like KoolJewel (TM?) diluted with a little water to make a
    paste and applied with a syringe and cut off needle to protect the
    stone, and liquid flux to ease the formation of the ball. It is good
    if one side of the dumbell that runs through the chain or hole
    terminates on a metal surface, that way you form the headpin, run
    the pre-balled side against the stone, and then fuse the other end
    tight up against the metal surface, which is a bit more forginving
    of the high temperature. The downside is that even with a light
    touch and some experience, it can be difficult or impossible to work
    in a very tight design or with very fragile stones, since with the
    torch you are directing a relatively bulky stream of plasma in the
    general direction of the wire (and stone), and there is a bit of
    labor intensive set up. 

    I think there may be promise in using some variety of capacitve
    discharge electrical welding set up. I've spoken over the phone with
    the distributors for the ABI welders and they have a model which
    they claim will accomplish what you want, can't remember which one
    but I'm sure its over a thousand dollars. The advantage is that the
    electrical discharge causes resistive heating only where the arc
    terminates on the metal wire, and for a very brief period of time,
    allowing you to control very precisely where the heat goes- into the
    wire, and not into the stone. Additionally, there are electrical
    welders that also use an argon cover gas to protect the metal from
    oxidation during the weld process. 

Hope this helps,
Guido


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