[Jewelry making - Article 00049] - Re: [Orchid] Broken drill bits remover

[Peter W . Rowe]

========[ Invite a Friend - http://www.ganoksin.com/invite.htm  ]========

>     Does anyone know of a source for this type of thing for smaller
>     sized drills? 

    The trouble with doing this with drill bits is that, unlike screw or
    bolt heads, drills are hardened steel, often high speed steel. You
    can't just use a tool to cut that cone shape depression, or use a
    toothed tool that grabs it like the grabit, or like traditional
    removers of other brands that may require a hole drilled beforehand.
    To remove drill bits you generally have to dissolve them. The
    machinists doing this often need to remove steel or HSS drills from
    things that are themselves made of steel, which is then a problem.
    With jewelry, though, we're usually removeing broken drills that are
    stuck in precious metals, and these metals, fortunately, usually can
    withstand being soaked in something that can easily dissolve the
    drill bit without harming the jewelry metal. Most mild acids will do
    fine. Ordinary pickle solution is a common and effective choice. Mix
    it up new in order to avoid getting copper plating around the drill
    hole. Once the bit is dissolved, the new small batch of pickle you
    mixed to dissolve the bit can be saved for the next time, or just
    added into your regular pickle. The dissolved steel will not cause
    future problems or copper plating in other things. Another
    traditional agent to remove broken drill bits is Alum. Works best
    when boiling. You can get it in the grocery store in the pickling
    spices section. 

Peter
____________________________________________________________________
T h e   O r c h i d   L i s t
Open Electronic Forum for Jewelry Manufacturing Methods and Procedures
____________________________________________________________________
Orchid FAQ:
~ http://www.ganoksin.com/orchid/faq.htm
Orchid Archives:
~ http://www.ganoksin.com/orchid/archive
Orchid Galleries:
~ http://www.ganoksin.com/orchid/gallery.htm
Invite a Friend:
~ http://www.ganoksin.com/invite.htm
____________________________________________________________________
Tips From The Jeweler's Bench - Article Archive
~ http://www.ganoksin.com/borisat/tip_sear.htm
The Jeweler's Selected Bibliography List
~ http://www.ganoksin.com/jewelry-books
Buy Orchid Jewelry:
~ http://www.ganoksin.com/shop
____________________________________________________________________
-Unsubscribe:
-Email: orchid-request AT ganoksin.com Body=unsubscribe subject=blank
____________________________________________________________________