[Jewelry making - Article 00832] - Re: [Orchid] Got my oxy/propane torch!

[Peter W . Rowe]

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>     .... Ever had a day when you wished you'd not got out of bed that
>     morning? 

    Yeah, lots of em. But I get up anyway, at least most of the time...:-
) 

>     ... Eventually, after the wind kept blowing it out, 

    Try to avoid an actual wind, including fans blowing across your
    soldering/torch use area. Many jewelers torches get really hard to
    light in any sort of actual breeze. If you've got the garage door
    open for ventillation, close it enough so there's no actual breeze in
    your work area. That will help a lot. Barring that, you'll do best to
    set up some sort of wind screen so you're at least lighting the torch
    in mostly still air. 

>     I The knob was SO stiff that I could not turn it sensitively - 

    when new, the torch valves can be pretty stiff at first. But you
    might also try very slightly loosening the larger hex nuts at the
    base of each valve. I don't recall if this is the case on the Little
    torch, but on many, that net, actually part of the valve body where
    it screws into the torch handle, is also part of the packing/sealing
    system to keep the valve stem from allowing a gas or oxygen leak. If
    that's the case, slightly unscrewing that from the torch body will
    ease the tightess with which the valve turns. Don't overdo it, or
    you'll get the leak the packing is intended to prevent. If it doesn't
    help, then I've remembered the torch construction wrong, so tighten
    it up again. Either way, it WILL loosen up after you've used it a
    bit. 

>     it was either off or too far on, such that it would blow the flame
>     out and pop. 

    It also sounds as though you've got the tank output pressures set
    too high. The little torch uses gas an oxygen pressures a good deal
    lower than most other torches. Try unscrewing the regulator handles a
    bit to get lower pressures. That should help a lot with the torch
    flame blowing out. 

>     Eventually, Darren came to find me, telling me that he'd fitted it
>     with the wrong size tip and that after changing it, it was now
>     much easier to light. 

    If you've got the usual standard little torch kit, they usually
    supply it with the same set of tips no matter what fuel gas you'll be
    using. With propane or natural gas, the first three tip sizes,
    1,2,and 3 are pretty useless. You can, with low tank settings, get
    the 3 to light but it's good for only the tiniest of soldering jobs.
    The 1 and 2 are almost impossible to light at all with any flame
    stability, though sometimes you can get a faint tiny flame useful
    for polishing details on wax models. But that's about it. In general,
    for actual work on metals, you'll be using the #4 and larger tips
    with propane and oxygen. 

>     One would think that the perimeter of a 9x7mm rectangular stone
>     would be 32mm - well at least it was when I was at school. 

    It would be if the metal you were making the bezel out of had no
    thickness. Because it does, the 32 mm perimeter would give you too
    small a bezel, since that measurement ends up as about the
    centerline of the bezel wall, not it's interior measurement needed if
    the stone will fit. Measure your bezel wall thickness, and add twice
    the metal thickness to your 32 mm length, and it should come out
    right. Or in other words, add the metal thickness to each of the
    dimensions before doing the math. Works for round stones the same
    way. Add the metal thickness to the diameter, then multiply by pi,
    and you get the needed circumference. Ovals, take the average
    diameter (length + width /2), add the metal thickness, and as with
    rounds, multiply by pi. 

    It's pretty easy to get this wrong. Some people forget that when
    bent, the interior surface is compressed and shrinks, while the
    exterior surface stretches, so the effective length of the blank
    remains along it's centerline. That can be confusing. Plus, with
    sharp corners, wider stock sometimes tends to flare/stretch
    differently from narrower bezel stock, so you may have to adjust
    slightly 

    If your bezel is being made of slightly thicker material, another
    method that works easily for square and rectangles is to make the
    bezel of two pieces, not one. Each is one corner and two legs. On
    each, one leg is cut so when held up to the stone, it ends exactly
    at the far corner, while the second leg is left a bit long. The two
    pieces can be then set up so each longer leg forms a T joint with
    the short leg of the other piece. If you set this up accurately for
    soldering, you can get an exact fit without having to worry so much
    about premeasuring the blank. it does mean you have two corners that
    are soldered shut instead of being bent metal, which has to be taken
    into account when setting, as those corners may end up a little
    stiffer than the unsoldered, bent corners. But then, for sharp
    corners, you'll have filed a groove into the stock prior to bending
    it, so the outside of the corner ends up nice and crisp and square,
    instead of rounded. That way, there's solder in all four corners, all
    four also are nice and crisp, and they'll all behave the same in
    setting. Oh, and the trick for getting the two pieces set at the
    right postion for soldering is to scribe the desired position for
    the joint on the inside surface of the long leg of each L shaped
    piece, and then, using a graver, raise a stitch or two right up to
    your scribed line so the graver mark will be inside the solder joint.
    Now you've got a raised spur that the ends of the short legs can rest
    against during soldering, so they don't slip out of position. 

cheers
Peter
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