Making the Clamp
Cleanup equipment
Modifying the Bur
Recent Cool Tools columns
|
Once I got over the dentist office association I was fine.
Really. Although sometimes I still get that little quiver in the pit of my stomach
when I hear the high-pitched whir of the flex-shaft.
I discovered the joy of lightspeed metal removal only after I had carelessly
sprued a wax model in a rush to invest before a weekly casting session ended.
After my cast the following week, I looked at the big, bulging, nasty blob of
bronze on the back of my piece and wanted to kick myself. I was faced with a
major cleanup — and the sprue cutter would only get me so far. Envisioning
hours of filing and sawing — on the back of a gently curved form — I
finally got over the dentist thing, loaded up a cylinder bur and got busy. I
felt like jumping for joy as those splinters of bronze showered into my goggles.
But, controlling that bur using my foot took some getting used to — and,
of course, everyone I questioned had a different method for success.
My pal Steve Satow gave me some great information on modifying a stone-setting
bur plus a nice custom handpiece clamp. So, read up and get grinding along on
your own personal metal-removing power trip!
Steve Satow
One of the most time-consuming things in jewelry making is setting stones both
securely and attractively. I have found that modifying a standard bur will solve
many of the problems of everyday setting. I modify standard high speed setting
burs to quickly prep cast bezel settings — most of which are delivered
with the inside seat at a 90 degree angle — I have never yet set a faceted
stone with a 90 degree pavilion!
Make the Clamp:
First, I made a clamp for flex-shaft handpieces using steel angle iron, a C-clamp,
and 1-1⁄4 inch long 10⁄32 slotted screws (four screws and eight nuts).
Cut two straight 2-1⁄2 inch long pieces of 3⁄4 inch angle iron.
File off any burrs. File a 3⁄4 inch long flat spot on the top of a 1 inch
C-clamp. Set aside. Attach the nuts to the top plate as pictured, aligning them
flat. (If you braze them, make sure they don’t move — alignment is
critical between the top and bottom plates.
Drill the threads out of the nuts on the top plate — they are only guides.
Put screws through the four drilled out nuts and add nuts below the drilled out
ones, aligning them perfectly all around. Place the second plate against the
top plate, tightening it with binding wire, and weld or braze the second group
of four nuts to it.
Attach the bottom plate to the filed top of the C-clamp. Make a secure joint
with brazing rod or laser weld it with stainless steel wire. Clean up and paint
the clamp to resist rust. This clamp allows a large range of adjustment. I have
successfully used a #30, Micro-motor, or Quick-change Foredom, a Electer GX micro
motor, and two different Swiss quick change handpieces.
Modify the Bur:
Clamp the handpiece to your bench pin (or Benchmate) to start grinding.
For this example, I inserted a 1.23 mm setting bur. The hand pieces will face
each other so they spin the same way, but are flipped in opposite directions.
I stacked two separating discs in another handpiece (only one has a tendency
to break) and ran both hand pieces at about the same speed. Slowly lower the
separating discs down against the spinning bur to take off the excess. A small
brush with water will keep the bur cool and preserve its temper.
Your modified bur should look like the one on the left. |
After you have finished grinding, the modified bur should look like the one
on the left. Blaine Lewis’s setting videos (and workshops) have taught
me how much easier a bezel lays over when a slight undercut is made at its base.
This modified bur allows an undercut to be made in one step instead of two, and
a larger safety groove is produced which will protect fragile stones.
Steve Satow graduated from Bowman Technical School,
completing the 6-9 month jewelry repair and stone setting course in 3.5 months.
He decided he couldn’t live without a laser welder and became the first
to purchase a laser for a home shop in the USA, in March of 2000. Since then,
he has logged close to 4000 hours of “target practice” on the laser.
You can also download Cool Tools: Get Grinding in
PDF format. (2.1MB)
Cool Tools is a regular feature of Jewelry Artist. If you have a tool you would
like featured, a useful tool modification, or interesting bench trick to suggest,
or, if you'd like to join our studio of experts, contact Helen Driggs, Managing
Editor, Jewelry Artist, 300 Chesterfield Parkway, Suite 100, Malvern, PA 19355,
or hdriggs@interweave.com, subject line "Cool Tools." Please include your complete
contact information with all submissions.
|
