Yesterday's Pendant

[kaldorlon]

Very nice pendant!

[steelandstone]

Jan 29, 2014 10:20:26 GMT -5 Tom said:

Hi Phil, yes its almost as much fun to collect the tools as use them:)

What setting burrs would you recommend from this Rio page?

www.riogrande.com/Search/setting-burr-set

What set of setting tools would you recommend:

www.riogrande.com/Search/stone-setting-system

I likely won't do enough of this to justify spending tons of money so hoping for the less expensive sets, yet I am well aware that if I buy junk I just won't be happy. I still remember that Russian Lada I bought (really didn't)

I am not dedicated to Rio by any means. Watched a couple video's on this method and it looks like fun.

any info is great, otherwise I will wing it, works most of the time LOL

Thanks again, and if anyone else has something to say go for it!

Tom,



As far as setting burrs I have this set LYNX Setting Burrs



They have worked well for me. Make sure you do use Bur-Life or something similar to extend the cutting edge life



And as for setting tools I have two hammer handpieces to fit my Foredom LX but rarely use it to set gemstones I use a set similar to these Stone setting set about 90% of the time. You can use them for Tube setting and also Some prong setting.



Other than that you need a decent opti-visor , some pumice wheels to do touch up and some Jam polish and your good to go.



Oh you will need a good digital caliper



So for around $150.00 you can have all you need to start tube setting.

[steelandstone]

Jan 29, 2014 10:26:34 GMT -5 connrock said:

Funny story,,,,,,
When I made the 4mm and 6mm tube settings I knew nothing about them and couldn't fund any info on the web.I sat for a long time thinking if I really wanted to do this but God hates a coward so off I went!
I checked the size of all the 6 stones with a caliper and choose a drill that was slightly bigger then the stones.I wrapped bezel wire around the 2 different size drills and soldered the joints of the bezel wires.I took what I thought was the appropriate size square wire,made small rings to fit inside of the "bezel tubes" and soldered them inside and flush with the top edges,,,,are we havin fun yet? LOL
If all of the above wasn't difficult enough for me to do I now had to make seats for the stones into that square wire,,,,setting burrs,,,,never heard of them and wouldn't know one if it was sitting in front of me!
I took(I think) a 5/32" and 15/64" drills and ground the cutting edges as close as possible to match the angles of the stones.
When I drilled into the first setting I well knew that the square wire was not "deep" enough so it was back to the drawing board again!
I made 2 sets of the square wire for each setting and soldered the 2 pieces of square wire together to get the depth I needed for the stones.I also used a taller bezel wire to give me a little more room for error.
After getting the square wire soldered into the tubes I had to solder the tubes themselves onto pieces of silver so I had something to hold the tubes for drilling,,,,I learned this while trying to drill the original tubes! LOL
I snipped away some of the silver holding the tubes and carefully sanded the rest off with small 3/4" fine sanding disks in my Foredom.I should add that I have the Foredom drill press.
I had to "play" with the angles inside the settings for a LONG time till I got then as close as possible to match the stones.I epoxied the settings into the guard of the knife I was making and then set the stones using a curved burnishing tool.
A long time after I did this I found that I could have bough tube settings and that there is such a thing as setting burrs! LOL I never even gave it a thought to use heavy walled tubing either! LOL

They didn't come out as good as a jeweler could do but I did do it!



Like I said in a previous post about me making tube settings,,,NEVER AGAIN! LOL
connrock

Boy that was the long way around the block to get where your going. Hind sight is always 20/20.
Quite honestly in the picture they look pretty damn good to me.

[rockjunquie]

connrock YOU are an inspiration! Way to go. Your setting looks fantastic!

[gemfeller]

Jan 29, 2014 10:26:34 GMT -5 connrock said:

Like I said in a previous post about me making tube settings,,,NEVER AGAIN! LOL
connrock

Great post. Don't ask me how I know about that stuff. I was going to ask how much you'd charge to do that job again but you've answered it
Rick

[Tom]

Thanks Phil, those are the sets I pretty much picked out, I did go for the other linx set but overall same thing. They only have the smaller pumice stones in stock but it will be a few days before I order so maybe the 22mm will be back in stock. Ordered a couple cheap stones to work with (I will not get into faceting stones, NO, NO, NO)!!!!

Thanks again

[connrock]

Tube settings,,,,
When I look back at what I put myself through ,to be able to do even simple things,I wonder where I found the patience to punish myself like that? LOL
I was a LOT more determined back then then I am now.Years ago I just did things,,,now I sit and think for hours or even days about IF I want to do them! LOL
The "Golden Years",,,yeah right! LOL
connrock