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Tips for Jewelers Who Do Repairs By Alan Revere

KEEPING A CONNECTION
Using Anti-Flux to Prevent Solder from Flowing

Soldering is a delicate and sometimes difficult process- especially when you need to solder very close to a previous solder seam.  Without extra care, you can easily melt that prior seam and dislodge the parts.

One solution is to drop down a temperature level for the second seam, but that will limit further soldering to even lower temperatures.  Another reason for staying with higher-temperature solders is that the color of lower-melting-point solder usually does not match the metal as well.  Fortunately, there are other ways to deal with multiple solderings in close quarters, which enable you to work at the same solder level.

Remember that solder flows only on clean surfaces; it doesn’t work well on dirty or oxidized areas, or on surfaces that don’t have flux (a cleaning compound).  So you can discourage seams from flowing by intentionally making them dirty.  A good way to do that is with an anti-flux, such as yellow ochre, rouge, grease, or even melted rubber; all of these compounds inhibit solder flow.

This Tip is from “101 Bench Tips for Jewelers" written by Alan Revere and published by MJSA/AJM Press.

Revere Academy of Jewelry Arts http://www.revereacademy.com  

The Gem and Jewelry Pre-Eminent Online Resources. 
Open to the public Free of Charge.

A substantial library of articles, publications, reports, and technical data on gem and jewelry related topics; as well as a sizable collection of art and jewelry galleries, for both the casual visitor and the professional, also host the popular Orchid online forums for jewelers.

Visit us at www.ganoskin.com

Working with Platinum Jurgen J. Maerz CMBJ

Director of Technical Education
for Platinum Guild International
http://www.platinumguild.com

Get To Know Platinum
Part 1

Technical education is the key to successfully manufacturing platinum jewelry. Platinum is often regarded as a difficult metal to work with; however once you understand the capabilities as well as the limitations of this metal you will find working with it a pleasure.

Platinum is no more difficult to work with than any other precious metal, but it is very different.  This difference created a need for education on all levels, from designer to end-user. The Platinum Guild International (PGI), with six offices worldwide, is educating as many jewelers and consumers as possible about platinum. Through sales training and technical training as well as articles in trade publications, the word is spreading: platinum is here to stay, so let’s join the platinum wave.

It is possible to make things out of platinum that would be impossible to even attempt in anything else. What you need is an understanding of platinum’s metal properties, its malleability and ductility, and behavior when heat is applied. Add to this your skill as a craftsman and you should have no problems at all.

Alloying Platinum
Before platinum can be used in jewelry making, it has to be alloyed to create the metal most suitable for a specific application. Platinum can be alloyed with a multitude of metals to create a harder, more usable alloy. Platinum alloys range in purity from Pt 950 to Pt 900 and Pt 850. Pt950 contains 950 parts per 1000 of platinum and 50 parts per 1000 of another metal. Pt900 contains 900 parts per 1000 and 100 parts of one or more other metals. Pt 850 is not very common and is usually found in chain product.

Alloying platinum with different metals creates a variety of properties that make platinum extremely versatile. Adding five per cent ruthenium creates an alloy suitable for machining and faceting on a lathe. Many wedding bands are made this way. A five per cent addition of cobalt to platinum creates a very fine casting alloy. This alloy is hard and strong, yet very fluid and capable of filling very fine detail during the casting process. Adding tungsten will create a springy alloy that is generally used for findings. There are many more specialty alloys on the market, not to mention proprietary alloys that manufacturers create to make jewelry such as tension rings.

For more Tip to Working on Platinum Jewelry from Jurgen Maerz visit our Platinum Blog at: http://BenchMedia.typepad.com/platinumguru

Quote Worth Re-Quoting

"There are many truths of which the full meaning
cannot be realized until personal experience
had brought it home."

John Stuart Mill

Workshop Tips by Charles Lewton-Brain

Organizing the Messes

How you set up your shop, your working procedures and workspace can affect your safety, comfort, stress level and efficiency of making and repairing jewelry. If your shop is well planned you will be more efficient. The more efficient you are, the faster you work, and the more creative time you will have available to you. It pays to spend some time on organization. The more you think about and plan your workspace, and what you do in it, the easier life as a craftsperson will be for you. It’s safer, too. Many accidents happen because equipment is badly positioned, or there is too much clutter. Avoid making piles or having things too messy. Be smart in how you set up your space. It is important to set aside the time to describe and analyze what you do in your craft so that you can see how to improve things.

Draw a Map of Your Workplace.
It helps to make a plan of your workshop, like an architect's view of the layout of a floor in a house. Make it fairly large to have room to make notes on it. Draw in walls for the rooms and list on it the various jobs that are done in different areas. Label major equipment on the drawing. Draw in arrows to show how work pieces flow through the shop from entry to exit. Do some cross-hatching on it to identify areas where hazardous materials are stored and use some different kind of marking to show where hazardous noise is encountered. Indicate with X's where ergonomic dangers may be present and mark where space usage and access issues are present. Then add to your blossoming drawing little triangles to indicate where there are airborne hazards. Finally, make little colored stick-on dots where accidents or near accidents have occurred in the past as this will show where accident clusters happen. Accidents happen less often if things are tidy and organized.

Now look at your plan and see if you can rearrange jobs or equipment to make things a little safer, more efficient, productive and easier to live in. Think about access, ergonomics, confined spaces, traffic flow, fire dangers, fire extinguisher placement, etc. (Labour Canada 13). Set it up so that you have specific workstations for different jobs. Chemical use, for instance, should be done in a fume hood. Remember proper ventilation in your shop is vital. It helps to have low isolating walls around workstations to keep processes separate. It is a good idea to have your office in a separate room than your workshop. This is to lower your overall exposure to your workshop materials and processes. I also knew someone who fried their computer mother board in a combined office/workshop space because enough minuscule metallic dust entered it that it short circuited.

The work station should be carefully designed to be efficient, allow ease of working and be safe. Tools get positioned around the work station for maximum accessibility in order of frequency of use. Have tools in rotating bins, or blocks with tools sprouting from them that move about the work surface; use shelves, open compartments and tool boards. Easy reach and avoidance of twisting motions to reach tools are important considerations. An example of the effects of a workstation alteration is switching to a telephone headset. Users don't hurt their necks or jaws and are up to 48% more efficient at getting work done.

Look for role models that you can learn from; look for who has to work smoothly, accurately, safely and rapidly. How about doctors, surgeons, dentists, tattooist artists? All of the tools are laid out with each one in its place. As one gets older, phrases like "put things back where you found them" begin to make more sense. Just like a chemistry lab, try and have most table surfaces empty much of the time.

Spend some time analyzing your shop and discuss the results with someone knowledgeable. You will find you work easier, happier and faster.

http://www.ganoksin.com/borisat/safety.htm