Project 2

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Project 2: Hollow Constructed Ring

Create and finish a hollow constructed ring! For inspiration, look at symbols and architecture/architectural elements. The ring does not have to be closed all the way. You can pierce designs into the sides. As hollow forms tend to be a bit bulky, also think about how you could wear the piece as a pendant.

Think about interesting outside (and inside) shapes! You do not have to make the walls (rings) the same thickness; you can slant them to taper the piece.

Designs: 10 sketches of rings- draw top view and side view to scale! Elaborate on surface designs on the ring, and placement of air holes.

Make maquettes of your favorite 3 designs. Maquettes can be made from card stock or stiff paper. Make maquettes to scale. You should be able to put the maquette on your finger!

Designs and 3 initial maquettes are due October 7.

Final Maquette is due beginning of class October 14.

Finished project is due beginning of class November 11.

Lesson 6: Forming with Mandrels

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Lesson 6: Forming with Mandrels

Both before and after soldering you can use the mandrels and forming tools to create shape to your pieces.

• Before soldering you want to create the general shape.
• Any areas to be soldered should meet as perfectly as possible. This will require work with the file to make sure of this.  They should fit tightly together- no light peeking through!
• Ring bands shouldn’t be completely round- they should be flat on the top so that the ends of the metal meet completely.
• Solder the ring with hard.
• File the excess solder off. This makes sure the solder doesn’t get pounded into the surface of the ring.
• Slide ring onto mandrel. Make sure that mandrel is in vise or resting against the stump or bench. The mandrel should be moving when you are hammering on it!
• Form ring on mandrel, first with rawhide mallet, then with goldsmith’s hammer.
• The rawhide (or wood/plastic) mallets push the metal against the mandrel. The metal hammers will thin the metal out slightly with each blow (leaving the hammered look) and conforms the metal to exactly the shape of the mandrel.
• File away hammer marks.
• Sand to 600 grit. Then polish if desired.
• Make sure not to distort the profile of the ring with your sanding or filing!!
• Remember: you can always take more metal off. You can’t put it back on!

Lesson 7: Hollow Construction

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Lesson 7: Hollow Construction

• Form and solder inside ring (hard)                                        
• Solder inside ring to bottom plate (hard)
• Form and solder outside ring  (hard)                                     
• Solder outside ring to bottom plate (medium)
• Drill a hole through bottom plate and cut out inside the inner ring. Cut away excess from around the outside ring.
• Drill air hole. This can be placed wherever you want- on the inside ring if you don’t want it to be seen. You can also make a pattern of holes, or pierce out a pattern for your air hole. It can be a part of your design!
• Solder both inside and outside rings to top plate. This closes off the form. (medium)
• Cut away excess from around the outside ring. Drill a hole through top plate and cut out inside the inner ring.
• File, sand, and finish the form.

Lesson 4: Soldering

Lesson 4: Soldering
Hard solder- Start with hard for first 1-2 joints. This is the best solder for most fabrications.

Medium solder- Medium is a great solder for repair and the middle 2-3 solder joints

Easy solder- Easy is best used as a last resort or on very complex pieces. Since easy has the lowest % of silver in the solder it will oxidize quickly to a yellow color.

To turn on the torch:
• Check that knob on torch is closed.
• Turn knob on top of the tank to the left- just enough so that the gauge on the front registers other than zero. Usually ¼ - ½ turn is plenty.
• Make sure the regulator knob is most of the way in- for single stage, halfway through the diamond closest to the knob; for dual stage, 10psi.
• Open knob on torch- this starts the flow of gas to the torch tip.
• You should hear a SMALL hissing sound. Think garden snake hiss, not an anaconda. You don’t have to turn the knob much.
• Hold the striker in front of the torch tip, slightly higher than the tip.
• Push across the striker, creating a spark. This will light the gas.
• The torch flame will have 2 areas- the outer dark blue cone and the inner light blue cone.
• By opening the knob on the torch body further, you can create a larger flame.
• To turn off, simply close the knob on the torch body

To close down the torches:
• Turn knob on top of the tank to the right firmly until it stops.
• Light the torch.
• This burns off any gas remaining in the hose.
• The flame will go out by itself.
• Close the knob on the torch body.

To change the torch tip:
• Hold the torch body in one hand, the tip in another.
• Twist the torch tip off.
• Get the tip you want on the torch.
• Screw it on tightly- there should be not movement or looseness!
• Extra torch tips are kept on the back ledge or in the soldering supplies cabinet.



Soldering:
• Clean areas to be soldered.
• Make sure joints fit tightly.
• Place on soldering board.
• Clip appropriate amount of solder.
• Flux areas to be soldered.
• Light torch.
• Heat piece evenly until the flux turns clear and glassy.
• Place solder on joint.
• Heat piece again until solder flows.
• Turn off torch.
• Quench hot piece in sink under water.
• Place in pickle pot for 5-10 minutes or until all gunk is off piece.
• Rinse under water and brass brush with soap.
• Dry.

Soldering tips and tricks:
• Make sure that all areas to be soldered meet cleanly with no gaps.
• File/sand all areas to be soldered. Clean metal solders better than dirty.
• Run your solder through the flat rollers first to make it easier to cut small pieces.
• Cut more solder than you think you’ll need!
• A dab of flux on solder pieces will keep them in place on the soldering board.
• Make sure than your inner blue cone is almost touching the piece.
• Holding your flame too far away will cause the metal to heat up, but not the solder!
• A correctly soldered seam should have a line of silver running around the entire seam.
• You do not have to solder inside and outside the seam, the solder will flow.

Homework: Soldering samples: wire to sheet (turn into your sample pin back), sweat seam, butt seam

Lesson 5: Simple Pin Stem

Lesson 5: Simple Pin Stem
• Cut 2 pieces of wire- one should be shorter than the other. Cut the wire longer than you think you will need.
• Measure, cut, and file flat one end of each wire.
• Using a third hand, hold wire onto back of brooch.
• Solder. (If using tubing, solder tubing on where the long wire should go. Solder wire into tubing after making taper.)
• Pickle
• File away any excess solder.
• Bend short wire around to form catch. Use the round/flat pliers
• File taper on long wire.
• Sand and polish taper.
• Bend long wire into position, and hammer the bend to harden.
• You can harden the pin stem further by putting the piece in the tumbler.

Pin back tips:
• When making your pin backs, use the hardest metal available- steel is hardest, and then nickel silver.
• Make sure to heat your base plate much more than the pin wires. They will heat up just fine without the torch pointing at them.
• Test your pin point out! A long taper (1/2”) is much smoother to use than a short taper.
• It is important that your pin be in proportion to the rest of your piece.
• The pin stem gets a lot of use- 18ga. wire is best. If the pin is very light, 20ga.

Lesson 3: Sanding and Polishing

Lesson 3: Sanding and Polishing
After filing your piece, the edges still aren’t nice and smooth. You will want to sand them.
To sand, start with the coarsest gauge paper (220/230) and move through each paper until you reach the finest grade (600)
For flat surfaces:
• Sand on the sanding disks, or tape a piece of sandpaper to one of the boards.
• Sand in a circular pattern. Finish by going back and forth in one direction. This allows you to see easily when you are ready to move on to the next grit.
For curves:
• Wrap sandpaper around either your file or a paint stirrer (or similar) and use as you would for filing.
• Sandpaper has no direction, go back and forth.
Move to the next grit when all the scratches from the previous grit are removed.


Polishing:
After sanding, you can polish your piece. Polishing will give a high shine or mirror finish. Polishing will not remove scratches that you missed with your sandpaper!
For edges: use either a burnisher or a felt wheel on the flex shaft.
For surfaces: use the polishing machine
To polish on the machine:
• Make sure that the correct buff is on the mandrel.
• Buffs marked steel or plastic are only for use on those materials.
• White diamond (pre-polish: step 1) is on the left, Red Rouge (high polish: step 2) is on the right.
• Put on dust mask, face mask, and apron.
• Tie back hair; remove any chains that could get caught.
• Turn on ventilation.
• Turn on machine.
• Hold bar of polishing compound to the wheel, transferring some compound to the wheel. This is called charging.
• Work on the bottom quarter of the wheel.
• Hold your piece firmly, and move in slow steady motions.
• After using White diamond, wash off your piece in the sink with soap and water to remove all compound residue.
• Dry piece.
• Use red rouge.
• Wash off piece with soap and water, dry
To turn off: Turn off machine and wait for the wheels to spin down and slow, then turn off ventilation. Lastly, step on the lever at bottom a couple times. After all this, remove face protection.

To polish using the flexshaft:
• Put the correct buff into the handpiece.
• Put on dust mask.
• Place grinding box in dust drawer.
• Tie back hair; remove any chains.
• Step on foot pedal to turn on flexshaft.
• Hold handpiece and piece to be polished inside grinding box.
• Charge buff and polish as on the machine.
• After polishing, dump any dirt in box into trash and wash out the grinding box.
• Replace both grinding box and chuck key to their proper locations.



Tips and tricks:
• Do not use the brass brushes to remove compound from your piece while washing- this creates scratches!
• If the wheel looks to have too much compound on it, use the buffing rake in the cabinet to remove excess. Hold the rake against the wheel while the machine is on. The teeth of the rake loosen old compound. (only on polishing machine)
• If you see scratches, go back to sandpaper.
• NEVER use the polishing machine or flexshaft with a chain!