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This shows an assortment of saw frames - I don’ t think you can have too many of these. You need short and deep throat models for different projects and when I’m in production mode I have three or more with the same blades so I can keep going. Also buy your 0/2 and 0/4 blades by the gross. On the green pad are bezel mandrels. The expensive ones came from a jewelry supplier. The least expensive ones came from a contractors specialty store. When you buy them there they are called drift punches. I recently saw some at Ace Hardware, too. Keep your eyes open. |
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Here we have an assortment of duckbills (put one handle in your large vise and cut - having one side fixed gives tremendous leverage for cutting the thicker sheets). The highlighted snips are called spue shears by the jewelry equip trade. Down the street you’ll find them in the cable TV section of the home improvement center or at the bicycle shop where they are called cable cutters. Guess who charges more. |
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You wouldn’t believe me if I told you how many years old this charcoal block is but I thank my handy spray water bottle. The circle shapes are cupped areas for forming spheres. The other side looks the same. I can form identical (or nearly so) sizes by using wire clipped to equal lengths instead of a pile of silver paillons in each. When in liquidus the silver/gold tries to maintain the shape having the least surface area - a sphere - so as the torch is slowly removed from the sphere the glowing (burning) charcoal maintains a reducing atmosphere and fewer deformities in shape occur. Notwithstanding my notice on the home page and the mention of the water bottle above, someone may not know the block continues to burn after the torch is removed. I give it a dose of water and in use it sits on a fire brick. |
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Here’s a find using my thrifty Scandinavian genes. At the local home improvement center (blue) I found this last winter with a clearance tag of $6 and change. Inside are 18 three inch ceramic squares. As you can see from the packaging the intended use is in the bottom of a gas grill. However, these will make a fine addition to the soldering tool arsenal. BTW, the trade sells a similar 6x6" for $8. I can make four and have a couple squares left over. When you see something like this you might split it with an artist friend. |
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Here we have a little refractory furnace right on the bench. Sometimes you need to direct/contain heat in a certain area. Here you go - they’re small and stack easy, you could stair step them and use each step to prop up rings for soldering. A technique I use myself when making wire (braided, twisted, hammered, etc) rings. I make 100 in 3 hours. (An upcoming step-by-step presentation). One more thing about all ceramic soldering blocks - when you use them for the first time or after they have been sitting on the shelf awhile - they stink when you heat them up. I throw them in the kiln, an oven or put them on a burner on a gas range (turn on the vent) and heat ‘em up a little. Then ... solder away. |
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This shows a more traditional set-up. You say the holes are too big, solder falls down, etc. You could be right. It happens. I use a pad (visible above) on which the paillons are placed and I pick them up one at a time on a titanium needle in a Barrett pin vise then move to the work. On flat items the solder sits in the flux. The worry here is flames or heat making it to the bottom of the ceramic tile. I have fire bricks (below) for the small bench and for a larger bench I use a piece of 3/8 inch steel plate 10x18 found at the scrap metal yard. And a pan full of small pumice rock for even larger works. All torch work is done over materials that do not burn and with a fire extinguisher near, very near. Work safe. |
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