Well here we go. First I want to thank Kevin Lindsey and the Orchid List for bringing TIG welding for jewelry to my attention. I had been thinking about tackling this venture for quite some time. After doing some research, I decided that Plasma Arc Welding would be better suited for my needs. I got lucky and scored a Thermal Arc Ultima 150 for a fair price on ebay. After collecting the assorted missing items for the welder I was ready to try some stuff….so here is the first project, welding two pieces of wire together to form an earring.
The project starts with two 10ga pieces of stainless steel wire (0.102″ dia), putting a curve in them, then grinding a flat angle for the two pieces to fit appropriately. Fittment is pretty critical, this is so we dont have to do a lot of filling with the welding aspect.
Here is a shot on how the pieces fit together.
Now that we have a good fittment, its time to tack the pieces together. I used masking tape as my *clamp* for welding.
From here, I tried to just do a fusion weld (no filler rod) and get the two halves to weld together, mild success, but to make a better bond I brought in the filler rod (0.051″ wire). The photos below show some of the welding on the project.
a bit of file work on this one
After some moderate filing work with both regular and needle files, you start to see the outcome of the project.
Next hit it on the polishing machine.
There you go, a nicely welded joint that will withstand the abuse any ear will give it. Up until this point, the only options for creating such an attractive joint would have been to laser weld (which I dont have, nor afford), or to solder the two pieces together. The down side about silver soldering and stainless steel, is that you will always see the solder joint.
Ill post a finished photo of the earrings down the road, all in all, I must say, Im really going to like this new welder and its capacities. In addition, there is a LOT of energy related to this type of welding, you can tell by the heat discoloration of the stainless. With only a fraction of time behind this machine, things can only get better.
patpruitt
Latest posts by patpruitt (see all)
- Filing it away… - December 7, 2013
- DIY Pro Jewelry Bench – Redux - February 10, 2013
- 3M Radial Bristle Brush (wheel) – new found faith – - February 7, 2013
You must log in to post a comment.