Metal Casting Zone Info Blog

Posts Tagged ‘Tools’

Learn about the many tools needed to get started in professional metal jewelry making. Expert: Courtney Gray Contact: www.courtneygrayarts.com Bio: Courtney Gray is an artist and professional jewelry maker who creates jewelry from the design stage all the way through to the final product.

Like any other craft, jewellery making has a list of essential tools that will make your hobby much more enjoyable and your results much more professional. For the beginner it can be confusing as the huge selection of tools available range from the basic to the specialist. However, there are certain jewellery making tools that should have a place in everyone’s studio.

The first thing to look at is your surroundings. Tools don’t just include pliers and cutters – the definition also incorporates things such as adequate lighting, a suitable working area and good storage facilities. Ask any jewellery maker or craftsperson which is the most essential tool of all and they will all tell you the same thing: good lighting. Without adequate lighting you will find it harder to do fine work and you risk straining your eyes. If you have directional lighting make sure that it doesn’t come from behind you, as you will end up casting your own shadow across your work, making it difficult to see fine details.

Once you start making jewellery you will be surprised how quickly you start to accumulate equipment, so apart from having a good working area make sure you have plenty of storage facilities. Findings or bead storage boxes are ideal. They’re strong and compartmentalised, meaning there are plenty of separate sections to keep findings and beads stored safely.

There are three basic types of pliers used for jewellery making; round nose, snipe nose and crimping pliers. Round nose pliers (also known as rosary pliers) have rounded jaws that taper to a point. They are used for bending wire and for making loops, coils and spirals. Snipe nose pliers are semi-round with the inside of the jaws being flat. They are used for bending and wrapping wire, making loops and opening and closing jump rings. Crimping pliers have specially notched jaws that are used to fold and crimp metal crimp beads.

Wire cutters, preferably flushing cutting, are essential for making clean, precise cuts on wire, beading wire, eyepins and headpins. It may be tempting to use a pair of ordinary wire cutters to try and save money, but jewellery wire cutters are designed specifically for use with the different types of wire used in jewellery making. A pair of good wire cutters is an investment that will keep their sharp cutting edge for far longer than a cheaper alternative.

Because you are using tools, safety must be a consideration. A good pair of safety glasses is a wise investment and although you won’t need them for simple projects such as stringing beads, cutting wire can produce small chips that can damage the eyes very easily. You will also need to consider other safety measures if you are using glues and adhesives, so ensure that your working area is well ventilated. If you are using any heat (such as kilns or gas burners) then ensure that your jewellery making equipment includes a heatproof surface to stand hot objects on.

Finding a good supplier is your next task. There are plenty of jewellery equipment suppliers, so the first thing is to find one that has a reputation not just for supplying the hobby market, but for supplying the professionals as well. You can be certain that the equipment they supply will be of the highest standard. It is a case of paying for quality, but the bare essentials such as the three basic pliers and a pair of wire cutters will give you a good starting point. From then you can add equipment as you go along, including magnifying work lights, speciality pliers, reamers and, of course, plenty of books on jewellery making!

In times past, paper and pencil were the most important tools a casting designer had – and the development of a casting was a technique that was tedious and lengthy. A paper design was created ; the blue print was introduced to the die caster – who ganged up with a toolmaker. Together, a die-casting machine was chosen ; the method and mold layout developed and costs estimated. Quotations were made. The bidding winner gave authorization to his tool seller to order die steel and begin with mold coming up with. When finished, the mold was sent to the die caster for a first test. After building it into the machine, castings were made and checked for defects.

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It was not until this point in the process that those concerned got any concept about the quality of the casting. If the casting failed to measure up to the desired standards, changes would have to be made. Different process settings and minor die corrections might be done at the die-casting machine straight away – but if the first trial proved that the mold had to be modified, steel had to be ground away and welded back in other places, and that work needed to be done at the tool seller’s facility. The mold traveled back and forth between toolmaker and die caster until an acceptable casting quality was achieved. The time between starting the casting design and shipping good castings could take weeks, months or years depending on the complexity and size.

Additionally, mold designs could – and did – change, even after production had started, and those changes meant molds could have different designs, different ages and wearing patterns, and different casting qualities. In addition to mold changes, variations in production parameters like die casting machine pressures, pouring velocities and transitions, lubrication volumes and locations, solidification and cycle times changed across the casting process. The never-ending need to adjust and improve the casting stopped only when the casting wasn’t required anymore. Working toward a better casting quality kept a huge team active with involvements of the method engineer, the machine operator, mold maintenance and toolmaker, quality office, casting designer, casting machining, even assembly and material planning and handling group.

While there was a point when this type of ‘engineering’ was necessary, the business facts of today make it financially unfeasible to resume in this fashion – but despite that, this “engineering” can be found in companies that are wrestling their way through difficult times.

“The die casting industry’s capacity in the U.S. Shrunk … With the closing of plants that were not able to keep up with technology…” Daniel L. Twarog, President NADCA, Letter from the Publisher, LINKS, Feb 2009

Streamlining the method Today

With the addition of PCs into factories, the engineering process is continually changing and becoming more streamlined. Casting are now not drawn on paper and tooling dimensions don’t have to be transformed to mold drawings anymore. Computer assisted designs available in 3-dimensional volume models allow info to be transferred with the push of a button and be used as input directly into the steel machining kit. Changes in models can be made quickly and easily shared with all design departments.

The great value of computerization lies in the chance to develop, design and build at virtually the same time. These parallel working conditions decrease the development time and speeds ‘time-to-market’ to a level that wasn’t even dreamt of years ago. Computerization in the engineering and manufacturing process have also permitted for more precise machining equipment in the tool shops, customized die steels and heat treatment processes that allow changes based factors such as : length of production run and material in direct contact to the melt or for better heat transfer and heat flow.

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