Cutting jump rings

Hello. I have a Pepe jump ring cutting jig but my blades keep
overheating when I try to cut a coil of silver wire. I use cutting
wax. Am I missing something here?

I'd like to know if there are better machines for cutting jump rings
or is this an ongoing struggle? What are the wholesalers using?

Many thanks.

Rick

On Sun, 20 Jul 2008 13:14:24 -0700, in rec.crafts.jewelry McQ Designs
wrote:

Hello. I have a Pepe jump ring cutting jig but my blades keep
overheating when I try to cut a coil of silver wire. I use cutting
wax. Am I missing something here?

I'd like to know if there are better machines for cutting jump rings
or is this an ongoing struggle? What are the wholesalers using?

Many thanks.

Rick

As with many tools made by Pepe, they're copies of somewhat better original
designs. In this case, the somewhat more costly "Jump Ringer". It costs a bit
more, and works better too. Your choice. You get what you pay for.

As to overheating blades, wax may not be the best. Try "bur life" from rio, or
an actual cutting oil. And cut a bit more slowly if it's overheating. Also,
you may be using poor quality blades (see the note about Pepe tools). Be sure
they are high speed steel. If that's true, then a bit of heat doesn't hurt
them. if they're cheap carbon steel, then they're not great for this
application anyway. Also, be sure your coils are securely clamped in the jig.
If they're shifting during cutting, that will cause binding/heating.

As to wholesalers? They're not using cheap hand jigs to hand make any findings,
much less simple jump rings. Those are made on automatic or semiautomatic
machines. Feed in a coil or wire, and out comes a bin of jump rings. Or Chain,
or whatever...

Tools like the Jump Ringer or the Pepe tools knock off of it, are fine for
craftspeople and small business users, but don't confuse this with the sort of
manufacturing methods used by the main stream suppliers.

In rec.crafts.jewelry on or about Sun, 20 Jul 2008 13:14:24 -0700 text
possibly written by McQ Designs was seen, saying:

Hello. I have a Pepe jump ring cutting jig but my blades keep
overheating when I try to cut a coil of silver wire. I use cutting
wax. Am I missing something here?

I'd like to know if there are better machines for cutting jump rings
or is this an ongoing struggle? What are the wholesalers using?


I do wholesale and retail, but I'm just a little guy (well, I have a
little shop anyway' I'm a great, huge toad...)
Anyway, I have a "set" of various sized screwdrivers with the blades
sawn off and a slit sawed in the end and make JR's by hand and cut 'em
with either a jewelers saw (8/0 blade. Yeah, yeah, I know...it's what
I'm used to though...) or a aviation snips, depending on what I'll be
using the JR's for.

There a guy who makes a cutting lube. He calls it Brown's, I call it
Snake Oil, but either way it's some awesome ****! I used to know how
to get a hold of him, but I can't find his address. maybe someone else
knows. He lurks on Orchid I think.


Many thanks.

Rick

On Sun, 20 Jul 2008 23:06:38 -0700, in rec.crafts.jewelry wrote:

Anyway, I have a "set" of various sized screwdrivers with the blades
sawn off and a slit sawed in the end and make JR's by hand and cut 'em
with either a jewelers saw (8/0 blade. Yeah, yeah, I know...it's what
I'm used to though...) or a aviation snips, depending on what I'll be
using the JR's for.

I have, but almost never bother to use. one of the Jump Ringers (actually, I do
use it for large size links (over a quarter inch), or for ovals, since I've got
the oval mandrels sold for it. The Jump ringer is a good tool, and for me
useful especially for larger links, but most of what I use are pretty small, and
I usually don't need lots at a time. And I can have them made and cut in less
time that it takes me to find and clamp the jump ringer to the bench. My usual
method is that I bought, at Harbor Freight for something like ten bucks, a cheap
set of number sized drill bits. I wind the jump rings from wire I've drawn to
whatever size I need in whatever alloy I happen to need, by laying the end of
the wire in the end of one of the grooves in the drill bit next to the plain
shank of the drill, and gripping that end, and the bit, in a pair of serated jaw
pliers, which holds them both securely (same as the slit in your screwdriver
does). I then wind the coil on the shank of the drill. If I need lots of
them, I chuck the drill back side out (shank out, drill part in the jaws) into
the flex shaft chuck, stick the end of the wire between the chuck jaws, bend at
a right angle so it's then perpendicular to the exposed drill to secure the end
of the wire, and hit the pedal to wind the coil. I cut the coils while still
on the drill shank, by using one of those very thin (.006") seperating disks.
They call them flexible disks, but in truth, they're brittle disks, so be
careful. Still, with a bit of lube, the go right down the coil in a moment, and
leave a cut as smooth as glass, and about the same width as an 8/0 sawblade.
Eventually, the drill bits get a bit scarred up and need replacing, but no
matter. They're cheap. and sometimes it's actually useful to have them around
as drills too. The seperating disks come in boxes of a hundred for about
twenty bucks (more than the usual seperating disks, but I like em), so breaking
one isn't an issue, nor are things like dulled saw blades, since this isn't a
rotary saw blade or costly or anything. Takes longer to type out a description
of the process than it takes to do.

The notion of mass production of jump rings reminds me of a project I was
involved in way back when in graduate school, another student wanted to do chain
mail in black iron wire, and needed a LOT of jump rings, and asked for help in
figuring out how to make em. So we made some jigs for her. One was a simple
winding jig. A steel rod chucked into a machinists lathe (handy, could have
been almost anything that would rotate the rod) was the winding mandrel. A wood
block with some strategically placed holes fitted over the steel mandrel,
tightly at one size, and the size of the outside of the coil on the other. Where
the two sizes of hole met in the middle, a tangential hole allowed the black
iron wire to feed in. This basically just functioned to wind the wire tightly
around the core. It was almost self feeding. Start the lathe, slow RPMs of
course, and the jig just moved on down the core wire while you held it from
rotating, and the coil would pretty much wind itself. You could do a two foot
coil in about 30 seconds. A second jig had a hole the size of the coil, and a
side slot for a high speed steel machinists saw blade, which was mounted on a
vertical spindle on a drill press, while the jig was clamped to the drill press
table. The saw turned towards the open end, and all you needed to do was push
the coil in that end towards the rotating saw. Cut links fell out the back side
of the jig. We could make several pounds of links in an hour this way.

Cheers

Peter

On Sun, 20 Jul 2008 23:06:38 -0700, in rec.crafts.jewelry wrote:

There a guy who makes a cutting lube. He calls it Brown's, I call it
Snake Oil, but either way it's some awesome ****! I used to know how
to get a hold of him, but I can't find his address. maybe someone else
knows. He lurks on Orchid I think.


Enjin Joe's Brown Polymer grease. Good stuff. A little messy though, but
really good on cutting tools, or for drawing wire, and other uses too.

http://www.enjenjoesproducts.com/cg020001.html

McQ Designs wrote:
Hello. I have a Pepe jump ring cutting jig but my blades keep
overheating when I try to cut a coil of silver wire. I use cutting
wax. Am I missing something here?

Yes, knowledge and skill.


I'd like to know if there are better machines for cutting jump rings

A goldsmith's saw.

or is this an ongoing struggle? What are the wholesalers using?

Circular saws.

--
Abrasha
http://www.abrasha.com

wrote:
In rec.crafts.jewelry on or about Sun, 20 Jul 2008 13:14:24 -0700 text
possibly written by McQ Designs was seen, saying:

Hello. I have a Pepe jump ring cutting jig but my blades keep
overheating when I try to cut a coil of silver wire. I use cutting
wax. Am I missing something here?

I'd like to know if there are better machines for cutting jump rings
or is this an ongoing struggle? What are the wholesalers using?


I do wholesale and retail, but I'm just a little guy (well, I have a
little shop anyway' I'm a great, huge toad...)
Anyway, I have a "set" of various sized screwdrivers with the blades
sawn off and a slit sawed in the end and make JR's by hand and cut 'em
with either a jewelers saw (8/0 blade. Yeah, yeah, I know...it's what
I'm used to though...) or a aviation snips, depending on what I'll be
using the JR's for.

There a guy who makes a cutting lube. He calls it Brown's, I call it
Snake Oil, but either way it's some awesome ****! I used to know how
to get a hold of him, but I can't find his address. maybe someone else
knows. He lurks on Orchid I think.

Many thanks.

Rick

You can find the brown polymer at this website
http://www.enjenjoesproducts.com/
Michael

On Jul 21, 7:38*am, "Peter W.. Rowe,"
wrote:
On Sun, 20 Jul 2008 23:06:38 -0700, in rec.crafts.jewelry wrote:

There a guy who makes a cutting lube. He calls it Brown's, I call it
Snake Oil, but either way it's some awesome ****! I used to know how
to get a hold of him, but I can't find his address. maybe someone else
knows. He lurks on Orchid I think.

Enjin Joe's Brown Polymer grease. *Good stuff. *A little messy though, but
really good on cutting tools, or for drawing wire, and other uses too.

http://www.enjenjoesproducts.com/cg020001.html

Enjen Joe's Brown Polymer grease is brilliant stuff! I use it all the
time. Mind you I've not tried any other type of burr lube as I was
given a pot of Enjen Joe's by a kind sole. When it runs out I will be
wanting to purchase more.

Helen
UK

In rec.crafts.jewelry on or about Mon, 21 Jul 2008 19:13:34 -0700 text
possibly written by helen was seen, saying:

On Jul 21, 7:38*am, "Peter W.. Rowe,"
wrote:
On Sun, 20 Jul 2008 23:06:38 -0700, in rec.crafts.jewelry wrote:

There a guy who makes a cutting lube. He calls it Brown's, I call it
Snake Oil, but either way it's some awesome ****! I used to know how
to get a hold of him, but I can't find his address. maybe someone else
knows. He lurks on Orchid I think.

Enjin Joe's Brown Polymer grease. *Good stuff. *A little messy though, but
really good on cutting tools, or for drawing wire, and other uses too.

http://www.enjenjoesproducts.com/cg020001.html

Enjen Joe's Brown Polymer grease is brilliant stuff! I use it all the
time. Mind you I've not tried any other type of burr lube as I was
given a pot of Enjen Joe's by a kind sole. When it runs out I will be
wanting to purchase more.

Helen
UK

Not to cut Enjen Joe out of his much deserved profits, but I'm fairly
certain said kind sole would send you more were you to ever run out.
Especially is you or your hubby could explain to this sole soul how to
copy a CD or DVD using said sole's Mac...

On Jul 25, 10:33*am, wrote:
In rec.crafts.jewelry on or about Mon, 21 Jul 2008 19:13:34 -0700 text
possibly written by helen was seen, saying:



On Jul 21, 7:38*am, "Peter W.. Rowe,"
wrote:
On Sun, 20 Jul 2008 23:06:38 -0700, in rec.crafts.jewelry wrote:

There a guy who makes a cutting lube. He calls it Brown's, I call it
Snake Oil, but either way it's some awesome ****! I used to know how
to get a hold of him, but I can't find his address. maybe someone else
knows. He lurks on Orchid I think.

Enjin Joe's Brown Polymer grease. *Good stuff. *A little messy though, but
really good on cutting tools, or for drawing wire, and other uses too.

http://www.enjenjoesproducts.com/cg020001.html

Enjen Joe's Brown Polymer grease is brilliant stuff! *I use it all the
time. *Mind you I've not tried any other type of burr lube as I was
given a pot of Enjen Joe's by a kind sole. *When it runs out I will be
wanting to purchase more.

Helen
UK

Not to cut Enjen Joe out of his much deserved profits, but I'm fairly
certain said kind sole would send you more were you to ever run out.
Especially is you or your hubby could explain to this sole soul how to
copy a CD or DVD using said sole's Mac...

Hey Doc,

I'll get said hubby to email you. Have you tried using Toast? That's
what the old man uses.
Hope you're well - and I'll be sure to give you a shout when I run out
of Enjen Jones's Snake Oil, thanks!

Helen