reparing 14k v 18k

Yup. I've been doing watch and jewelry repair for a little over a year and
I'm
learning every day. I often look at the job I'm doing and think, "A month
ago,
this'd've scared the snot outta me."

Wait till you get our first large emerald in need of new tips. Or your
first 10 carat diamond in need of setting with heavy white gold prongs. Talk
about pucker factor..................

"NE333RO" wrote in message
...
Yup. I've been doing watch and jewelry repair for a little over a
year and
I'm
learning every day. I often look at the job I'm doing and think, "A
month
ago,
this'd've scared the snot outta me."

Wait till you get our first large emerald in need of new tips.
Or your
first 10 carat diamond in need of setting with heavy white gold
prongs. Talk
about pucker factor..................

Heh, reminds me of a mint 3.5 carat princess cut diamond I had
to set in 25 grams of 18ct yellow with platinum tips. The tips were so
hard to push over, I ended up hitting them with a hammer to get them
started. The boss was not amused, but it worked...

(Disclaimer: Don't try this at home folks!)

-SP-

NE333RO wrote:

Yup. I've been doing watch and jewelry repair for a little over a year and
I'm
learning every day. I often look at the job I'm doing and think, "A month
ago,
this'd've scared the snot outta me."

Wait till you get our first large emerald in need of new tips. Or your
first 10 carat diamond in need of setting with heavy white gold prongs. Talk
about pucker factor..................

I bet. I don't expect to see that anytime soon.
I'm in a while-you-wait-or-shop-in-the-mall situation. It's mostly watch
batteries and gold chains. I try to do good work, but I'd like to think the
owners of such scary items are bright enough to take them somewhere other than
"that place in the mall, you know, just outside the Sears."

A guy came by looking for a gold screw to fit the band in his $25,000 watch. I
wanted to say to him, "DOOD! Look around you! You Are In A Mall, the heart of
the blight on America's culture. We cater to the lowest common denominator.
What is wrong with you? Get this Thing off my counter and take it somewhere it
belongs!", instead, I said, "Nope, nothing that size."

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"Clutter"? This is an object-rich environment.

Heh, reminds me of a mint 3.5 carat princess cut diamond I had
to set in 25 grams of 18ct yellow with platinum tips. The tips were so
hard to push over, I ended up hitting them with a hammer to get them
started. The boss was not amused, but it worked...

???? Pretty much anytime I want thick prongs I use a hammer and "modified"
prong pusher to push the prongs against the stone. It really doesn't get
much easier than platinum prongs on an 18K ring.

A guy came by looking for a gold screw to fit the band in his $25,000 watch.
I
wanted to say to him, "DOOD! Look around you! You Are In A Mall, the heart of
the blight on America's culture. We cater to the lowest common denominator.
What is wrong with you? Get this Thing off my counter and take it somewhere
it
belongs!", instead, I said, "Nope, nothing that size."

Hell, I'd have made him one of those in
three hours or so. Ten minutes to make the screw and two hours and fifty
minutes to justify the price.

NE333RO wrote:

A guy came by looking for a gold screw to fit the band in his $25,000 watch.
I
wanted to say to him, "DOOD! Look around you! You Are In A Mall, the heart of
the blight on America's culture. We cater to the lowest common denominator.
What is wrong with you? Get this Thing off my counter and take it somewhere
it
belongs!", instead, I said, "Nope, nothing that size."

Hell, I'd have made him one of those in
three hours or so. Ten minutes to make the screw and two hours and fifty
minutes to justify the price.

DOOD! I'm in a Mall!
Cheap-quartz-watch-a-rama.
No way to justify a lathe or even taps and dies.

It may well be that your shop is where that watch belongs. Not mine.


--
Carl West http://carl.west.home.comcast.net

change the 'DOT' to '.' to email me

"Clutter"? This is an object-rich environment.

DOOD! I'm in a Mall!
Cheap-quartz-watch-a-rama.
No way to justify a lathe or even taps and dies.

What do you need a lathe for? Thats not anything that couldnt be made with
a draw plate and/or a flex shaft, a file, some sandpaper, a hand saw, solder,
and a torch. It would require a threading plate, which really isn't standard,
but the first job more than pays for it with a hefty profit to boot.

It may well be that your shop is where that watch belongs. Not mine.

I'll take those kind of jobs all day long.

NE333RO wrote:

DOOD! I'm in a Mall!
Cheap-quartz-watch-a-rama.
No way to justify a lathe or even taps and dies.

What do you need a lathe for? Thats not anything that couldnt be made with
a draw plate and/or a flex shaft, a file, some sandpaper, a hand saw, solder,
and a torch. It would require a threading plate, which really isn't standard,
but the first job more than pays for it with a hefty profit to boot.

Hmmm... maybe you're opening my eyes here.

I recall it being a cheese head, maybe 1mm across the head, the shank _might_
have been 1mm long. The sort that goes into the middle of the link from the
inside of the band and keeps the links from sliding apart. Sorry, I don't
remember the make of the watch. Is this the sort of screw you were imagining?

I can see making the shank by 'turning' it in the flexshaft with a file and/or
a stone, using a caliper to check progress. Then cutting it off, chucking it up
in the flexshaft and finishing the head and sawing the slot. When would you
thread it? before or after making the head?

Where would the torch and solder come in?

By 'threading plate' do you mean something different from a threading die?
If I'm going to turn a profit beyond the tool on just the one job, I'm either
going to charge a shload of money for the screw, or this 'threading plate' is a
lot cheaper than the die-sets I've seen (the number that sticks in my head is
$300, no catalog at hand, too tired to search).

It may well be that your shop is where that watch belongs. Not mine.

I'll take those kind of jobs all day long.

It's the only one like that that's come by in over a year.
Hard for me to justify much of an outlay on that much speculation.


Still, the idea that the place in the mall outside the Sears might happen to
stock tiny little 18k gold screws to fit a $25,000 watch seems far-fetched,
possibly ludicrous.

-- Carl


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"Clutter"? This is an object-rich environment.

I recall it being a cheese head, maybe 1mm across the head, the shank _might_
have been 1mm long. The sort that goes into the middle of the link from the
inside of the band and keeps the links from sliding apart. Sorry, I don't
remember the make of the watch. Is this the sort of screw you were imagining?

I don't recognise "cheese head" except in conjunction with the Greenbay
Packers, but that it sounds like the same animal. Round, flat across the top,
with a slot.

I can see making the shank by 'turning' it in the flexshaft with a file
and/or
a stone, using a caliper to check progress.

The threading die makes an adequite "caliper" when doing this. Gold being
soft doesn't require the same tolerances you might need from tool steel.

Then cutting it off, chucking it
up
in the flexshaft and finishing the head and sawing the slot. When would you
thread it? before or after making the head?

Unless I needed the extra strength (one piece and tempered) I would do it
in two parts. Pull or lathe (in the flex shaft) the wire to the diameter you
need, extra long, thread it with the die, then solder the head on top. Trim
screw length to fit. Don't use to much solder on the head, it will get into the
threads.
I've never needed to take the time to turn the head and shank as one piece.
I would think it would need threaded afterwards, so as not to mess up the
threads while turning the head, but trying to get a grip on the head of the
screw might get interesting (you would NOT want to use the slot). I guess you
could leave the head part extra long to give something to grip while threading,
and then trim it and slot it after threading the shank. I have to assume the
dies would thread all the way up to the bottom of the head.

Where would the torch and solder come in?

See above.

By 'threading plate' do you mean something different from a threading die?

I'm not a machinist and am using my terminology for an inherited tool. I'm
reasonably sure we are using different names for the same tool. Flat plate used
to thread a piece of wire.

If I'm going to turn a profit beyond the tool on just the one job, I'm either
going to charge a shload of money for the screw, or this 'threading plate' is
a
lot cheaper than the die-sets I've seen (the number that sticks in my head is
$300, no catalog at hand, too tired to search).

Both. You're going to charge a ****load of money and you can get them
cheeper than that. I can't remember where, but I've seen just the die somewhere
for sale and I think it was about $40 (Guesswein maybe?). Rio Grande sells the
whole tap and die set for $100.

It may well be that your shop is where that watch belongs. Not mine.

I'll take those kind of jobs all day long.

It's the only one like that that's come by in over a year.
Hard for me to justify much of an outlay on that much speculation.

True, but this kind of job is mostly all profit. Very little material costs
(after buying the die) or time. "Sounds" like something hard to do when it's
really very simple. Coin pendents are another job it's useful for. They are
forever losing the screws holding the top together.

Still, the idea that the place in the mall outside the Sears might happen to
stock tiny little 18k gold screws to fit a $25,000 watch seems far-fetched,
possibly ludicrous.

True. Maybe he'd tried the high-falutin' stores, struck out, and was
desperate. Alot of stores can't be bothered with band screws and such, if it
puts them out. Either that or the dealer (Rolex?) wanted to charge him triple
since with alot of those kind of parts, Rolex make you buy them in quantitys of
three. Your custom work might be a cheaper alternative.

NE333RO wrote:

...
I don't recognise "cheese head" except in conjunction with the Greenbay
Packers, but that it sounds like the same animal. Round, flat across the top,
with a slot.

Pretty much it. The head is slightly domed.


Unless I needed the extra strength (one piece and tempered) I would do it
in two parts. Pull or lathe (in the flex shaft) the wire to the diameter you
need, extra long, thread it with the die, then solder the head on top. Trim
screw length to fit. Don't use to much solder on the head, it will get into the
threads.

How do you assure that the head is concentric and square with the shank?



By 'threading plate' do you mean something different from a threading die?

I'm not a machinist and am using my terminology for an inherited tool. I'm
reasonably sure we are using different names for the same tool. Flat plate used
to thread a piece of wire.

There are two basic ways to create threads, cutting and 'rolling' or 'forming'
I think are the terms used. In the former, metal is removed from the shank
either on a screw-cutting lathe or with a thread-cutting die. In the latter,
the thread grooves are pressed in to the shank, the extra metal becomes the
high part of the thread. I was wondering if the 'threading plate' might be the
latter. The test: do 'shavings' come off when you use it?


... I've seen just the die somewhere
for sale and I think it was about $40 (Guesswein maybe?). Rio Grande sells the
whole tap and die set for $100.

Hmm... intriguing. I'll keep an eye out.


True, but this kind of job is mostly all profit. Very little material costs
(after buying the die) or time.

Even in 18k, ignoring the swarf, it probably would have been a buck or less.


..."Sounds" like something hard to do when it's
really very simple.

When I get my back-jobs out of the way, I want to play with it a bit.


...Coin pendents are another job it's useful for.

Had my first coin pendant today, not the usual sort, it had a crystal.
Well, it used to, and it does again.



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"Clutter"? This is an object-rich environment.