duke851
Member
I had my first try at playing with silver and it provided some new challenges. After a few false starts I finally ended up with an acceptable result but I need to work more on the process.
I didn't own the equipment an supplies to do this so I went on www.ottofrei.com and looked at the starter kit they sell. It had a lot of items that seemed redundant so I pared it down to the bare minimums and ordered a small butane torch, flux, pickle, easy silver solder, copper tongs and some Sterling silver rectangular rod stock in a couple of sizes (1mm x 2mm x 12" and 1.5mm x 2mm x 12"). This all came to under a $100.
I started by making a tenon in the part I wanted the bands on and then figured out the length of silver needed to make the band. The easiest way to do this is 3.14 x (dia of tenon + thickness of stock). So for my cap I had a 14mm tenon and used the 1.5mm thick silver
3.14(14+1.5) = 48.67mm required
I rounded up to the nearest mm to allow for some fudging room but it worked out very well.
I then made the shape of the band by passing the silver through Micro marks little bending machine which worked out perfectly for this size of band Bending Machine. This tool is fantastic and I didn't need a mandrel to shape the bands.
I then adjusted the fit to the tenon with a few swipes of a flat needle file as the ends need to fit perfectly for the soldering as the silver wont bridge a gap.
I placed the band on an old fire brick (Menards) and painted the joint with the flux. Cut a small piece of solder and balanced it on the joint. A few seconds heat on the band got to the right temperature where the silver flowed. I then cooled it and dunked it in the pickle solution to clean it up (this gets kept hot in a tiny little crock pot that came free when my girlfriend bought a normal size one).
I then assembled the parts with 5 minute epoxy and let it set. To this point everything was very easy and had gone much more smoothly than I would have expected.
I finished up the parts to the point of shaping the outside, mounted it on the lathe and began experimenting. The silver was different to machine and did not like the carbide indexible tools I use. it kept galling slightly and building up heat. I tried various tools but had the best results with HSS, lots of fluid and very light cuts. I built up too much heat a couple of times and spun the bands but a touch of thin CA got it workable again if not perfect.
I also found it difficult to get a crisp line on the downstream edge of the cut. It kept smearing the silver ever so slightly. I tried annealing the silver but it seemed to make everything worse. I finally after a lot of tries got an acceptable result using the HSS and a lot of finesse but I need to work on technique. I have ordered a set of indexible HSS tools from Arthur Warner to see if that will help as my HSS tooling is expertly butchered at the grinder by myself. Arthur R. Warner Co. | Specialists in High Speed Steel - Kit #1 1/4 inch Turning (T)
If anyone has and advice on this I would love to hear it.
Colin
I didn't own the equipment an supplies to do this so I went on www.ottofrei.com and looked at the starter kit they sell. It had a lot of items that seemed redundant so I pared it down to the bare minimums and ordered a small butane torch, flux, pickle, easy silver solder, copper tongs and some Sterling silver rectangular rod stock in a couple of sizes (1mm x 2mm x 12" and 1.5mm x 2mm x 12"). This all came to under a $100.
I started by making a tenon in the part I wanted the bands on and then figured out the length of silver needed to make the band. The easiest way to do this is 3.14 x (dia of tenon + thickness of stock). So for my cap I had a 14mm tenon and used the 1.5mm thick silver
3.14(14+1.5) = 48.67mm required
I rounded up to the nearest mm to allow for some fudging room but it worked out very well.
I then made the shape of the band by passing the silver through Micro marks little bending machine which worked out perfectly for this size of band Bending Machine. This tool is fantastic and I didn't need a mandrel to shape the bands.
I then adjusted the fit to the tenon with a few swipes of a flat needle file as the ends need to fit perfectly for the soldering as the silver wont bridge a gap.
I placed the band on an old fire brick (Menards) and painted the joint with the flux. Cut a small piece of solder and balanced it on the joint. A few seconds heat on the band got to the right temperature where the silver flowed. I then cooled it and dunked it in the pickle solution to clean it up (this gets kept hot in a tiny little crock pot that came free when my girlfriend bought a normal size one).
I then assembled the parts with 5 minute epoxy and let it set. To this point everything was very easy and had gone much more smoothly than I would have expected.
I finished up the parts to the point of shaping the outside, mounted it on the lathe and began experimenting. The silver was different to machine and did not like the carbide indexible tools I use. it kept galling slightly and building up heat. I tried various tools but had the best results with HSS, lots of fluid and very light cuts. I built up too much heat a couple of times and spun the bands but a touch of thin CA got it workable again if not perfect.
I also found it difficult to get a crisp line on the downstream edge of the cut. It kept smearing the silver ever so slightly. I tried annealing the silver but it seemed to make everything worse. I finally after a lot of tries got an acceptable result using the HSS and a lot of finesse but I need to work on technique. I have ordered a set of indexible HSS tools from Arthur Warner to see if that will help as my HSS tooling is expertly butchered at the grinder by myself. Arthur R. Warner Co. | Specialists in High Speed Steel - Kit #1 1/4 inch Turning (T)
If anyone has and advice on this I would love to hear it.
Colin
