MAJOR ERRORS in this BRASS ALLOY casting => 23 photos.

 Many of our Orchid and blog friends cast their own chosen metal. But what happens when some castings seem to go askew, resulting in shattered synthetic stones? This tutorial essay will examine many of these problems.

  As a Diamond Setter, I will explore the 'what happened?' and 'what not to do' questions, not to mention why some of the claws and gemstones seem to have gone missing.

1) DO NOT PUT RINGS ON THESE 'TREES' IN THIS AKWARD MANNER, why not? The main reason is that the rings could very well get joined together, and removing them from the 'tree' column could leave you with much difficulty.

 

2)  NEVER CAST WITH 'SOFT' STONES IN METAL, why not? The absolutely hot temperatures of the casting metal, which is at 1,650°f. could quickly destroy the delicate stones. Look at what happened with the 'soft' green stone. It just shattered, even if the stone is synthetic, the final results are the same. OUCH & WOOPS!

3) ALL OF THE HOLES IN THESE TWO RINGS ARE FULL OF METAL. THIS SHOULD NEVER HAPPEN. It's best to keep the holes free of wax before metal casting.

4) LOOK AT THE "ETERNITY RING", IT'S FULL OF METAL. The wax that was covering the stones now has metal covering each stone. Plus, these stones were too small for the quick pre-setting process; the process will be literally impossible to clean.

 5) The 'tube' setting is now made defective. Why is this? The wax ring just couldn't manage to hold the stone and keep the tube in shape. Thus ruining the tube setting for the stone setter.

6) The large stones were set before casting, and the very high temperatures just baked the stones, leaving the rings deemed simply useless.

7) There is a large ball of metal on the surface of the shank. This could be from an extra amount of wax sitting on the wax form.

8) Why is there metal covering these FLUSH set stones? The answer is simple; there were residual amounts of wax lying on the small stones. This is not a good way to initiate the casting process. EVERY AMOUNT OF 'extra' WAX MUST BE INSPECTED & REMOVED.

9) The rough textured surface was due to injectable powder remaining on the wax ring; this powder turned into minute granules of metal. When the stones are then in the cast ring, how can you clean this ring?

 The answer is not nice, SCRAP THE RING! Plus, you can see more metal covering these stones.

10) Many claws are totally missing, and there is metal remaining in the setting holes. Did the wax setter check to see if there were any cracks in the wax claws?

11) In the "3-stone, in-line ring" (lower left ring), all of the 12 claws are absent from the ring. It is much easier to set the stones after the metal casting.

12) Looking at the '9 stone cluster' ring, there are a few claws ruined from the high temperature; again, it is best to make a small flask for these delicate rings. 

13) To avoid this problem in the future, just set the stones separately. When these stones are 'set in wax', there is no method for polishing the ring.

14)  As you can see that the rings with a large centre stone are lacking (missing) a complete set of bars for the 'end bezel'. 

15) The 'end bezels' have metal covering much of the centre stone, it is much easier to set the stone AFTER HAVING THE METAL CASTING. 

16) This 'Channel Set' ring cannot be cleaned, and it should be scrapped. Why is this required? All of the holes are full of metal and need to be drilled through. 

17) There is a gemstone completely missing from the metal casting. Why was this? The answer is quite easy: the stone got destroyed during the hot (1,650°f) temperatures of metal casting.

18) On the "4-claw" ring, there are 'little balls of metal' attached to the claws. The answer is that the wax, while in the investment, was not fully vacuumed and cleaned, thus leaving pockets.

 These pockets of air later turned into 'little pins of metal' after the wax was cast. I call this a 'ripple effect', that is, one problem leading to another.

19) This 'eternity ring' is another example of wanting to save time by setting the stones first. This ring can never be adequately cleaned and polished; many of these stones are layered with metal. The reason was that there was an unusual amount of wax covering each stone. This led to many stones being covered with metal.

 20) It is best to cast the rings and then set the stones afterwards. When the stones are in the ring, how can you polish the ring? My simple answer is that you just can't.

 21) This assortment of rings that were attached to the 'tree' is only 'asking for problems'. There is no thought given to the placement of the rings on the 'tree'. 

 The main question is "How will the metal flow without endangering the other items"?

 22)The sprues on the many rings need to be attached in an orderly fashion so as not to cause problems in removing each ring.

 THERE IS EVEN A 'LEARNED TECHNIQUE' INVOLVED in placing these many rings on the wax tree.

 23) These rings have one major fault. The fault is that they are too close to the thick 'tree', some of these rings are literally touching the other rings. OUCH!

24) Many of these rings have not been attached in an orderly fashion. They appear to be sticking away from the 'tree'. By the time the metal flows to each wax ring, the metal is already starting to cool down.

 25)This 3-stone ring has many of the design or patterns missing. 

I would have had this ring cast in a single flask, not together with other rings. I would have a 'controlled temperature setting' for this delicate ring.

 26) This 'partially completed' ring needs to be SCRAPPED. Why is this? The time to repair all of the defects & errors will be too costly.

 27) This ring is completely 'bent out of shape', much labour is needed just to return the shape to 'round'. This 'bending' could also have happened when the investment was poured.

 28) There are many stones with metal covering the Girdle of every stone. This is not the way to set the stones.

29)The wax sprues are too thick and too short; the ring is actually leaning against the 'wax tree'. If this ring were suitable for setting, I estimated that about 3-4 stone settings would be' lost' because the sprue was placed for casting without any planning.

 30) The sprue was attached to the ring, just barely touching the other rings. This is preventing more stones not being able to be set.

 31) This Flush-Set ring has all of the stones literally covered with metal. This is the main problem with many of these rings in this exercise.

 I planned ahead of time (this wasn't easy) to ruin many of these wax rings. My independent caster joked with me: "What are you doing with these rings? I had to tell him that these are for my classes, and we both had a good laugh.

 I sincerely wish that you all learned some interesting facts about putting wax rings on the 'tree'. Observing what could go so terribly wrong when you didn't expect it, then trying to correct those errors.

MORE "WOW" Digital Microscope photos. ENJOY & LEARN! => 27 photos

 Many of these photos were taken with my Digital Microscope. I constantly edit them first for clarity & magnification.

    This 'mini-bead, claw-setting' was originally a FLAT PLATE. I try to avoid 'CAD-created beads' if is too difficult for the computer or the operator, I'll create the beads by myself in metal. 

 A new tutorial essay will (again) describe the many steps in creating these mini-claws.

 

  This Onglette graver was designed primarily to cut into metal. With the modified curved tip I can now easily & gently dig into the metal to create & raise 'beads'. If not, the tip of the graver will definitely break off in a moment.

 

  Under the '300x power microscope setting', you can now observe the point of the graver as it appears in the 'adjustable graver handle'.

 This is a photo of the 'bead holding the stone'. You can now observe how much of the metal is extended over the edge of the girdle of the stone. 

 1) HALF OF THE BEAD IS STILL JOINED TO THE METAL SURFACE WHILE THE 'FORWARD SECTION' IS COVERING THE GIRDLE. This definition of 'showing the bead as it's created' was taught to me only 65 YEARS ago.

2) That curved area BEHIND this bead is how the Onglette was initially formed by rounding the graver tip on Emery #4/0 paper. No Iphone camera can enlarge anything of this magnification.

 When dealing with waxes with many holes, there might be errors. We can't deal them, they MUST BE CORRECTED BEFORE THE METAL CASTING.

 Under careful scrutiny, you can see that many of the holes are not 'round'. This microscope will attest to the fact that 'nothing is perfect'. Much time is now being lost in repairing the metal openings before stone setting. YUK!

 This scale was created for diamonds and the weight is accurate to 3 decimal places. This diamond is 0.950 carats and it is quite accurate even with 2 places.

This sort of stone setting is aptly named the 'two-bead' setting, why is this name so commonly used? It is actually composed of two beads holding one stone in place.

  As seen in a recent essay on wax casting, these wax holes MUST BE ROUND but not OVAL. This wax error could be catastrophic if this wax was not inspected (under a greater magnification).

  This Bead-Burnisher is shown under a 15x power magnification. NEVER ASSUME 'SETTING TOOLS' MAINTAIN THEIR ORIGINAL SHAPE. I wanted to show this bead-burnisher under a 300x power enlargement but the tool length prevented this from happening. 

   This is a watch movement that measured only 1/2 inch in width.

  These 'diamond boarts' have been heat-soldered & secured into a steel rod for resurfacing grinding abrasive wheels.

  This is not a photo of a mountain, but it's a photo of a 1/2-carat diamond. At 300x power enlargement, you can easily see the grain lines of the natural (uncut) diamond.

 

  At 400x power magnification the natural 'growth lines' are quite apparent.

  This is a side view of a (mediocre-quality) diamond being held into place for 'diamond polishing'. Here you can observe the gradual placement of the new Pavilion Facets.

 This stone has been made ready for extensive 'polishing' but not like polishing a ring. This term actually means applying facets that will shape the stone with 57 facets throughout the diamond.

 After each facet has been cut or 'polished', the stone cutter will check for any errors in cutting the required angles.

 Both the Pavilion and Girdle Facets have been completed and the next step is to shape & cut the Girdle. Everything MUST BE CHECKED FOR ANGLE ACCURACY. A simple 10x power loupe is not sufficient, EACH STONE ANGLE MUST BE EXAMINED UNDER HIGH MAGNIFICATION.

  This 600x power photo shows many inclusions in the greatest detail. This little defect will be removed during the continuing 'polishing process'.

  This diamond will now be rotated constantly in the 'Dobb' (stone holder) Again, every facet MUST BE CHECKED UNDER CAREFUL SCRUTINY. A regular 1.00 - 2.00 carat diamond could take days to complete.

  This 18kt ring was stamped in England (aka. UK) the stamped insignia measured only 3/8th of an inch.

This diamond weighs 0.950 carats and has a diameter of only 5/8th of an inch. But look how large it is against my Digital Microscope?

   Your hand-held 10x power loupe couldn't get that close for any closer examination. I extended the 'viewing range' up to 600x power magnification.

 The 'bruting' or 'shaping' photos as it's named, were fashioned by my Father circa 1929, (96 years ago). This stone was captured at 600x power magnification. 

 You can easily see the 'natural' inclusions just above the Girdle. Many days are spent examining each area of the stone both internally and outside before any 'window' has to be made. 

This 'window' allows the diamond polisher to look inside for any minute inclusions. 

 These photos were scanned from my Digital Microscope at 1,200x powered magnification. This 'window' can now allow the 'diamond polisher' to peer into the diamond. 

 HE MUST EXAMINE WHERE THE 'GRAIN OF THE DIAMOND' IS LYING. A 10xpower loupe is still not sufficient and a much stronger & detailed planning is now 100% needed.

A more powerful magnification is needed in 'Diamond Faceting'.