I uploaded another project to my project pages. This time I show the
making of a bracelet from scratch.

The idea for the bracelet was based a common thrust bearing.

Take a look: http://www.abrasha.com/process/pbb/pbb-00.htm

Abrasha
http://www.abrasha.com

Hmmm.... it doesn't appear to have been a TOO permanent display, since it
doesn't appear in the searchable index of the museum. Any clues?

LLoyd

"Abrasha" wrote in message
...
I uploaded another project to my project pages. This time I show the
making of a bracelet from scratch.

The idea for the bracelet was based a common thrust bearing.

Take a look: http://www.abrasha.com/process/pbb/pbb-00.htm

Abrasha
http://www.abrasha.com

Abrasha wrote:

I uploaded another project to my project pages. This time I show the
making of a bracelet from scratch.

The idea for the bracelet was based a common thrust bearing.

Take a look: http://www.abrasha.com/process/pbb/pbb-00.htm

Abrasha
http://www.abrasha.com

Very nice and comprehensive photographic description.

I can't help asking if you considered or tried making those gold bearing
retainers by presswork rather than the washer and dome method.

I noticed the pieces of paper in the lathe photos, I take it gold swarf
doesn't get tossed out with the trash. G

Jeff (Son of a San Francisco jeweler active through the '50s)

--
Jeffry Wisnia

(W1BSV + Brass Rat '57 EE)

"Truth exists; only falsehood has to be invented."

In article ,
Abrasha wrote:
I uploaded another project to my project pages. This time I show the
making of a bracelet from scratch.

Beautiful work and a very nice writeup.

I'm curious why the spacing of the flange rivets was uneven.

/************************************************** *******************/
Jim Wygralak Public key at http://tinyurl.com/5dju3
OpenPGP (gpg) signed messages get a free ride past my spam filters.
Bumperstickers for your coffee cup: http://www.cupclings.com

"Jeff Wisnia" wrote in message
...
Abrasha wrote:
I noticed the pieces of paper in the lathe photos, I take it gold swarf
doesn't get tossed out with the trash. G

No way! Dental labs save all of their vacuum cleaner bags and even roll up
their carpets once a year or so and send all of that stuff to a refiner. They
get back fat checks.

Vaughn

On Thu, 14 Jul 2005 06:23:44 -0700, Abrasha
wrote:

I uploaded another project to my project pages. This time I show the
making of a bracelet from scratch.

The idea for the bracelet was based a common thrust bearing.

Take a look: http://www.abrasha.com/process/pbb/pbb-00.htm

Abrasha
http://www.abrasha.com


Abrasha,
it is funny that you say that this design was inspired by a thrust
bearing. When I first saw a picture of that bracelet on your web page
several years ago, one of the first things I thought was "Gee, sorta
reminds me of a thrust bearing..."

I really enjoy your process pages. It is interesting to see how much
work goes into something that, at a glance, looks quite simple. I'll
bet simply documenting all of those steps is quite a job in itself.
Great job, and thanks!

-AL

Vaughn wrote:
"Jeff Wisnia" wrote in message
...

Abrasha wrote:
I noticed the pieces of paper in the lathe photos, I take it gold swarf
doesn't get tossed out with the trash. G


No way! Dental labs save all of their vacuum cleaner bags and even roll up
their carpets once a year or so and send all of that stuff to a refiner. They
get back fat checks.

Vaughn





Yeah, I remember at my dad's jewelry plant the "wash sink", at which the
"polishers" rinsed the rouge off jewelry and their hands, sat on top of
and drained into what must have been a 70 gallon wooden "beer barrel"
rigged so that the sludge settled to the bottom like it does in a septic
tank.

Similar to the dental labs you mentioned, someone had to dig out that
awful sludge from the barrel and transfer it into steel drums which got
sent to the refiners.

The "bench men" wore aprons whose bottom corners fastened to hooks on
the underside of their "workstations" so that the precious metal filings
and drill shavings landed on the cloth. When they got up, they
unfastened the aprons and shook the stuff in them into a metal basket
fitted with a cover.

I still remember my dad going into orbit one morning when the regular
night janitor was out and a temp came in who didn't know the routine.
The guy dutifully dumped the contents of that can when it was nearly
full enough to send to the refiners. Why it wasn't marked "Not Trash"
before that happened is beyond me. G

You know, I often wondered how honest the refiners hwere about the
recovery value of what got sent to them. Maybe it was a kinder and
gentler time back then.

Thanks for the mammaries,

Jeff

P.S. Here in Taxachusetts the dentists have to rig the spit sinks at
each of their chairs with filtration systems to trap whatever solids
their patients expectorate, to keep mercury from drilled out amalgam
fillings from ending up in the sewage. Seems a bit of a stretch to me
though. It was probably lobbied for like Hell by the sellers of those
filters.

--
Jeffry Wisnia

(W1BSV + Brass Rat '57 EE)

"Truth exists; only falsehood has to be invented."

"Jeff Wisnia" wrote in message
news:ZPSdnVQDKp17lkrfRVn-



P.S. Here in Taxachusetts the dentists have to rig the spit sinks at each
of their chairs with filtration systems to trap whatever solids their
patients expectorate, to keep mercury from drilled out amalgam fillings
from ending up in the sewage. Seems a bit of a stretch to me though. It
was probably lobbied for like Hell by the sellers of those filters.



Spit sink!?!? I thought those went the way of the dinosaur. Haven't seen one
of those in a dentists office for a long time, 20+ years or more.

Lane

Just Me wrote:

"Jeff Wisnia" wrote in message
news:ZPSdnVQDKp17lkrfRVn-


P.S. Here in Taxachusetts the dentists have to rig the spit sinks at each
of their chairs with filtration systems to trap whatever solids their
patients expectorate, to keep mercury from drilled out amalgam fillings
from ending up in the sewage. Seems a bit of a stretch to me though. It
was probably lobbied for like Hell by the sellers of those filters.




Spit sink!?!? I thought those went the way of the dinosaur. Haven't seen one
of those in a dentists office for a long time, 20+ years or more.

Lane



Maybe I'm calling it by the wrong name, but it's that bowl shaped thing
on the left side of the chair that you pour out the contents of your
mouth into after the busty dental assistant hands you a paper cup of
water and says, "Rinse".

Course I've been going to the same dentist for about 35 years and
nothing much has changed about his setup save for the addition of UV
light sources to cure the "epoxy" filling materials that seem to be
replacing over the amalgams. But, he was the one who bitched to me about
having to pay for the newfangled filtering system.

Jeff

--
Jeffry Wisnia

(W1BSV + Brass Rat '57 EE)

"Truth exists; only falsehood has to be invented."

"Jeff Wisnia" wrote in message
...
Just Me wrote:

"Jeff Wisnia" wrote in message
news:ZPSdnVQDKp17lkrfRVn-


P.S. Here in Taxachusetts the dentists have to rig the spit sinks at each
of their chairs with filtration systems to trap whatever solids their
patients expectorate, to keep mercury from drilled out amalgam fillings
from ending up in the sewage. Seems a bit of a stretch to me though. It
was probably lobbied for like Hell by the sellers of those filters.




Spit sink!?!? I thought those went the way of the dinosaur. Haven't seen
one of those in a dentists office for a long time, 20+ years or more.

Lane

Maybe I'm calling it by the wrong name, but it's that bowl shaped thing on
the left side of the chair that you pour out the contents of your mouth
into after the busty dental assistant hands you a paper cup of water and
says, "Rinse".

Course I've been going to the same dentist for about 35 years and nothing
much has changed about his setup save for the addition of UV light sources
to cure the "epoxy" filling materials that seem to be replacing over the
amalgams. But, he was the one who bitched to me about having to pay for
the newfangled filtering system.

Jeff



Oh yes Jeff, I know of which you speak. I remember using them once upon a
time. Your dentist is obviously very old school and not willing to update
the equipment. Now they simply squirt some water in your mouth and put the
suction tube in to suck it out. No more leaning over and spitting. When
drilling etc they are always rinsing and sucking. The gunk doesn't have a
chance to build up.

I went to another dentist once because my regular was on vacation, he had
the same setup. Next time you go to your dentist you might quiz him as to
why he continues to use it. Does your dentist use the rubber dams?

Lane

Lloyd E. Sponenburgh wrote:
Hmmm.... it doesn't appear to have been a TOO permanent display, since it
doesn't appear in the searchable index of the museum. Any clues?

I didn't say in my introduction to the project, that it was on permanent
display, I said it is in the permanent collection of the Oakland Museum.
Besides, the searchable index of the museum is only of current and
archived exhibitions, not the permanent collection.

As far as I know, the bracelet is on display. It is in the Decorative
Arts department.

It is not uncommon though for museums to remove items of the permanent
collection from display. The collections are just too large to display
everything.

For instance, I have a Menorah in the Renwick Gallery of the
Smithsonian. It was on display as long as the curator who bought is for
the museum was in charge. I am almost certain, that his successor
removed it from display, as well as many of the other pieces that he had
brought in, so he could make room for the items that he has acquired for
the museum. That's usually how it goes.

Where does all that stuff go? Think of the last scene of the movie
"Raiders of the lost Ark."

Abrasha
http://www.abrasha.com

Jeff Wisnia wrote:


Very nice and comprehensive photographic description.

I can't help asking if you considered or tried making those gold bearing
retainers by presswork rather than the washer and dome method.

No, I never considered that. And since you did, I still would not use
that method. I would not be able to achieve the same precision, that I
want. I am not saying, that it is not possible to achieve the same
precision, just that i could not do it. Besides, I would have to make
the tooling for it first.


I noticed the pieces of paper in the lathe photos, I take it gold swarf
doesn't get tossed out with the trash. G

No way. That's my piggy bank for either new tools, taxes or whatever
else I need money for. It's a great way to save, because you cannot
take money out as you are saving. Adds up fast.

Abrasha
http://www.abrasha.com

wrote:

Beautiful work and a very nice writeup.

Thank you.


I'm curious why the spacing of the flange rivets was uneven.

I do that on purpose, because I find it more interesting than even
spaced rivets, (like in a bolt circle).

I makes the design (any design) more dynamic. Evenly spaced rivets make
it more static.

Abrasha
http://www.abrasha.com

Al A. wrote:
On Thu, 14 Jul 2005 06:23:44 -0700, Abrasha
wrote:


I uploaded another project to my project pages. This time I show the
making of a bracelet from scratch.

The idea for the bracelet was based a common thrust bearing.

Take a look: http://www.abrasha.com/process/pbb/pbb-00.htm

Abrasha
http://www.abrasha.com



Abrasha,
it is funny that you say that this design was inspired by a thrust
bearing. When I first saw a picture of that bracelet on your web page
several years ago, one of the first things I thought was "Gee, sorta
reminds me of a thrust bearing..."

I really enjoy your process pages. It is interesting to see how much
work goes into something that, at a glance, looks quite simple.

That's why I have the quote by Gae Aulenti on the intro page of my
process pages:

"Simplicity is the most difficult thing to achieve"

I also have that quote on the wall of above my desk.

I'll
bet simply documenting all of those steps is quite a job in itself.

No ****! I took a total of 393 photos during the making of the
bracelet, with my first digital camera. It was a Fuji MX-700, with all
of 1.5 megapixels. I took that many with various lighting settings, to
make sure that I got at least one good image of each setup that would be
usable. I then had to look at all of them and edit them to make them
usable for the site. Cropping, sharpening, color balancing, etc. Those
damn drop shadows alone took me quite some time.

For Machined Ring #4, I took 273 photos, and for the Washer Ring 173

Great job, and thanks!

You're welcome. I hope to do more. It's a lot of work, but when it's
done, it's very satisfying, and it gives people an idea of how I do my work.

I always enjoy it when other people show their process also, like when
someone rebuilds a lathe. Some time ago, there was someone in this ng,
who showed the making of a very complicated model of an airplane engine
with the cylinders in a circle. That process was great.

Abrasha
http://www.abrasha.com

Lovely stuff, as usual.

Peter

"Abrasha" wrote in message
...
I uploaded another project to my project pages. This time I show the
making of a bracelet from scratch.

The idea for the bracelet was based a common thrust bearing.

Take a look: http://www.abrasha.com/process/pbb/pbb-00.htm

Abrasha
http://www.abrasha.com

"Jeff Wisnia" wrote in message
...

You know, I often wondered how honest the refiners hwere about the recovery
value of what got sent to them. Maybe it was a kinder and gentler time back
then.

Refiners are a regular topic of discussion on dental lab forums.

Vaughn

Nice work. Thanks for sharing it.

One question: since you only used the silver pins for alignment, why
silver and not something less esoteric? 'Cause of its softness, or just
what was at hand?

Joe

Abrasha wrote:

I uploaded another project to my project pages. This time I show the
making of a bracelet from scratch.

The idea for the bracelet was based a common thrust bearing.

Take a look: http://www.abrasha.com/process/pbb/pbb-00.htm

Abrasha
http://www.abrasha.com

Very nicely finished work that you do. Do the balls roll?

The doming block set looks like a great piece of tooling.
I particularly like the disk collet chuck.

WB
..................

"Abrasha" wrote in message
...
I uploaded another project to my project pages. This time I show the
making of a bracelet from scratch.

The idea for the bracelet was based a common thrust bearing.

Take a look: http://www.abrasha.com/process/pbb/pbb-00.htm

Abrasha
http://www.abrasha.com




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Joe wrote:
Nice work. Thanks for sharing it.

One question: since you only used the silver pins for alignment, why
silver and not something less esoteric?

Esoteric? Nothing esoteric about silver.

'Cause of its softness, or just
what was at hand?

Actually, because of it's hardness. In my shop I have only a couple of
options to make a piece of wire with a ball at one end. Silver or
gold. Obviously silver is a cheaper option, although I could also use
the gold and melt it back down afterwards.

I could also use copper instead of silver, but copper is much too soft.
It would bend while working with it, so silver was the logical choice.
Cheaper than gold, harder than copper.

Abrasha
http://www.abrasha.com

Wild Bill wrote:
Very nicely finished work that you do. Do the balls roll?

Yes


The doming block set looks like a great piece of tooling.

It's a standard set you can find in practically every goldsmith's shop,
going back to the 18th century.

Abrasha
http://www.abrasha.com

"Abrasha" wrote in message
...
I can't help asking if you considered or tried making those gold bearing
retainers by presswork rather than the washer and dome method.

No, I never considered that. And since you did, I still would not use
that method. I would not be able to achieve the same precision, that I
want. I am not saying, that it is not possible to achieve the same
precision, just that i could not do it. Besides, I would have to make the
tooling for it first.

I don't think you'd have trouble achieving the precision you require. I
would assume that in a cosmetic field like jewelery, if you can make the
part, you can make the tool (as long as you're not _too_ fussy). Naturally
the repeatability is excellent...

I believe it would be possible to make a system (standard die shoes, punch
retainers, die buttons, etc.) where you could actually produce a short run
of parts more quickly using the die than making each part by hand (building
the tooling included). However, for the most part, the effort probably would
still not be worth it given the quantities and variety of work you do.

Interesting to consider. There's quite a bit of money in making short run
tooling inexpensively...

Regards,

Robin

Abrasha wrote:
I uploaded another project to my project pages. This time I show the
making of a bracelet from scratch.

The idea for the bracelet was based a common thrust bearing.

Take a look: http://www.abrasha.com/process/pbb/pbb-00.htm

Abrasha
http://www.abrasha.com


See it doesn't surprise me that you can make stuff like this at all.

What surprises me is that people will pay you enough to live via doing
this sort of stuff!!

I wonder, did you virtually starve at first, or did you have some other
basis, support or entre??

But, as always, extremely nice work.

_-_-bear

"BEAR" wrote in message
...
Abrasha wrote:
I uploaded another project to my project pages. This time I show the
making of a bracelet from scratch.

The idea for the bracelet was based a common thrust bearing.

Take a look: http://www.abrasha.com/process/pbb/pbb-00.htm

Abrasha
http://www.abrasha.com


See it doesn't surprise me that you can make stuff like this at all.

What surprises me is that people will pay you enough to live via doing
this sort of stuff!!

I wonder, did you virtually starve at first, or did you have some other
basis, support or entre??

But, as always, extremely nice work.

_-_-bear


The simple answer is that there are people with more dollars than sense!

Lane

BEAR wrote:



See it doesn't surprise me that you can make stuff like this at all.

What surprises me is that people will pay you enough to live via doing
this sort of stuff!!

I wonder, did you virtually starve at first, or did you have some other
basis, support or entre??

But, as always, extremely nice work.

Some people are willing to pay good money for what you call "extremely
nice work". They usually also call it that.

Click "A Confession" on my home page at http://www.abrasha.com/Home.htm
Interesting reading that addresses your questions clearly.

Abrasha
http://www.abrasha.com