My general day to day production of jewellery,gemstones and jewellery related things.

The Younger Years–My Mobile Jewellery Bench

 

Once upon a time, in the day when there was no digital photography, and there were things like a local hardware stores and people actually hand wrote thank you notes and posted them to you, I built a mobile bench for making jewellery.

I had this idea to travel in my VW Combi and do the north and south coast of South Africa in the summer, and then mellow round Cape town up to Swakopmund in Namibia in the winter making jewellery as I went along.
That would take care of my year, I figured.
The bench was about five years old when I took these pictures and then I lost them for about fifteen years.
I just recently found the negatives, so I bought a scanner and used it to turn them into digital photographs. The quality ain’t so good but hey, what the hell, they give the drift.

I spent over 500 hours designing and building this bench.
Basically, it is a complete jewellery workshop. Melting, rolling and polishing.
I sized it to go into a VW combi.
You know, jewellery, the girlfriend, the Van, the open road, ‘Born to be Wild’ playing…………yeah…

All the power is fed in from the plug at the left bottom.
When the pink handle and the red one on the other side are in the upright position, then the wheels are engaged, and the bench can be rolled around. When they are lowered, the wheels also are lowered and the bench becomes immovable.
And when I say immovable, I mean it.
What with doming blocks and rollers and all the tools of a jewellery workshop the fracking thing weighs a ton.

The black drawers go in the front section, under the peg.
In retrospect, I made too many drawers, so things tended to rattle around a bit.
At the bottom right was where my pickles and acids were stored.

The blue and red box at the bottom is the filter unit and vent for the polishing motor’s extraction fan.
The pull out shelf below the swivel vice is lined with leather so delicate things don’t chip or jump.

The burr box on the left and the soldering pad on the right both slide out when they are needed.
The little flux bottle above the soldering pad could pull out and a little way inside the hollow bar to the right was a secret place to hide things, you know like gold or diamonds or your stash.

In South Africa, Afrox make a very cool mini brazing set.
The black bottle is oxygen and the small blue bottle is propane gas.
These supply the melting torch, (which is actually a cutting torch) and my ‘Little torch’ for soldering.
The melting pad is on top of the bench, above the bottles.
At the bottom left is a sliding recess which has my borax, flux and various crucibles.
The red handle in the picture is down so the bench is solid on the ground.
When the handle is pulled back and locked, the wheels lift the bench and it can be rolled around.
So in winter, I would move the bench around the room, following the sun.

Below the roller is a sliding shelf from which my pliers, hammers, triblets and files hang.

Towards the ‘front’ of the bench is the polishing section.
The top drawer contained the rouge buffs and the bottom one the polishing stuff.
To the left of the polishing motor is the intake for the extractor fan.
The right hand side had a grinding wheel for sharpening things.
The whole bench was painted during many sessions of altered states of reality( in the pre-Anne era)…
Ahem, that was then— and this is 20 years later.
Dang, I miss those times….growing old is just plain boring.
I don’t care about the fracking old age wisdom bit.

This was the only flush side of the bench, because of the drawers.

In this picture the door is closed.

They could be removed easily though, if there was little space around the bench.

Action stations.

This was the first show I did in Pongola in Natal in S.A. in 1989 or so.

If you want a five stone eternity ring madam, I’ll make you one.

Come back in a couple of hours, or you can watch if you want.

Chain repair? Right now, as you wait and watch.

It generated intense interest amongst some people.

At one show in Ricards Bay, a young mother took one look at this set up, turned to her husband, gave him the two kids and told him to frack off for the day.

And every time he pitched up with the brats, she would tell him “Voetsek, ek’s besig”

(Piss-off, I’m busy) And off he’d trot again.

She spent the entire day standing there, watching me work.

And when the show ended, I would have make up orders to complete afterwards, so I would take the bench to where ever it was needed and do the work in-situ, right at the customers house.

Worked like a charm.

You can see Cujo, my Blue-fronted Amazon parrot checking the scene out over my shoulder.

Of course, these days the Fire Marshall will wet his pants and have seventeen puppies if you pitch up in a tent with oxygen and gas and start melting gold.

But in those days it didn’t even occur to us.

Center of attention.

The concept worked amazingly well.

When we moved to Botswana I had an immediate operative bench.

And it went to Zimbabwe as well, very sucessfully.

Unfortunately it was destroyed when Elephant Hills Hotel in Vic Falls in Zimbabwe burnt down to the ground.

Otherwise I would still be working on it.

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This is an 18kt choker I made for one of my favourite customers, Lynda.
It is a simple and effective concept , designed for clothing with a round shaped neckline.
A ribbon of fused gold that drapes over the shoulders.
Ok, maybe not the shoulders, but you get my drift.

This ring is the third of my rhodium plated rings.
The picture shows the more ‘chrome’ like colour of rhodium as apposed to silver well.
Sigh…what can I do?
Re polishing every two months is no option, so rhodium it is…..
The stone is a CZ that is laminated and cut in an Opposed Bar cut.
This was also one of few of my experimental stones that I cut that worked well.
It’s got a colour change CZ in the middle that goes to lavender in daylight.

Time to introduce my latest project.

This is a small permanent magnet dc motor that I took apart.

So then I made a brass circle that was the same size as the casing diameter.

Then I drew out the design, laminated two pieces of brass together, and pierced out the center like in the piece on the left.

That one I made the center to big, so I had to start over again. Bah!

The standing one is the second attempt, ready for the circle that I made in the previous picture to be soldered in.

It’s got a spacer soldered between them near the top.

When I solder the sides on I make a cardboard template first and then cut the brass to that.

I leave some extra edging, to be filed off later..

Then I ’start’ soldering the strip, in this case at the bottom.

Then I bend it a bit, solder, bend a bit more, solder, all the time using binding wire.

And once I have solderd it to the top, I then then start the other side.

This is the magnet housing finished.

I just screwed it down onto a plastic base with cheepie screws.

It’ll get another base once the thing actually works………..

I drilled two 3mm holes through the magnets and attached them to the center ring.

Dang, those magnets are hard.

I used a diamond core drill and a bucketful of patience.

Like drilling quartz, for comparison.

Except that the swarf is magnetic.

I thought the poles might change, or some other catalysmic thing might happen.

But luckily they still work about as well as they ever did, even with thier aorta’s cut out.

I’m going to grind some on the bench grinder and see what happens to the powder.

Anyway, this is the small bearing housing inserted in the end post that I cut and carved out of the black part in the first picture with the wires comming out of it.

.
Test look.

Don’t ask me what I am going to do with the top funnel yet.

Next thing is to make a cover for the bearing hole.

A nice elaborate thingi.

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I first carved a wax ring for Lynda more or less on the design she wanted.
I used her diamond, still set in the old tube.

To give an idea of what the ring is going to look like I spray the model with gold spray paint.
Like this.

And this.
Then I just wash it off with a bit of lacquer thinners before sprueing.

Cast and finished

Here is a ring I carved the titanium piece first, then carved the wax ring.

So the two thingamabob’s at the bottom will be drilled through.

So that it fits in like this.

You can check the small holes I drilled in the wax on the sides of the ring.

They pilot holes for the titanium.

If I can put the titanium in after the ring is cast, instead of casting the titanium with the ring, then everything much easier to finish off.

This is one of four wax cast silver rings I am busy finishing off.

All the rings are rhodium plated.

First plated onto the silver with palladium and then rhodium.

I was going the copper/zinc/rhodium route, but the zinc fracks up the polish.

And palladium and rhodium are much easier, me thinks…

A while ago I was messing around with putting fine gold balls into custom cut stones.

I started with CZ and this was one of my first successful results.

There is only one ball inside, only the faceting makes it looks like there are five.

So I thought it appropriate to set this one in a somewhat over the top ring.

This stone also makes a ticking noise when you shake it.

Sorry for the glue at the bottom of the picture.

It’s blue zirconia at the bottom and clear on the top.

I made similar stones here .

HA ha, I was grinning at this freaking Avast pop up that stayed like a tick through the whole cycle, permanently.

I have been interested in acquiring a sign like this and that is why I went closer, to see if there was a manufacturer’s sticker.

No such luck.

Very nice though..super bright too.

Still, it means a computer is connected to the sign.

So rule one..Get pop up blocker.

Rule two, remove all office party pictures from the office computer.

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I do two orders of tools and consumables per year for my workshop.

It’s got a 45º sort of clamp and also a 90º one.

But the grooves are not 90º. And there is no round holes.

It is beautifully made, but there is something I am missing, that’s for sure.

And it cost $140 something, so I will phone the supplier eventually.

Like this pair of pliers I must also phone about.

It bends funny but you can’t hold anything tight, because of the bending top jaw.

This is my Habour freight $60 tumbler.

At $60 I got exactly what I expected..

The belt broke in the first hour.

Sigh, you buy cheap, you buy twice….

Anyway, so I took off the silly heat shield thing and used an elastic band as a fan belt.

I just happen to have a box of them, and I figured maybe one a day, but the first one lasted four days.

I got no problem putting new ones on.

I bet the stones will be tumbled before the box of elastics run out.

All because I bought that starter kit from Rio.

Sweet baby.

So I tossed in a handful of aqua rough and some larimar and sugelite off-cuts and I’ll work that tumbler so hard that it will enter Zombie land with a lifetime free pass.

You know, I admire the builder.

He made a profit from the build.

I admire the sales man who sold the concept, he earned his salary

And the bank who financed it, they earned their interest.

I admire the construction difficulties that were overcome and I am also a bit concerned that it might actually be four wheel drive.

What really fascinates me is the kind of people who rent that kind of car.

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I found this picture in the Spark Museum
I liked the idea. A design from Daniel Davis from around 1848.
I wanted to try it out with a quick, not to long taking prototype, just to see how it works.

First I made a magnet to sort of get the idea of how strong it’s with 1.5 volt torch batteries..

Mainly because my electrical knowledge peaks at wiring penlight batteries..ahem

Then another like in the picture.
I got the wire from a thrown away slimming machine I found next to the rubbish bin.
If I could make a living from it, I would take things apart.

I made a perspex platform .
I used three of those batteries to power this machine.

And I mounted the steel bar, which is just standard round bar, with a bolt and nut through the piece of wood.
Then I made a brass wheel and some posts for an axle.
The posts were made by putting the brass stock into a drill press and filing it while it was spinning at about 1000 rpm, until it was the correct thickness for the die nut to accept.
The wheel is made out of 6.4mm brass stock and silver soldered closed.
Then the wheel was bashed round and flat.
All this is normal cartridge brass, I think, and it is very nice to work, actually.
I drilled and tapped three holes in a steel nut.
Makes division quite easy and if you make a mistake, plenty more where that came from.
The 3mm threaded ‘bar’ holds the axle in place.
With a bit of tweaking, I could get it quite straight.

From the nut, the brass threaded spoke is also threaded through the brass wheel .
I installed them by screwing them from the outside inwards and into the center nut.
Then the iron bars are screwed to them like lock nuts, sort of.
Not very tight, though.

The axle is held true between the brass posts with two brass split washers.
The posts are drilled with a cone from either side, so it actually runs on about 1.5mm wide surface.

I got this one running, with patient Anne’s help.
I got a video at the bottom,I think.

Then I made a second magnets with two posts that are separated, but it does not run very well.I think the U shaped one is better.

This is the points wheel.
It’s got a nut soldered on the back with a grub screw to made it adjustable.
A bit like the axle nut.
It looks bad, but that’s because I connected it to a battery charger to see what would happen.
Two or three sparks later, I didn’t look like such a good plan after all.
Anyway, when it runs it’s much cleaner.

This is the video of it running.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fY71BmIe2kM

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So from the 18kt gold I made this ring.

Got to say, if there is a signature style I have, then this is it.

I really like making fused rings with diamonds set in little balls of gold.

I have made fused jewellery all my life and I still like making it.

Anne took this picture. Much nicer than my industrial looking pictures……

Show’s the women’s touch, not?

And then with the 14kt gold I made this bangle.

40 grams gives it a nice solid feel.

This is a corporate logo I made as a pendant

Copyright, he of the working class, takes a break on my diamond saw from a hard bout of sunflower seed cracking.

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I made the pictures slightly bigger than normal when you click on them, for more detail.

All the components pre assembled. I made this thing so that everything can be disassembled.

Sometimes I REALLY miss apprentices.

A total of 375 different hand made pieces.

Showing the under cooling system.

Side view of the head. All those copper guns and rings can be unscrewed.

The eyes were very difficult to get right.

I made them seven times over. In onyx, then perspex then gold, then 3 different silver shapes, until I got this one.

Eventually I settled on blackening them with Liver of Sulphur, and screwing them on with a 14kt gold screw. The screw key made a nice ‘cat eye’ effect, I thought.

Fracking mission, though

Incoming enemy aircraft about to be sent to the next dimension.

The gears on the back look red, but that is just a reflection of all the copper parts.

Top view.

The tail is articulated. It uses the same design as the GRS spring tweezers do, for those goldsmiths reading this.

That is a ball clamped between two plates. Thanks GRS!

A close up of the back spines. The spines screw into the back, holding the spine in place.

Picking this machine up is like picking up a hedgehog.

Promise, on a number of occasions I have pricked myself that blood flows.

There might not have been tears, but certainly blood and sweat.

A close up of the main Gatling gun.

It swivels up and down and sideways also.

The secondary gun.

The one that shoots plutonium bullets, making the vanquished enemy corpses glow in the dark.

Commin’ at ya sideways, baby……

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I carved these three rings in Matt purple wax.
I also have been making moulds of shells and injecting Dino War Machine gears.

They were cast into silver.
Silver is the easiest metal to cast for me, so much so that I cast three master wax patterns in one flask.
Casting masters simultaneously in one flask can be very dumb because you can lose them all with a miss-cast.
So I’m dumb and lucky……..
I cast an anti-ox alloy in a solution of 95% to 5% alloy.
I have a couple of experimental CZ’s one with a gold ball in it and another with a platinum ball in it and one that is cut in a three colour laminated opposed bar cut.
These will be set in these rings.
Does that make sense?
Anyway, if it doesn’t, go back to where it is where all was shown.

I try to cast business with pleasure, so if I get a order to cast a specific thing, then I tag along a art-stroke-project cast along with it.
A bit like hitching a ride on the back of a freight train, if you get my drift.
Anyway, the two shells were brought to me from a good customer of mine, and I made a silicone mold from them using Zero D’s clear silicone.
Look, I like the product, but I could use a bit more clarity.
It is a bit opaque to call it clear, really.
Otherwise, a very cool silicone.

And at the same time I cast a new set of gears that will be used in my Dino War Machine project.
The gears are cast out of brass, the shells were cast out of 14kt gold and the rings out of silver.
A multiple metal cast that required lots of cleaning up of the machine in between casts.
And speaking of the Dino project, I was asked/told by several people that in no way am I to stop posting about incremental advances during the project.
Okay, so for what it’s worth…………

The gears being burnt out and about to be cast.

I always put the crucible in the oven with the correct amount metal in it.

This is especially handy with brass, because the trick with casting such a volatile metal is to melt it to liquidity without the zinc fuming.

But it is also a good thing to do generally with all metals. ( that is, of course, if you spin cast)

The zinc tends to fume quickly if the torch is too hot, so when I pre-heat the whole crucible/metal thing, there is a more overall heat around everything.

This makes it easier to bring everything to temperature without fuming and spitting and fracking.

Dino War Machine gears at the moment of birth, ready to do battle against the forces of darkness and destruction.

Trust me on this one.

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Another St Maarten Map. One of my best sellers.
White gold background and fused yellow gold on the edges.
The top side is the french side of the “permanent lunch time”
and the bottom side is the place of the ” jacuzzi sized pot holes”.
Ha Ha , I no joke, mon….

A bi-metal men’s wedding band. of all the men’s jewellery I make and sell, this has also got to be my best design.
And you know, it does look good on a guy.

There’s this SA hottie that comes into my shop with tears in her pretty blue eyes.
One of the local sweat shops had engraved the compass that she wanted to give to her boyfriend like this.
A complete frack up. The guy forgot the ‘I’ so he put it in afterwards.

I don’t engrave, so she decided to have her message done like this.
Silver relief letters on a crishy back ground.

The Dino War Machine has had a lot more work added to it.

The head has had extensive work done on it.
And two secondary Gatling guns have been added.

These Gatling guns are able to fire multiple war ordinances.
From nerve gas bullets to expanding flettchet rounds, each is capable of firing up to 600 rounds per second.
This tends to reduce the enemy to a fine mist.
And in that form they become less dangerous.

The side and rear firing abilities have been enhanced by modification to the phosphor bronze projector at the tip of the tail.

The outer tips are based on the Trioxinol Five theory, which dictates that all plans for war change when war commences.
Thus each tip is able to pierce the fog of war, and in the heat of battle, collectively they are able to guide the Dino War Machine to wreak the maximum of damage with the minimum of energy expended.

The head has been fitted with a mamba venom gun on each side.
These are able to fire a stream of armour piercing venom at hardened enemy targets.
This venom can be changed from, as the name suggests, mamba venom to hydrofluoric acid during firing operations.
The obsidian eyes are still being constructed.
They will be optical receptors that work from the infra red to the gigahertz wavelengths.

A rear view showing the gas emitter tubing.
This is able to emit a cloud of toxic gas over the enemy.
It must be understood the the Geneva Convention does not apply to this machine.
The object of this machine is to kill the enemy, finish and klaar.

This shows the battle ground adjustments that can be carried out by this machine.

In this picture it is fine tuning the plasma receptor.

With a giant sigh of relief, the remaining enemy watch the machine walk away, searching for new foe to vanquish.

This is then the basic machine.

The spine on the back still has to be manufactured and added.

For that I will cast more gears and various odds and ends in brass.

Also there are many more copper tubes, gears and whatnot’s to be added.

However, I am not going to post on this project again until it is completely finished.

The machine part, that is.

The reason is that it is painful to post on increments.

Like if you building a house and you post on adding the bathroom tap washers….right.

The project is at around 120 hours and I expect it to take another 40 or so hours more.

That is the first phase.

Then I am going to make a frosted glass and brass egg in which this machine will reside.

In 2010. That is going to be fun.

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