I did a search about cleaning beads and couldn't find the answers and just endied up confusing myself...easily done at the moment... so need to ask ! ::)
I've had a shottie of my BILs dremel type rotary tool to clean some beads and it works brilliantly. What I'm not sure about is I've read that it needs to be done under water , is this for the bead release or is it for the diamond burr bit or is it so the glass doesn't break. Wont cleaning underwater make the water all splash up and wet the rotary tool? Is it enough to dunk them in the water and then do the "dremel" bit It seems quite powerful,even on the low setting, is it likely to break the glass? Also should I dip the end of the tool in the grit then clean with the burr or clean with the burr then do the grit bit by hand?
the water is multi purpose, it stops bead release dust (and glass dust you create by grinding), (it doesnt stop the dust, it stops it flying around and being bretahed in, just so I'm clear!)and also keeps the diamond bit cool, and the glass cool.
I dip the bead and the bit in water, then whizz while not underwater, then turn the bead around, re dip in water and do the other end
you'll need to re dip frequently to wash out the residue and to have cooler water.
it will prolong the life of your diamond bits of you clean out as much of the bead release as you can with a mandrel first, particularly if you are using fusion.
it depends how coarse the grits you have are, if the diamond bit is coarser, use that first, if the grits are coarser, use them first.
I would expcet the diamond bit to be the coarsest, and the grits to be more towards the polishing side, rather than the cleaning side.
you may not need to use both if your grits are coarse enough, or maybe diamond then the final two stages of grits, depends what you have. and how much time you want to spend on it.
I have two polishing grades which I use after diamond, if I can be bothered, for a transparent bead, otherwise its just mandrel, diamond and call it done!
I normally put my beads in a bowl of water and soak them for 30 mintues or so this helps to soften up the bead release and then I find it very easy to clean the beads, bead is already wet and I dip the reamer bit into the water as well.
Is it better to clean the beads before or after annealing?
After, just to be on the safe side ;)
I actually do mine in a large dish with about 1" of water and do it under water. I use a battery dremmel. The water keeps the drill bit cool and you can see the bead release coming away from the bead as an underwater cloud. When the cloud stops i know the bead is clean.
You do have to keep changng the water so you have it clean though :)
Thanks folks! Madeline, that's brilliant works a treat! :)