Splitting silver cores - Impress beadliner - help please!

[theflyingbedstead]

Oh noooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!

Julie I am so sorry to hear that you've had problems with the thin tubing. Maybe I have been lucky but I have not yet had a split with it.  To anneal I heat the tube (after it has been cut to length) to a cherry red colour.  I haven't tried NOT annealing it.  Maybe we can meet up so I can try to understand what has gone wrong...

Ever wish you haven't posted something?!!!

[Lush!]

I don't wish that at all    I did think about posting in your thread but had a feeling this might go on a bit!

Getting together could be a great idea, although I'm gonna be trying out some of these ideas tomorrow and I'll be back to say how I've got on.

[BeadyBugs]

I never got round to buying a beadlining tool, but did have trouble with quite a few of the above issues when I started coring too Julie.  The silver not going flat cos I cut it too long on my first few beads, occasional splits down the (virtually invisible til it goes) soldered seam of tubing.  I also dap entirely by hand, but do still get the occasional splitter when I get impatient, hammer too hard and/or force the flare too fast.

And as far as I know with my limited silver experience, Julie's right about cutting it after annealing, any manipulation of the silver will start to harden it again.

Dunno if any of that helps - hope you sort it, they're lovely beads.  

HP x

[theflyingbedstead]

Thank goodness - I was getting worried!!!!

I will keep a look out for this thread tomorrow (whilst doing the day job  ) but if you have any probs just post or pm me! 

Meeting up would be lovely too!

[silverlemon]

I'm so sorry, I forgot to say, they are lovely beads. I think you should send them to me to make sure they are suitable for coring.

[Lush!]

Hehe, thanks Sarah - thanks all of you for your lovely compliments and all your very helpful input.

Isn't this forum fantastic ... 

[astringofbeads]

If your cores are spinning try finishing off the flare with the upturned flat end on a dapping punch, that should get you a closer fit

[Redhotsal]

You need to heat til Cherry Red for annealing. Don't go higher in temp.
My tubes did this if I tried to flare them out too quickly - maybe you're going too fast.
If you heat too strongly you'll get the silver to reticulate - pure silver will come to the surface. It will make the silver very brittle so I suspect you're over heating when annealing.

[MangoBeads]

Ok, looking at the tubing I would say you've over heateed it during the annealing process. It's a pain when it happens as you've found out cos you only really know it's happened neal when it cracks! A good tip already mentioned is to anneal in dim lighting as you truly see the red colour then. I've had it happen a couple of times too. I must add that I have never really used the machines though as I dap each and every one of mine by hand. I find this way gives better control particularly if the bead is a hairs width less than perfect

ditto to wot Jaq says

[Lyn G]

I had exactly the same problem when I first used the Impress, and I emailed Dave to ask for his advice.  This is part of his reply:


"I am surprised your tubing split with 1/4 turn increments. That is very
unusual. 1/4 to 1/2 turn is right for the first couple to prevent that.
My guess is you had a nick or defect in the edge that focused the stress
at that point. I think it is probably a fluke, and will not be a problem
in general.

I don't find annealing is necessary at all with this tool, but if your
tubing is rated hard (rather than half-hard as most is) then that might
help. If you don't find it happening again, I wouldn't bother with that."



I have since had success by making absolutely sure that the cut edge of the tube is completely smooth....Dave's Deburing Tool is good for this.....and by making the turns with the Impress quite slowly and carefully.  I stopped annealing the tube as he said it wasn't necessary.  I also found that it was sometimes necessary to tap down the edges to stop the tube spinning inside the bead.

Dave is really helpful and I'm sure he'd like to know if you are having problems.

Hope this helps. 

[Maria Louisa]

Julie, I indeed meant the same as Sam about 'annealing' the tube.
Here in Holland we use a 'creme-brulee' torch for it, it's only 10 euro's.

[Lush!]

Yes ML, that's what I've got too!

Lyn, what size tube/mandrel do you use (and where do you get your tube from?).

I had a much more successful day today, thanks to all the helpful comments.  I started off with pre-annealed copper tube from Ginko on Etsy (pic on S&T), then I had a go with some 4.5mm silver tube from Argex.  I annealed it very carefully, did it in a dark corner of the garage so I could see the glow and  didn't do it for too long.  The diameter was actually too small for the Impress peg but I took it really slowly and it worked quite well, not perfect but NO SPLITTING! Yay! 

So then I used the same tube on a large focal I made with my super duper new custom press from beadpress.nl - I had to adapt my beadliner to take these big focals, I'll take a pic of the adaptation tomorrow.  I carefully annealed and (as the ends of the bead were a bit wonky) I even more carefully used the tool and got this, tada!



I am definitely going to have a go at the batch annealing idea with the first load of beads I made, to see if I can get them to bash tighter - I'll report back!

[Pat from Canvey]

Thanks Julie, this has been a great thread as I've had trouble with cores splitting too. Might get back to it when my jewellery course is finished in 6 weeks time.

[Margram]

Nice happy ending, and I love that bead

Marg x

[Lyn G]

Lyn, what size tube/mandrel do you use (and where do you get your tube from?).

I use 5mm OD, 4mm ID silver tube from Rashbel.

Where does everyone else get their tube from?