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Old 08-01-2008, 08:47 AM
paul66 paul66 is offline
Steel
 
Join Date: May 2008
Location: Australia Vic Horsham
Posts: 73
Default Re: Pauls Star Setting Diamonds

Hello all
I thought I would update you all on my progress star setting with the airgraver. I have now set four wedding rings using the airgraver, all progressing faster than I used to set by hand, and with better control.

The last ring I star set I used a different method, now this is no better than the previously shown method ( I still prefer the look of the first method ) but it is a lot quicker, you only use the one graver throughout the whole job, and there is no use of beaders which on these small beads need reshaping nearly after every job. The diamonds are held in by the side star cuts, by pushing a bit of the wall over the diamond, the pictures tell the story better than words.

I will show the steps I used on this last wedder, but will omit the first steps in measuring and preparing the holes and seats for the diamonds, which is the same as the previous setting.

First i cut the larger top and bottom points, then the finer diagonal star-points

First star cuts


the diamonds are then placed in the holes, checking for fit and making any adjustments as necessary.
Now the side star points are cut. Now these have to be cut in one go, also they have to be cut a fair bit steeper than usual, what you are aiming for is not to so much to cut or lift a bur but to "bunch" the metal in front of the graver, and as you near the diamond you lift the graver about 45' so it stops moving forward and pushes the "bunch" just over the diamond and secures it.

Side star cuts/ claws


Next the tops of these burs are cur off level with a flat graver.

Cut burs


If this was a yellow gold ring I would slightly pumas wheel these cuts and give the ring a light polish and the job would be finished. With this ring being White gold, I had to further re rhodium plate the ring.

Final ring


I still like the look of the traditional beaded star set diamond, and on larger diamonds would still set this way, but on the smaller diamonds ( under 1 pt ) this newer method wins hands down on time and even finish, trying to make 4 beads small enough and even is time consuming, it also covers a lot of the stone.

Hope you like the update, sorry about the picture quality as usual

yours Paul