Jeweling anyone?

[tr4252]

I'm interested in jeweling (sometimes referred to as engine turning) surfaces on some of the parts I make, and would appreciate some advice.

Having tried dowels/lapping compound, scotchbrite, scotchbrite/lapping compound, various grades of fine sandpaper attached to the ends of rods, assorted types of erasers, and a few Cratex mounted points, the results so far have been less than satisfactory. In an internet search I found a few sources that describe procedures using wire end brushes, but I haven't tried that yet.

The main problem so far is that the repetition of the spun areas don't remain consistant throughout, and that stray bits of something or other seem to find their way into the area of contact eventually and result in grooves, especially near the center of the circular marks. If anybody has a favorite recipe, I'd like to try it. I'm applying this to brass, aluminum, and nickel silver.

Tom

[Flatline's Up!]

I've actually had pretty good retun on a cheap import drill press and a regular pencil (eraser side down ) and use valve grinding compound.

worked pretty dang well IMHO. Only downside was where I got out of pattern since I was doing it by hand/eyeball w/o a compound table.

PS It helped to have a "feel" for the Z handle, try to use the exact same "feel" or pressure each time you pull it down.

Good luck and TAKE PICS... wait, I mean POST PICS

[ImanCarrot]

How do you move the part under the drill press? This looks very interesting! you don't just move the part by hand surely? Is there some sort of automated process or is it all art?

Thx in advance!

[tr4252]

I'm using a manual vertical mill at the moment, so it's easy to make a consistent pattern.

Tom

[ImanCarrot]

Ok, I've done some searching on "Google" for "Jeweling How To" and got some interesting results about how to do gun bolts and I can understand this no problem.

I can also see how to do flat parts with a consistent pattern using my drill press X and Y travel.

What I can't get is how you would do like a hip flask and keep the pattern regular... if I get more info I'll post.. I'm dying to try this but am too busy making money at the moment lol.

Dang money always gets in the way of what I want to do

[Edit] They all seem to use circular wire brushes (some sprung loaded some not) with an oil based abrasive smeared over the component. And they seemed to be doing it at high speed on hard steel, perhaps a SLOWER rotation on softer components would get a better result? [/Edit]

[tr4252]

Mr. Flatline's Up!,

Thanks, your method works the best of anything I've tried so far. Plus, I've discovered a use for all those pencils I've been hoarding the last 30 years. I found that setting the Z stop on the mill and dwelling for about 4 seconds yielded the most regular results. I think the elasticity in the eraser cushions the tool; it doesn't put too much force on the work, but still maintains contact.

Mr. ImanCarrot,

Slowing down the spindle indeed gave me better results on the brass. Thanks.
I think doing a curved surface would require a fixture. I also studied the rifle bolt sites, and that sems to be the only way you could hold and index a cylindrical or eliptical object

Tom

[tool_man]

When I jewel a rifle bolt,I use a 1/4" stainless steel cup brush from dremel.Slide a couple of o-rings over the bristles.This allows the bristles to follow the contour of the part and return to the original diameter when you raise the brush.I use a silicon carbide,grease mix abrasive from Tri-Clover.Moving the brush exactly the same distance,same depth and equal time is critical for the best results

[vladdy]

I used to do a bit of jewelling on firearm parts..
on softer materials such as brass or aluminum, I used the insert for a eraser pen, and just put short sections into a regular chuck, the eraser was the harder style designed to remove pen ink, not the softer pencil style more commonly available..
On steel I used either the pen eraser or a very stiff 1/4" stainless cup brush with some shrink tube to get a more agressive bite on harder materials [case hardened receivers, bolts, etc..] In either case on harder materails I also used ordinary fine grade valave polishing compund, and basically just smeard it on and let the brush pick up some fresh compund on each move..
I had made an indexing holder for bolts at that time, using the unit available from Brownells for a guide, they also have a good selection of jewelling accessories and supplies as well such as the cratex jewelling rods, cratex scrubbers can also be found at your local model train hobby shop as they are used [gently] to clean model train track..
here's a link to a brownells 'starter jewelling' kit...

http://www.brownells.com/aspx/NS/sto...NE+TURNING+KIT


enjoy...

[ImanCarrot]

Now that looks like what I need! thanks.

I'm looking at my tobacco tin here that I tried machining using a 4mm dia end mill and my drill press- I'm to embarrased to post a piccy lol it wrecked it.

Oh well, back to the drawing board

[vladdy]

if you just want to 'try a bit' of jewelling, and don't want to wait for the proper stuff, or even 'close....
grab a bit of soft plastic rod, the stuff that you can easily mark with a thumbnail, and toss it in the chuck with maybe 1/4" or 3/8" sticking out, especially if your press is a bit wobbly, or doesn't run down to a fairly slow speed..grease up your workpiece, and if there is no grinding compound or similar laying around, just evely dust the workpiece with fine sand...
and give it a try...there will be some discrepancy between the swirls, but at least will give you a 'low ball' starting point to see if you actually like the effect it gives...
as far as I remember, on small sizes [1/4" and under], i used probably around a 30% overlap, and on large decorative swirls [like with a 2" wire brush on aluminum] I used less of an overlap, probably around 15% or so..
The origional purpose of jewelling wasn't for decoration, just a surface roughening on rifle bolts and similar 'slow speed' movements to give oil or other lubricants a bit of a bite so they wouldn't wipe / wear off as quickly..
don't remember what I used for aluminum, but for steel and brass I used an ignition spray sealer that dried and left a very thin satin finish and lasted quite well, especially on firearms that were stored for longer periods of time...
It was called Atlas PIB waterproofing compound..

the two example actions are a 96/34 Swedish Mauser 6.5 and a 08 Mauser [Voere] in 7mm Rem Mag

the last is a pic of todays project, a 3x6 foot Charcoal BBQ for the local casino here..not real thrilling or challenging, but helps pay for shop toys...

enjoy...

[ImanCarrot]

Man, those are beautifil!

It's when you see something like that that you think "wow, gotta try that!"

Thanks for the tips and the pics.

Could you use the same technique for surface tables or would it be too uneven?

[d.dixson]

I don't know if its practical, but I e-turned the surface on my router's table. Seems very flat, but I'm sure that microscopically its not. And the surface finish won't last. I don't mind. I used a scotch brite pad with threaded mount and A-9 cutting fluid for aluminum.

I think there were 14 lines of code (with loops and a sub) with a drilling cycle. Table measures 2' x 2' so there would have been 4,000+ lines of code if done line by line.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy the pic