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Step 15Adding the prongs
Once you have polished your ring, add the prongs.
I used blue and green wax wire for the prongs.
Make them a little thicker than you anticipate as their size will be reduced in the tumbling and finishing stage of the casting process. Also cut them long (1mm - 1.5 mm) longer than needed, it is easy to file them down once cast in metal, but adding more height to them is a little trickier.
For the smaller stones prongs I use 16 gauge wire, and the larger I used 14 gauge wire.
To attach the prongs use a toothpick coated with a small amount of cyanoacrylate (super glue) to line the channels with the glue. Then position the prong in place and hold until it sets.
Don't use too much glue as it will spill out of the channel and you will have to clean it off, and that is a real pain.
To hold the prong in position permanently you need to 'spot weld' it.
Do this by twisting a fine copper wire (a single thread from an standard electrical cable will do) around the nib of the cordless wax pen.Bend the twisted wire at a right angle, so that the deepest it can penetrate is less than the thickness of the stone seats' wall and the prong attached to it.
Use the wax pen to heat the wire and weld the prongs in place by pushing the wire through the inside wall of the stone seat through into the prongs.
I used blue and green wax wire for the prongs.
Make them a little thicker than you anticipate as their size will be reduced in the tumbling and finishing stage of the casting process. Also cut them long (1mm - 1.5 mm) longer than needed, it is easy to file them down once cast in metal, but adding more height to them is a little trickier.
For the smaller stones prongs I use 16 gauge wire, and the larger I used 14 gauge wire.
To attach the prongs use a toothpick coated with a small amount of cyanoacrylate (super glue) to line the channels with the glue. Then position the prong in place and hold until it sets.
Don't use too much glue as it will spill out of the channel and you will have to clean it off, and that is a real pain.
To hold the prong in position permanently you need to 'spot weld' it.
Do this by twisting a fine copper wire (a single thread from an standard electrical cable will do) around the nib of the cordless wax pen.Bend the twisted wire at a right angle, so that the deepest it can penetrate is less than the thickness of the stone seats' wall and the prong attached to it.
Use the wax pen to heat the wire and weld the prongs in place by pushing the wire through the inside wall of the stone seat through into the prongs.
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