Thank you for posting this. Your videos are always informative and well done. I've made many of these spheres for my jewelry and use a different method to solder the halves together. I add flux & solder to the inside of the domes, position the two halves together, then hold them in place using cross-lock soldering tweezers while heating with a torch. When the solder flows you will see it flash around the seam. It helps to tip the bead when the solder flashes so gravity helps it flow all around.
Nice technique, something I have wondered about but never tried. Probably could do this with stainless steel, Tig welding the joint. Thank you for sharing!
Thanks! but, I see few issues, which I do not recommend: 1. Do not hold the disc by fingers when drilling - you can cut yourself by disc surface if drill stucks in the disc and it will rotate. 2. If you need a hole, do not drill the disc, drill the sphere. Hole in the disc may start cracking during deformation. Two half-spheres could be fixed without holes, but do not use too tight tweezers - it can deform the sphere during heating.
I did think about drilling the holes after, but was not sure how to make sure the holes are centered if I drill it after the domes are formed. Any suggestions?
@@HuiyiTan mark (~deep) on the front side of discs( future sphere front) but no drill - as I mentioned, hole may become a weak place for crack during deformation. Plus, any time you can heat-up the sphere and see soldering line again if needed. Or you can remove the tension by intermediate heat-ups when changing diameters. The problem here is that metal becomes too hard each time you apply deformation and it makes it crack-prone in weak places like holes. Other way, i think, is to fix the sphere on a rotating thing and draw two reference lines by marker on opposite sides, then - find centers. I never did that, but I suppose it should work, no less ideal than other ways.
Thank you gur this video. I've been thinking of making gold spheres. Will 0.5mm thick 18k be strong enough to withstand denting? Also I need to close one hole back up as I plan to use these sohetes as bracelet end pieces. What do you recommend. I will practice on copper. Thank you! I'm very glad to have discovered your videos! PPeters
It works the same as all my RU-vid videos. If you can see subtitles here, you will see the same on my courses. If not, let me know after check out and I can manually add English subtitles for you.
I also make silver beads, tho your process is somewhat different, and a bit more refined. These are a real challenge to get truly round, and your extra step when dapping is the key! I do wire solder mine tho, stacking 20 beads on a copper skewer at once, using spray MightyFlux.
Drilling the holes first is essential else they will burst from internal steam. Not bottoming out the domes in the dapping block is important to prevent the holes from cracking or stretching excessively. Thanks so much for sharing!!!
