Announcing the XPress Bead Liner from Art in the Round

[cadia]

Dave,
Can please you post a price for a set of all sizes of the pegs that you will have?
Can a set of (just the pegs) be bought separately from the bead liner?

[pittypat]

Couldn't stand it!!! Had to have it!!! The domed core is just what I want. Thanks, Dave, for another wonderful affordable product!!
pat

[Andrew]

Lol nice work Dave although i hope you done mind not sleeping for the rest of the year with all the work you will have

Regards

Andrew.

[greykat]

Hi,
Emailed you regarding purchasing one!

Louise (Greykat)

[mobbsy]

Originally Posted by anne225

I bought a small saw from Harbor Freight. Called their Mini Cut Off Saw. #42307 is on the piece. It is electric.
I felt it was worth the $30 because I just didn't want to get a off angle cut and have to even out the edges. They probably have it in their on-line catalog.

It leaves an edge that needs to be deburred but I think that happens with most any saw. You can use a variety of items for that...I change up from a thin wheel that I use on my dremel to a fine small file I got at the jewlers supply house.

Anne

Hi anne, im an ozzie not sure if you have this in the US but if you go to your local plumbing store ask if they have a $3 pipe cuter where you can just rotate the tubing in it and it cuts it beautifully with pretty much no burring they use it for all their copper piping but it works fine on sterling too : )

[Reenie]

I'm interested on how your color is aluminum or chrome? The one I have is red and the coring device is black. I have no idea what kind of metal is used but now I'm waiting on tubing to see if it works okay.

[yeepers]

Irene,

There are a multitude of tube flaring devices out there - all different colors and sizes and what not. What Dave is using is just another brand. The function is still the same.

[lampwork.dk]

I can not find it on your site Dave, I like to have one... have been looking all over for that but have only find one to 250 $ and very hevy so it will be so expensive to send it to Norway where I live...

[yeepers]

It is not listed on Dave's site. Send him an email to place an order

[DaveF]

Originally Posted by Reenie

I'm interested on how your color is aluminum or chrome? The one I have is red and the coring device is black. I have no idea what kind of metal is used but now I'm waiting on tubing to see if it works okay.

Obviously, both the color of my Bead Liner and your tool, whatever it is, is irrelevant. Surely you are aware of that!

From the description you give, my guess is it is a chinese-made dirt cheap plumber's flaring tool. I bought one of those early on and decided it was way too poorly made, too small, and too wonky to provide the quality I was looking for as a starting point for the rest of my design. There wasn't a straight line on the tool which would allow accurate machining to modify it for this purpose; Very poor casting, no bearing in the cone, crooked screw, non-removable cone, too short, I could go on...

...but what _exactly_ are you asking me, Reenie, and more importantly, why?

Thank you,
Dave

[yeepers]

Dave,

I sent you a PM about the liner. Also wondering, like others here, what other peg sizes you're offering at this time

Cheers!

-Yee

[DaveF]

Originally Posted by yeepers

Dave,

I sent you a PM about the liner. Also wondering, like others here, what other peg sizes you're offering at this time

Cheers!

-Yee

Hi Yee,

For the time being, I will be offering the 1/4 inch and 4.37 mm sizes only. Design work on 1/2 inch which you mentioned in your PM and others are down the road a bit. I am not prepared to speak to that issue yet, so I can only guarantee the smaller sizes are ready and work. I will be posting the price of the alignment pegs, and several other nice accessories shortly. Please bear with me for one or two more days, guys.

Everyone who ordered will have the chance to add any of these to their order prior to shipment. Alternatively, I will ship any of these accessories to those who have ordered prior to the announcement of those several new parts and tools at actual cost.

The first tools will start shipping in 24 to 48 hours. I did a minor re-design after seeing how much interest there was in the smaller size tubing from the bulk buy. It is very nice, and will allow the pegs to be changed very simply, and also allows me to make them more easily, so the cost of the pegs will be lower. That put me a few days behind schedule, but I am now back on track. It was definitely worth the effort.

Thanks for your question, Yee.

Now then... Just to clarify something else, Yee is correct in stating this is based on a flaring tool, but (and I think you personally realize this Yee,) it is NOT just an off-the-shelf tool that I simply bought and marked up!

There is considerable work and cost on my part in manufacturing the rest of the tool, and also in modifying the as-supplied tool itself, in addition to the experimenting and design work that preceeded its release.

I hope that helps clarify and correct what Reenie said in her first post, about having a red tool that is "exactly the same." That is simply not true. I know, because every tool exactly like this, is at the present moment sitting in my machine shop.

Hope that clears things up a little.

I want to thank everyone for your patience, and all the warm encouragement I have received here and in the veritable flood of emails I've received thanking me for creating this and offering it at a fair price. It is very much appreciated. I am working hard to get your orders filled asap. Forgive me if I am not around here as often as some of you would like. I do check the thread once or twice a day. An email may get you a quicker reponse. (I'd prefer it if you email me directly rather than LE PM's, at dave@artintheround.com as that is easier to answer and track than via the LE email system, especially for orders.) And, don't look for this on the website for at least a couple more days. My priority is making tools for the next few days, then I'll get a web page and cart set up. Things have already settled down quite a bit. We'll see what happens after a few reviews.

Thanks, and look for another post Monday or Tuesday regarding new toys to go with this.

Dave

[GinnyHampton]

Originally Posted by DaveF

The first tools will start shipping in 24 to 48 hours.



Dave

YIPPEEE!!!

[carbedix]

I would like to purchase the bead liner x-press and the beadreamer in 3/32 and 1/8 size - send invoice to my paypal - carbedix@hotmail.
thanks, Caroll

[squid]

Hi Dave - I would like to get a bead liner, but have not heard back from you on my email from a few days ago.

Sigrid

[CCraig]

I sent a pm and have not heard back yet. I am interested in the sizes that are already available. Thanks!

[PaulaD]

Very Cool!!

Paula

[GinnyHampton]

Originally Posted by CCraig

I sent a pm and have not heard back yet. I am interested in the sizes that are already available. Thanks!

Hey Cindy, send him an email instead

[sburwash]

HI Dave - all I can say is BRAVO! This is the quality I've been looking for at the price I can justify spending. I use your beadreamers and have been very impressed with them too. Thanks for turning your engineering and beadmaker eyes on this. I'll be sending you an order in the next few days.

[Bluebottle_25]

I have a feeling Dave is buried somewhere under a heap of emails and orders ... hope he's okay!!

[DaveF]

Originally Posted by Bluebottle_25

I have a feeling Dave is buried somewhere under a heap of emails and orders ... hope he's okay!!

Boy you got that right! Cheese Louise! Well, a batch just went out today and will be arriving Wednesday. Everyone gets a freebie for awhile too. I've included 10 "practice beads" made from steel nuts with the threads drilled out, and 6 inches of brass tubing to practice with. Eventually I'll be charging for that, but for now, they're free. I want to be sure everyone has a chance to get comfotable using the tool before having to worry about silver and making practice beads, etc. The brass fits the 1/4 inch peg that comes installed with the tool.

NOTE: If you want to order, Pleaser email the following, to dave@artintheround.com:

(1) Your PayPal address
(2) Whether you want just the 1/4 inch peg that comes with the tool, or also the 4.37 mm ID Peg. (That is $6.00 extra.)
(3) Your State or Country.
I've been charging $5.00 for shipping by Priority Mail, But found the actual cost came out to be $7.45 for most states, and $8.35 to California.

So as of now, shipping will be $7.50 to most states and $8.50 to California.
International shipping will be $11.95 by International Priority Mail flat rate uninsured.

Lead time is about 10 days from time of purchase right now. Sorry the first batch was slower than I projected, but I did a redesign on the bottom anvil and changed the way the peg is made so the pegs are interchangeable. That way you can switch just the little center peg without me having to make a whole new anvil, (and without you having to pay a much higher price) for different sizes as they become available. I've also done some retooling that will speed things up a bit.

I am well into another batch and should have them done tomorrow or Wednesday if I can stay in the shop long enough. I'm pretty stretched answering emails and questions, etc as well. (Note the time of this post.) After that, I have 25 more base tools on order which should be in shortly, this week I think. Lead time should be back to about a week or less pretty soon now that retooling and the new peg design is finished.

I've been sending out emails every day and still have a few more to do in the morning from today's inquirys so hopefully everyone's concerns will be addressed. Thanks everyone for your patience. I'm working on it!

My dogs are barkin! Time to put my feet up.

Best,
Dave

[Bluebottle_25]

Yay, Dave's alive!

Watch out, I'm emailing you now!

[gayle janczarek]

Sent my order in this afternoon. Now the waiting begins. gayle

[gayle janczarek]

So has anyone been playing with there new tool? How is it working? Happy? Or waiting for the e-mail so you can pay to know that it is really coming to a home like yours. gayle

[Renee Weaver]

Got mine today... it looks great..I'll be playing with this tonight!

[DaveF]

Originally Posted by Renee Weaver

Got mine today... it looks great..I'll be playing with this tonight!

Hi Renee,

Hope you like it! Here's a couple tips for you all.

Go slow. Do a little on one end, turn over, do the same amount on the other end, repeat, till the flattened flare is almost down to the glass. Feel free to take it out and examine it at any time. No problem with that.

I like to use about 3 - 4 mm extra length on the tubing over the width of the bead. You can go much more than that without splitting the metal (usually) if you take it in small increments when flaring. I know I've done at least 6 mm. Something about flattening alternately during flaring allows this to work for much larger lengths than if you try to flare all at once.

IMPORTANT! Keep the bead centered between the top and bottom at all times or it WILL crack.

Duriung flaring, especially if you are taking it in small steps, you may see the first one or two flarings aren't perfect, maybe a little wonky near the edge on one side. Don't worry too much about that, it will straighten out as you go deeper. You can go deeper on that end immediately but do the same on the other end too.

Taking it in tiny increments will produce a higher, smaller circumference lip. Bigger increments (more turn of the handle per pass) will produce a lower dome and larger circumference.

The brass tubing you received with it is available at most any hardware store or hobby shop, BTW. When you are ready to try glass, Make a few practice beads and flame anneal them at the back of the torch for 30 seconds to a minute, then air-cool. Amazingly, this tool is so well behaved, even (most of) those won't crack either.

The screw goes down 1.25 mm per turn. When judging how far you are turning the handle, hold the tool so the handle is pointing straight up at 12 o'clock, and imagine a clock face. That aspect is probably the nicest thing about this design. It makes your results pretty repeatable, and accurate. You might want to take notes as you go, so you can repeat an effect you like later. Before you start measuring your turn, turn the handle till it is just snugged up to take the slack out before you count the movement as "real".

You also might want to experiment with hammering flat during the flaring operation if you ever have a stubborn piece of tubing that has a hard spot on one side or something. I've run into that with the brass a couple times. Not with silver, but it could happen I guess. One or two taps fixes it.

Don't try to tighten the rivet with the tool. You can CAREFULLY go all the way down, but not for the faint hearted. Just touching is OK, but NOT tight. Don't try this until you really have the feel for it. Just go till the gap between the metal lip and the glass is about the same or a little less than the thickness of the lip, as a guage of when to stop, and start hammering to tighten. The tool will never get it tight by itself. You have to do that with a hammer anyway.

Oh, and here's another thing... When you start to get near the end, make your turns smaller. That's so you don't go all the way down on one end before you run out of room for a matching turn on the other end. That helps to make your ends match in daimeter.

Here's a neat trick if you have a digital caliper (highly recommended you do. They are awesome tools. Check Harbor Freight and elsewhere.) Anyway, measure your bead at the widest spot. Then while still holding the caliper on the bead, press zero. Now you can open the caliper till it reads 3 mm, for example, and that will be exactly 3 mm bigger than the bead width. No need to math. Now, turn the locking screw to lock that setting and use the caliper tip to scratch your tubing, marking it for cutting to length.

I just got 8 feet of polycarbonate rod in today and will be producing a dapping stand and a deburring tool that should be available in about three or four days on the new website page. (see my next post below.)

Thanks, and have fun. Let us know how it goes.
Dave

[DaveF]

Hi,

I'm still here! I now have a new web page up for orders so we won't need invoices and a gezillion emails etc. It is in temporary web space until I rebuild the entire site.

I'll be moving my whole website to Pappa Shop hosting soon, and I wanted to put the order page on the new site rather than waste time on the old one.

So when you go there, it isn't real pretty. As of now, all that's really functional on the new site is the Tools link, where you can order a Bead Liner, and also BeaDreamers if you want to combine shipping. You can also order an extra Peg too, or not, as you like. Note I've changed the name of the Tool to Impress. There is already a bead press (bead mold) named bead-x-press and I was asked to change the name, and complied. I lke Impress better anyway.

If you have already requested an invoice and not yet received it, Please order your tool and/or extra Peg through this link. It'll save us both time and effort.

http://host.pappapak17.com/~artinthe/index.htm

If you have any problems, please email me immediately. This set me back a day or so but it was well worth it! I'm back at the bench!

Thanks, more tools to ship this week.
Dave

[squid]

Hi Dave - are instructions included with the tool? Do you have a video tutorial available for this tool?

[Kim V]

I got mine yesterday! Thank goodness for once I thought ahead and had a little stockpile of beads so I could play with it when it came!! This tool is great! I love the size....it allows me flexibility as to where I use it. A big plus for me is that I can hold it up so I can see how I'm progressing!

Here's what I did. Mostly 1/4 inch copper with a couple of 3/16 inch sterling. I didn't polish them before I antiqued them on purpose. I can see where I need to work on some things....particularly hammering the edges. There's just something about using a hammer on a bead

Thank you Dave for developing this!! I'm going to be bringing mine up to a friend's house (she works with sea glass and stones) for her to try out. I'll be watching for your other new tools.

Kim V
PS-I love the new name!!

[squid]

what kind of hammer are you using, Kim?