Quote:
Originally Posted by jdrag13
take a socket u know the things u loosen bolts with put on your table socket up now use a c clamp clamp to table now what ever size socket u use is your ring size pull twistie or stringer while still hot wrap your twistie around the socket until stiff now u have a perfet circle decorate from ther
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I don't think I'm the only one who was entertained by reading this post. I've made a few hundred rings and I don't think I could have used sockets to make them on. There is a reason why the ring mandrels are made the way the are. Thin walled and hollow for even distribution of heat. Also it's really handy to have the mandrel to spin between your fingers to keep the heat even while you are shaping and decorating. Sockets that are possibly chrome plated or are a metal alloy are not going to survive the heat. Also my torch is not movable, so clamping the socket holder to my worktop is not an option. Using a long socket holder and spinning it in front of the torch for a half an hour or more sounds more like a job for Popeye or Lou Ferrigno.
I've experimented with 3" long hex nuts screwed onto threaded mandrels and dipped in bead release -hoping to get a cool hexagonal-holed bead. The sucker melted in half
very quickly. It sure
looked like steel, but must have been an alloy of some sort.
I am very interested in seeing the rings your friend makes on sockets. Could you please take some pictures? Or get a more detailed explanation from them?
Thanks.
Hey -the graphite ring sizing mandrel looks interesting, too, but wouldn't all the rings made on it be angled on the inside?