|
Tips, Techniques, and Questions -- Technical questions or tips |
2017-01-17, 8:28am
|
Junior Member
|
|
Join Date: Jan 08, 2013
Location: near Vancouver WA
Posts: 9
|
|
gripping beads to get them off mandrel
I have never seen this tip, so I hope this will be helpful to someone at some point...
You know when you've got your locking pliers on the mandrel and you're trying to hold on to a bead so you can break the bead release and get the bead off? But the bead is small and slippery, and glass is hard stuff. It hurts my fingers.
I used to use one of those nonslip-rubber jar-lid thingies, but once it's wet, the friction reduces dramatically, and I'm always trying to twist wet beads so I don't inhale the bead release. So it's a hassle to dry the rubber thingy and/or the bead surface and try again.
Something that does work, fantastically, is just paper towel! It grips, it has a little bit of cushion (extra nice if your bead has raised bumpies), and all I need is about a quarter of a turn with the paper towel and the bead release breaks and the bead is ready to spin and come off the mandrel. Eureka!
Nicer towels like Bounty last a long time, but even crappy napkins can be used in a pinch. But they disintegrate quickly.
Sending best wishes for a wonderful 2017!
__________________
=) Jenefer
To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 5 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.
We must be willing to let go of the life we have planned, so as to have the life that is waiting for us--Joseph Campbell
|
2017-01-17, 1:34pm
|
|
what's a senior moment ?
|
|
Join Date: Jun 14, 2005
Location: East of Atlanta
Posts: 3,002
|
|
Great tip however I just use a wet rag I always have on my table. Works like a charm and doesn't cost anything. It's always rinsed in cold water too before I start to play at the torch so always wet. Comes in handy too when needing to cool down brass tools or any tools really. Another reason - like yesterday, I touched the wrong end of a glass rod. Cool, wet rag was right there to soothe.
__________________
Debbie
To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 5 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.
|
2017-01-17, 6:18pm
|
|
Senior Member
|
|
Join Date: Feb 06, 2008
Location: Southern NH
Posts: 1,015
|
|
Another tip is go to your local hardware store and buy (or in my case, steal my husband's) a "chuck." The chuck allows you to get a solid grip on the mandrel, and then you can just twist the bead off. I soak the bead in water first. Just my 2 cents.
__________________
The happiest people don't have the best of everything. They make the best of every situation.
To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 5 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.
To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 5 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.
|
2017-01-17, 10:53pm
|
|
Phill
|
|
Join Date: Mar 21, 2009
Location: Winnebago, MN
Posts: 2,489
|
|
If beads don't come of easily on my first or second attempt I go straight to the old pop rivet tool.
Some one here suggested using one of the smallest O rings you can get (usually in a kit with various sizes) as a bumper between the bead and nose of the rivet tool.
Only when the glass has welded it self to the mandrel through the broken bead release has the rivet tool ever failed to work.
( The bead will shatter sometimes if it is really stuck so wear some glasses when you try it and go slow.)
__________________
The Zombie Apocalypse is Upon Us.
|
2017-01-18, 12:36am
|
Junior Member
|
|
Join Date: Jan 08, 2013
Location: near Vancouver WA
Posts: 9
|
|
Quote:
Originally Posted by dla
Great tip however I just use a wet rag I always have on my table. Works like a charm and doesn't cost anything. It's always rinsed in cold water too before I start to play at the torch so always wet. Comes in handy too when needing to cool down brass tools or any tools really. Another reason - like yesterday, I touched the wrong end of a glass rod. Cool, wet rag was right there to soothe.
|
Great idea! I live in Malta where things rust very quickly and I've been hesitant to dunk my tools. I'll give this a try, as I've just gotten some raku and am looking forward to trying to get those gorgeous colors!
I've been using sandpaper to buff the rust off my tools (tweezers, razor blade tool, and the posts on my brass presses). I'd love to hear of a better way to keep them clean if anyone has suggestions... =)
__________________
=) Jenefer
To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 5 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.
We must be willing to let go of the life we have planned, so as to have the life that is waiting for us--Joseph Campbell
|
2017-01-18, 8:35am
|
|
hyperT
|
|
Join Date: Jan 31, 2013
Location: San Antonio, Texas
Posts: 582
|
|
Free the bead
Drill a small hole in your workbench top big enough for the mandrel to go through, bout an eight inch. Put the end of the mandrel in the hole and tap the other end to release the bead. Keep it straight up and down. Tap with something heavy or use a hammer.
|
2017-01-18, 8:55am
|
|
Senior Member
|
|
Join Date: Oct 27, 2014
Location: North of Nowhere
Posts: 2,686
|
|
My hubs made me a bead remover -- Basically as hyperT described. He drilled a hole in two scraps of wood. I can drop the mandrel through one, so the bead rest on top of it. The other is threaded on over the bead. I use it to push straight down on the bead with even pressure all the way around.
|
2024-07-28, 1:04pm
|
|
It's all about the color.
|
|
Join Date: Jul 03, 2005
Location: Texas
Posts: 1,901
|
|
Here's one I use that hasn't been mentioned yet. I have a cup, a special cup - it's actually a cup from an old yogurt maker that my mom used to have way back when. I fill the cup up to about 1/3" from the top of the cup, then I dangle the bead over the cup holding it by the mandrel and gently swing it back and forth till it gently hits the sides of the cup - think of the clapper in the bell - that's your bead. About a third of the time it loosens the bead just enough to make it come off when you twist the bead and the mandrel again.
It doesn't always work, but it's happened enough that it's something I use before I decide I have a new planter decoration. If you're making a bead you truly want to come of the mandrel, try double dipping your mandrels. Keep in mind that the bead release can't be too thick, it has to be just right.
__________________
Kay Powell
To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 5 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. (If the link doesn't work, edit the s out of your browser. It should be "http" not "https" Sometimes LE put in an S just for the heck of it.)
To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 5 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.
|
2024-07-28, 3:54pm
|
|
Salt Box Beads
|
|
Join Date: Oct 23, 2005
Location: Heading to Paradise
Posts: 4,166
|
|
I have always soaked mine over night in a mason jar of water with a squirt of dish soap, leave in sink, and in the morning most of the beads are off the mandrels and in the bottom of the jar.
For the tough ones still on the mandrel I wrap a piece of old rubber kitchen glove around the bead or suede leather and use a pair of vise grips fitted snugly on bead. No problems yet. Then I use the beadreamer to clean the beads.
I have used the "in the freezer method" a few times and that has worked also.
Once in a blue moon I get a real cute garden poke!
|
2024-07-29, 12:33pm
|
|
Slogan Challenged...
|
|
Join Date: Mar 21, 2009
Location: Maricopa, Arizona
Posts: 6,466
|
|
yes soaking the rods. I don't know if folks do that anymore but it's a good way! You can add a little vinegar for stubborn beads. I have a rivet gun but mostly if I have to resort to that, the bead will break.
__________________
Kristin ~
Facebook: To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 5 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.
To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 5 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.
Etsy: To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 5 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.
To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 5 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.
|
Currently Active Users Viewing This Thread: 1 (0 members and 1 guests)
|
|
Posting Rules
|
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts
HTML code is Off
|
|
|
All times are GMT -7. The time now is 5:46am.
|