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 Post subject: Any one know the tollerance for a snap set fitting?
PostPosted: Thu Jan 14, 2016 7:30 am 
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Location: Wylie Texas but in Alaska for a while
My wife picked out a set of gold snap set mountings fora 6x8 oval.

I just cut one stone, but it is 5.1 b 7.6. I am currently up in Alaska and the setting is back in 'Dallas.

I have enough rough to cut another stone. But does anyone know if this one has a chance of fitting.

I have a little silver smithing but have never set a stone and do not want to tinker with the gold setting as a first learning experience.

I can cut another stone if I need to. I am also willing to have someone else set if it can be done.

I suspect that the 5.1 is going to be a problem.....


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 Post subject: Re: Any one know the tollerance for a snap set fitting?
PostPosted: Thu Jan 14, 2016 11:19 am 
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I have a little experience with them, and the ones I've used in any case did not hold up very well to adjusting, and that's a big adjustment. The prongs aren't as strong as they are with traditional prong settings. I wouldn't count on it working very well.


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 Post subject: Re: Any one know the tollerance for a snap set fitting?
PostPosted: Thu Jan 14, 2016 1:19 pm 
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I haven't used gold pre-notched settings, but Tripp's sterling silver is usually fairly robust. I wouldn't try to adjust more than half a mm, but it depends on the particular casting and the skill of the setter.


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 Post subject: Re: Any one know the tollerance for a snap set fitting?
PostPosted: Thu Jan 14, 2016 2:33 pm 
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AlBalmer wrote:
I haven't used gold pre-notched settings, but Tripp's sterling silver is usually fairly robust. I wouldn't try to adjust more than half a mm, but it depends on the particular casting and the skill of the setter.


I think even half a mm is going to be an issue with a snap-tite setting, unless, as you say, one is skilled. The metal in a snap-tite is "springier", as it's designed to snap around the edges of a stone without having to be bent with tools, so it's less agreeable when you try to make an adjustment. They're meant for stones with precise measurements.


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 Post subject: Re: Any one know the tollerance for a snap set fitting?
PostPosted: Wed Jan 20, 2016 9:59 am 
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I have found that the snap set settings we get here in the U.K. are quite easy to adjust up to 1 mm up or down. One precaution I always take when making a good size adjustment is to tighten the claw ends with a grain tool once the stone is in. Care and caution is the watchword here.


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 Post subject: Re: Any one know the tollerance for a snap set fitting?
PostPosted: Thu Jan 21, 2016 7:08 am 
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Sounds like I have a jewler friend do it or recut the stone.....

right now the second stone is 8.3mm by 6.4. I am just starting the second set of pavilion facets. It soulds like I should get a little closer.....

I am hearing that .5 is a little much, but could be handled by soeone who kows what they are doing.

Since I am cutting the second one now, and I am oversized, I do not mind cutting it down more. I am tired and overcut one of the first break facets, so I have to lower everything, tomorrow. I have plenty height in the rough, will have to grind it down nor or in the crown.

so how close wold you shoot for to make the setting easy for a newbe.... :roll:

8.1 x 6.1

8.05


glad it is not a real one..... One day, I will get there. Right now the seting is more than my rough. I actually traded it for some stuff that I got at a very good price..... so I might have 50 cents on the dop..... and I do not charge myself much for my time....



I want to leave a little, so far I have had to adjust the girdle and break facets a little to get them to play nice.

I am actually trying a slightly differnt cutting approach this time, I am cutting girdle to legth and width first, then I am doing the break facets.

I will then try and cut the third set of girde faces to match where the breaks hit.

I hope to get closer to the design l/w. . I seem to accumulitate error when chain cutting.


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 Post subject: Re: Any one know the tollerance for a snap set fitting?
PostPosted: Sat Feb 27, 2016 10:01 pm 
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Robin Winter wrote:
I have a little experience with them, and the ones I've used in any case did not hold up very well to adjusting, and that's a big adjustment. The prongs aren't as strong as they are with traditional prong settings. I wouldn't count on it working very well.


I agree on the snap-tite settings, but in my experience the Tripps should be no problem.

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 Post subject: Re: Any one know the tollerance for a snap set fitting?
PostPosted: Mon Feb 29, 2016 8:43 pm 
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At the risk of sounding like I'm wasting a post for "I agree", I agree ;)

The Tripps settings I've used are substantial enough that you can mod them quite a bit. I love their tourm settings, btw, because you only have to deal with length and can mod the relative width as long as you ordered one deep enough for your pavillion.

Many of the other Rio-type snap-tight settings are die-cut and quite thin. Since they're basically made of sheet, it's also hard to move them laterally to get them to a good spot on an oval. At least with round prongs, you can move them around a bit laterally. When I say laterally I mean things like moving the side prongs towards or away from the top or bottom. For example, if you orient a marquise shape north-south, the 4 side prongs on a 6-prong setting might need to move towards the "north" and "south" on a longer-than-calibrated size (like putting a 10.6 x 4.9mm marquise into a 10x5mm setting).

(Edit: Hi guys! I've been away for a while)

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 Post subject: Re: Any one know the tollerance for a snap set fitting?
PostPosted: Mon Feb 29, 2016 9:10 pm 
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To be honest, I've never been super satisfied with the grip of the snap settings I tried early on. It felt like it would be pretty easy to get them back out almost as easily as it was to get them in, at least on the bigger ones. The Tripps settings are occasionally badly cast but mostly work pretty darn well.

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