I rarely use wax anymore. I use super glue. Easy give it a try.
i tried that but didn't use filler so that attempt was also failed ,i guess its related to that. will try with filler next time,but i must also learn how to use wax... its tradition. need to know how to use it.
Both wax and super glue are tried and true methods for doping. If both are failing, it might indicate some problem with your doping practices.
The first thing is to make sure the stone is completely clean of oils and contaminates. It must also be dry. I use either high grade alcohol, or Acetone to clean the stone.
With super glue make sure to keep it thinner rather than thicker, and possibly use a little accelerator to make sure it hardens all of the way through. Use a medium viscosity glue.
With wax, use a little wax/shellac mixture to coat the stone. This mixture sticks well to the stone, and gives the wax something to bind to.
Joined: Sun Jan 11, 2015 4:08 pm Posts: 381 Location: Lyon, France
If you are waxing, make sure your stone and wax are hot or they won’t stick. That being said some wax just really doesn’t work. I use a red wax you can find in bangkok that works well but they sell a green and brown one that I’ve never gotten a stone to stick to. Not sure why. Good luck. Also there are a million super glues that don’t work. It needs to be thick not watery. I thought that gorilla glue high impact was the best but I found a better one in bangkok though I forget the name right now. Also if it’s winter and it’s very cold in your faceting room I find I have a much harder time sipping becasue the stone and wax get cold too fast. You literally have to press them together while their still over your flame. Otherwise their getting told too quickly.
If you are waxing, make sure your stone and wax are hot or they won’t stick. That being said some wax just really doesn’t work. I use a red wax you can find in bangkok that works well but they sell a green and brown one that I’ve never gotten a stone to stick to. Not sure why. Good luck. Also there are a million super glues that don’t work. It needs to be thick not watery. I thought that gorilla glue high impact was the best but I found a better one in bangkok though I forget the name right now. Also if it’s winter and it’s very cold in your faceting room I find I have a much harder time sipping becasue the stone and wax get cold too fast. You literally have to press them together while their still over your flame. Otherwise their getting told too quickly.
Good luck!
1bwana1 wrote:
Both wax and super glue are tried and true methods for doping. If both are failing, it might indicate some problem with your doping practices.
The first thing is to make sure the stone is completely clean of oils and contaminates. It must also be dry. I use either high grade alcohol, or Acetone to clean the stone.
With super glue make sure to keep it thinner rather than thicker, and possibly use a little accelerator to make sure it hardens all of the way through. Use a medium viscosity glue.
With wax, use a little wax/shellac mixture to coat the stone. This mixture sticks well to the stone, and gives the wax something to bind to.
You will get it figured out.
Thank you both. I actually managed to make that wax hold for the entire pavilion faceting- Using the super glue on top of the wax and making it filled the gaps in-between. So far this system working, Only problem is that i must line up the dop to the machine at 90 degrees, before i add the glue, otherwise i cannot reheat and align the stone. That create a problem cause any little overheat\a bit pressure ,and the stone falling of the dop. I will order another type of wax,maybe the brown type, just to be sure that its not my technique fault. PS still searching for that topaz...
Hi Dor I am using the Black wax since 5 years and very happy with it. Vistar
Hi, Red\brown\black they all should do the job. I think my issue is more connected to the room temp,as justinkprim here said. The wax get cold too fast making it difficult to hold and maybe also breaks too easily after. I can easily break and crumble it to pieces with my fingers after it get cold. I have never work with that kind of wax before,so i am not sure if that's is normal.
Hi Dor I am using the Black wax since 5 years and very happy with it. Vistar
Hi, Red\brown\black they all should do the job. I think my issue is more connected to the room temp,as justinkprim here said. The wax get cold too fast making it difficult to hold and maybe also breaks too easily after. I can easily break and crumble it to pieces with my fingers after it get cold. I have never work with that kind of wax before,so i am not sure if that's is normal.
if you can crumble the cold wax in your fingers throw it away and get some brown or black wax from a good faceting supply place...
Hi Dor I am using the Black wax since 5 years and very happy with it. Vistar
Hi, Red\brown\black they all should do the job. I think my issue is more connected to the room temp,as justinkprim here said. The wax get cold too fast making it difficult to hold and maybe also breaks too easily after. I can easily break and crumble it to pieces with my fingers after it get cold. I have never work with that kind of wax before,so i am not sure if that's is normal.
Stephen Challener wrote:
Wax can go bad too. I inherited some old green wax with my cabbing machine that just refused to melt and stick consistently, while new worked great.
if you can crumble the cold wax in your fingers throw it away and get some brown or black wax from a good faceting supply place...
Oh yeah, excess brittleness was another symptom of that bad batch. Wax is cheap, so it's easy enough to toss and get fresh.
Yeah,well... not here. Cannot Buy any faceting equipment or spare parts here in israel. Anything related to faceting is just not exist. I believe the few cutters that we did had in the past,was bankruptcy years ago. just no demand. its all about diamonds here,and almost 0 market for any other gem. i had to explained the custom " what the hell" is this weird machine that i want to import. But. surprisingly,yesterday i did find one store here that have wax for lapidary, (probably meant for another use) Its honey brown color,low temp, and so far its working perfectly. almost finish a stone.
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