What tools do you guys use in your manufacturing? This is the #1 question we get asked. You want to know. And we’re excited to share. At Stuller, we don’t give out the “Tried & Tested” stamp (the one you’ve probably seen in our recent tools catalogs and on Stuller.com) that easily. Those products have to prove themselves first.
Our manufacturing experts work with a wide range of tools and equipment every day. They have strong opinions and suggestions – rightly so with more years of experience than we’re able to tally. We rely heavily on their advice when choosing which new products get added to our line. These items are extensively tested in actual manufacturing scenarios both real-time and lab settings. We bang them up and push them to their limits daily. That way you know if they make the team, they’ve got to be good.
January is synonymous with repair. In fact, 25% of your total sales will be generated from repair jobs this month alone. So, in conjunction with our Repair campaign on Stuller.com, we are sharing a special segment of our Stuller Tried & Tested series – Stuller Exclusives.
Some tools and equipment have just wowed us at first sight, and we knew that our customers would love them. Others, we helped to design, ensuring that they’d be a perfect fit for the work that jewelers do. Tested by jewelers for jewelers.
Rofin Laser Welders
“The laser welder is our favorite thing in the entire world!” says John Vandergriff. “They are built strongly, last a long time, and save us a lot of time.”
Investing in a laser welder should be considered carefully. It might actually be the highest priced tool you ever purchase for your shop. Laser welders are amazing tools that can give you lots of benefits. With a laser, you can pretty much repair anything that is made of metal like jewelry, glasses, watch parts, dental bridges and the list goes on. Typically you want to maintenance your laser once a year. We suggest doing this in October to get the machine ready for the Christmas season. We recommend you change the water filter, water and protection glass for better performance. To watch a video about Rofin® lasers watch this video.
Why we love them: There’s a long list of why we love our lasers, but one of the main things is because they save us a lot of time and frustration with pieces that we can’t heat with a torch. We use ours to make repairs on castings, fix porosity or incomplete prongs. Lasers also make our life easier when we have to fix seats for stones that are cut too deeply, plus it’s just cool to have one!
Tips: We like using 19KW for all white gold repairs. This helps the piece not be brittle and reduces porosity. We also recommend hooking up argon gas to the laser. This yields a cleaner weld. Last but not least, if you are working with silver, darken the silver piece with a sharpie to help the beams absorb the beam power.
Shop Set up: We recommend the laser to be next to the bench. Ideally, you would have your laser on one side of your bench, and your polishing unit on the other. You want to keep the laser away from dust.
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Another Stuller Exclusive Rofin treasure that we love using is the Easy Jewel IV 10 E Laser Engraver. With its advanced laser technology and software, you can bring laser marking and engraving to a whole new level.
Why we love it: We love it because it’s perfect for putting little messages inside your jewelry pieces. It’s also possible to download a design and imprint it on surfaces. We even use it to put your karat stamps. With this machine, you can engrave on knives, jewelry, pens, personalize tools, phone, and many other items. This engraver can make very small with high detail engraving, and it’s very easy to use. Typically someone with no experience will learn how to use it within a week or two.
Tips: With this engraver we recommend to “measure twice, cut once”. Sharpie the area of whatever design you want, and make sure the piece is where you want it to be. The machine takes minor corrections.
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The Adjustable Swing Arm
The Adjustable Swing Arm was developed here at Stuller. It’s meant to give you an extra hand when setting or engraving. I’ve set stones for over 20 years, and this tool comes in handy. The Swing Adjustable Arm fits on the GRS Mounting plate. We put the Microblock Ball Vise on top of the swing arm, and we use this to hold rings or pendants. These two tools keep the piece steady so we can focus on setting stones. A nice little feature is that it comes with an Allen key to be able to tighten it up if you do not want it to move. Here is a demo video of how it works.
Why we love it: Because it frees our hands and it helps us be more efficient.
Last but not least, I’d like to tell you about the Earring Setting Tool. If you set a lot of basket earrings in your shop, this is the tool for you. It’ll make your life a whole lot easier, I promise! It is made of lightweight aluminum and brass and has a .43mm x ½” deep hole for the earring post to sit in. We normally put the earring into the hole in the fixture, tighten the brass knob which closes the brass jaws and secures the earring. For more information on the earring setting tool watch this video.
Why we love it: Because it holds the earrings in place when you cut your seats.
Do you own any of these Stuller Exclusive pieces? Tell us about your favorite features in the comments section below. For more Stuller Exclusive tools, download our Tried & Tested brochure or visit Benchjeweler.com.
