Please
use all due caution when using this jump ring cutter. The use of any high speed
cutting tool carries inherent risk. Improper use of this tool may result in
injury. This tool is intended for use only with non-ferrous wire.
A
friend of mine who is a chain maille artist asked me to build a jump ring cutter
for her. While I was building one I went ahead and built several others and
sold them to other maille artists. The cutter consists of a small circular jeweler's
saw and arbor that fits in a Dremel rotary tool, a blade guard/guide that fits
onto the front of the Dremel tool, and a holder for the coil of wire. It slices
a coil of wire into jump rings that can then be used to knit chain maille.
12/21/06
- I have built some more jump ring cutters. The new ones are a slightly improved
design. The coil holder is longer and slightly improved. The saw arbors are
better. But, the main change is to the blade guard/guide. The blade guard/guide
is now two pieces which makes the tool much easier to set up. The following
instructions include some new information regarding the design changes, but
also repeat a lot of the info from my earlier jump ring cutter (since many
processes are exactly the same).
Unplug your Dremel
tool before changing tools.
You will need the
1/8" collet installed in your Dremel.
To install the blade
guard/guide you will need to remove the threaded ring from the front of
the Dremel tool. This simply unscrews. Most Dremel tools use the same
thread pattern and size at the front of the housing. If your tool accepts
common Dremel accessories (the router housing, the grout removal tool)
it will accept this blade guard.
With
the threaded plastic ring removed, thread the inside part of the blade guard
into place and tighten gently.
Next,
install the saw blade on the arbor. Install it with the printed side out. Make
certain that the blade fits down over the raised shoulder on the arbor. When
the holder is installed and tightened the blade must fit snuggly against the
back of the arbor all the way around.
The
blade supplied is 1.25" in dia., 0.010" thick, with a 0.375"
center hole. Replacement blades are available from several suppliers including
Enco and JTS
Machinery. Blades are available in various thicknesses, but you must use
a blade that is 1.25" in dia. and has a 0.375" center hole.
Slip
the outer part of the blade guard over the inner part.
Slide
the outer part of the blade guard in/out so that the blade will run in the center
of the slot in the coil holder. The easiest way to do this is to use the top
of the coil holder.
With
the outer part of the blade guard in position so that the saw runs in the center
of the coil holder, lock the outer part of the guard in position by tightening
the two set screws.
Once the blade guard
is installed in the correct position cutting jump rings is the same as with
my earlier cutters. All of the following directions are the same as the directions
for my first jump ring cutters. Please let me know if you have any questions.
All
that's left now is to wind some wire into coils and start cutting. Please clamp
the coil holder in a vise while you are cutting. DO NOT attempt to hold
it in your hand.
There
has been some discussion about the use of a dowel as a mandrel. It isn't necessary,
but I find that I got the smoothest cuts by winding the wire around a dowel
and leaving the dowel inside while cutting. You can rock (twist) the Dremel
tool so that the blade just cuts through the wire and doesn't dig deeply into
the dowel. The dowel seems to help support the wire and makes the cutting smoother.
If
you prefer to wrap the wire around a steel mandrel it is possible to clamp and
cut the coil with no dowel inside. This doesn't work for very short coils. Even
with a longer coil like this the rings sometimes fall over as they are cut free
and then they aren't clamped any more.
Either
way, clamp the coil in the coil holder and tighten the screws. Hand pressure
was enough for me.
Slip
the blade guide over the coil holder, turn on the Dremel tool and slide it smoothly
across the coil sawing the wire into rings. My Dremel tool only has two speeds
and I found it works best on the lower speed (10,000 rpms).
I spent a fair amount
of time playing with the jump ring cutter (and wound up cutting a bunch
of rings). I find that it takes a certain touch to make it work really
well. Sometimes it seemed to glide through the wire like butter, sometimes
it bogged down and seemed rough. It cut the rings either way, but I liked
it better when it cut smoothly.
I found that having
a tightly wound, even coil helped. Clamping pressure was important. The
coil had to be clamped snug, but if the coil was clamped too tightly (especially
with no dowel inside) the ends of the rings seemed to bind on the blade.
I was using beeswax as a blade lubricant, but if I was going to do very
much of this I would buy one of the commercial dry lubricants designed
for metal sawing.
If you bought one
of my jump ring cutters, I hope it works well for you. Let me know if
you have any questions or concerns.
If you didn't buy
one, I may make more in the future.
