Making stone ear plugs! (jewelry)

SpokaneTim makes them I think that he posts them under Creations.

TAMMY

Hi Zachary,

Like Tammy said I make and have sold lots of stone plugs. I've got the process down and can give you loads of help. I'm wondering if you're new to lapidary work or have experience cutting rocks. I ask because there's quiet a bit of expensive equipment needed needed to make a quality plug.

Those plugs you posted from BodyCandy are mass produced Chinese plugs. They are ok but often the sizes are wrong, flare to big or small, and they miss represent what stone they are selling (like calling dyed howlite real turquoise, my pet peeve). The sell for very cheep. No way a person can compete with those prices, so you have to make a superior plug.

Anyway, here a few examples of what I make. I can't make much now as my shop is frozen sold, literally.

00g Montana Moss

9/16" Labradorite

2g Conch pins, rutilated quartz

7/8" rutilated quartz

3/4" Purple Jadeite

0g dino bone


I've got some older plugs on my site now marked way down just to sell them.

Tim

yes and how do your pinkies hold up doing those?

spokanetim Ya man, you're right I've never worked with stone period, but have always have the drive to do it myself. I figured something like this www.electronicsnmore.com/product_info.php/cPath/2_13/products_id/10073 Could be used? Am I wayyy off? taht and of course a rock tumbler to polish it.

The die grinder in the link is a low quality DC unit. You would have to purchase an additional power supply and it would still be underpowered and not suitable for wet work. You need to grind stones wet to keep the diamond burrs cool and to avoid breathing the toxic dust.

I think bare minimum to do what you want to do (assuming you start with slabs) would be a drill press suitable for wet cutting of your preforms, a flex shaft grinder like a Foredom to grind the grooves, and a vibrational tumbler to finish them off.

Lee

Tim, What are your thoughts on spinning the stone on the drill press and using the flex shaft to grind the concave? It is something that I have been tossing around in my head. If I made plugs with holes in them it would be easy but without holes I am thinking a bearing in the vice with a rubber knob of some sort and a bolt with a rubber head chucked up in the drill like a vertical lathe. A large diamond burr in the flex shaft could be used to grind the groove. I have a water feed to my drill press or I am set up to have my vice under water. I refuse to donate blood to an unworthy cause.
Jim

this is the thread i was looking for and couln't find when I started mine. I know it's not of the quality posted in this thread but it's my first one and just a quicky to try the concept
url]http://forum.rocktumblinghobby.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=general&thread=57791&page=1[/url]

Hey, sorry I haven't checked the site in awhile and missed the questions. I've slowed down on the plug making because it was getting sort of nuts with requests.

Anyway, a member just sent me a PM on how to make them so I thought I'd share if there's interest on how I make them.

1st, What size are you making? I use core drills to make the blank based on the size of the plug. Generally the smallest you can make are 4G ( I use the size chart on this page: piercedbeauty.hubpages.com/hub/The-History-Method-and-Ear-Gauging )

2nd, do you want single flare or double flare? Single flare have only a front face then a tube behind that is inserted into the lobe, it's held in place with a rubber O-ring. Double flare have the traditional saddle with a front and back slightly larger than the size. Single flare are easier to start out making as you won't need anything but your cabbing machine. Making double flare will require you to use either a diamond wheel like this jadecarver.com/Wheel6x15csm.jpg or a large burr like this jadecarver.com/CarverThick1.jpg to cut the saddle.

3, Once you decide what rock you want to use cut a 16 mm slab. Don't use fractured or pitted stone for two reasons. One it will probably break. Two, you don't cracks or pits in the ear area as it's uncomfortable and it's a nice place for bacteria to grow.

4, Cut your plug blank from the slab with core drill trying to pick matching patterns in the rock. You will need to make the blank 3-5 mm over the actual size for double flare plugs and 5+ for single flare.

Making the plugs. For ease we will assume you are making a 00g plug or 10.4 mm

1, Single flare plugs. Make a very low dome cab out of the front face. The front face should be anywhere from 2-6 mm round. 3 mm behind the face, grind down the tube size using your 80 wheel to very close to actual size. Keep it a perfectly round tube and keep checking the size of the tube with digital calipers. For 00g I would grind it down to 10.8 mm on the 80, then using the 220 grind to 10.5 mm. Finally with the Nova 280 sand to actual size of 10.4. Using the edges of the wheels you can sand the back side of the face the same way.

Now you have your sized single flare plug, grind the back so there is about 10-11 mm of wearable area and give the back a very slight dome. Continue sanding and polishing with the rest of wheels till the plug is done.

2, Double flare plugs. Using your plug blank, cut the center saddle using either the 220 U wheel or large burr. Cut it slow and careful trying to keep it round and checking the size often. The U shaped saddle should be about 6.5-7.5 mm across so it's a snug fit in the ear. Grind the saddle down to about 10.5 mm

Use the edge of your soft nova wheel to carefully sand the U or saddle till it's smooth (KEEP IT U SHAPED) and at size of 10.4 mm.

Sand the front and back of the plug back so the saddle is centered and the total plug length is about 12.5 mm. Give the front and back a very low dome. Carefully cut the front and back flare so the plug is about 11 mm round. They have to push that flare threw their lobe so it's to bit it won't go in, if it's to small the plug will fall out.

Continue polishing the plug using the edge of your Nova wheels.

That's pretty much the basics of plug making. Unlike cabbing where you use the center of the wheel, plugs wears out the sides. There's more for different kinds of plugs and a vib tumbler can be a big help for some rocks, but that should get you started.

Hope that helps,

Tim

Where can I find stone thick enough to make plugs? I have everything but the raw materials help