Now being a youtube expert on the topic....
it's important to recognize how much to bite off and how much you can chew.

There are retailers that sell 'findings' i.e. teh fixtures that hold the jewels in place.
example


These are a little on the expensive side. I need to find out the gold weight.
That way I can determine the cost of labor to make them.
These would typically be made from a lost wax mold.
Having the wax mold would be a huge advantage.
Obviously the bigger the stone, the more gold required for the setting.

And tools, torches, TIG(?) the rabbit hole can get pretty deep quick.

It does make sense to have some ballpark idea of cost of materials if I have someone make it for me.
Especially if I'm fronting all of the material costs.

 

Looking at gold prices, I wish I did this little adventure about 3 months ago.
Gold has gone up from ~$4200 an ounce to $5200
A 25% hike.

 

Exercising my vanity....
I've gotten interested in making the earrings for my wife.
As Dave mentioned, it's important to make sure that things are secured well.
It would really suck to lose a stone. The stone to stone interconnect must be secure.
Any loops must be soldered or welded so no gaps can open up.
I saw some small torches from Smiths that are for jewelers.
But I know from my welding class gas welding isn't easy.
I bet it's a lot tougher with gold that will melt easily.
The upside is a have the gas bottles and regulators already and the little tips aren't stupid expensive.
So that's an upside.

Then I saw TIG welders for jewelry. I really liked TIG.
First I looked at something like a miller multiprocess machine but they can limit their current in the really low range.

Oohhh but then I saw a rig from Lampet called a DUK 6.1.
Looks like it has all of the right bells and whistles, even stereo-optical scope.

The one thing is doesn't have is an affordable price tag.
It's around $9k decked out with the right stuff.

It makes the Miller look cheap.

 

After crafting my concept using that advanced CAD tool PowerPoint... I sent to off to some of the online companies.
The primary use date is our sons wedding which is about ten weeks away
Lead times were 8 weeks plus, with no expedite available and no guarantee of meeting schedule.
For nal price wouldn't be available for 4 weeks after committing $100 to CAD fees.

Or in other, nope that ain't happening.

 

I have an appt with a local jeweler tomorrow PM.
They seem to either have the cool tools or access to the cool tools.
They seemed receptive to the schedule. I got the impression go straight to 3D printed gold from the CAD model. 3D lost wax method
https://all3dp.com/2/gold-3d-printin...oogle_vignette
I really hope it is onsite so I can watch but my suspicion it is subcontracted out and is remote.
The toys they have are just so cool.
Then it is just a budgetary conversation.

 

My first wife lost her wedding ring and we went to a local jewelry designer to make a new one. Her ring and my ring matched and luckily we had mine plus pictures for him to work off of. He did an amazing job and you would never know it wasn't the original.

 

My wife lost hers down the kitchen sink and I never wore mine. I consider it dangerous when working on cars plus I busted up my ring finger in a wreck while in college. Even without rings we will be hitting No. 57 this month.

 

I only ever took my ring off when I was working on stuff at work. cuz' you know that tingle tells you.
300 amps will do a good job on rendering a ring to blobs of gold.

 

 

I worked most of my life where wearing a ring was either prohibited or not a real good idea. I never wore mine until I retired. I knew of others that would wear it away from work and take it off when they got to work. They would leave it in their locker and for a while we had a rash of lockers broken into, We encouraged people to leave their rings home.