Articles
Benefits Jewelry Repair Using a Laser Welder
When people think of jewelry repair, most people envision a jeweler sitting at a workbench with small hand-tools and a torch. Did you know that at the Jewel Box Jewelers we utilize a state of the art laser-welder to do some of the repairs on your pieces?
In the picture you will notice two round openings on either side of the machine. The jeweler reaches into those openings to hold the piece of jewelry inside the protective chamber and under magnification up to 30x more powerful than the naked eye. Once set, they then aim the sharply focused beam of light at the precise area intended, and fire. This beam is activated by a foot pedal (not shown) and produces very high heat in a concentrated area. Because of this, we are able to fuse metal together in microscopic places; making it possible for us to do repairs and fabrications that would have been too difficult or time consuming in the past.
Having a laser in house means the Jewel Box Jewelers is able to perform welds on intricate filigree designs and re-tip certain prongs without having to unset and reset your stones. When fabricating a custom piece for a client or making an adjustment or repair to an existing piece of jewelry, we also use the laser to tack components into place prior to soldering. Because there are times when using solder is the best choice, our clients can rest assured that the best possible alignment of parts was achieved before soldering took place. Beyond that, we are able to repair many of today's metal, designer eyeglass frames using our laser.
A laser weld is 250 times stronger than solder. In practical terms this means that when laser-sizing a ring, the metal on that sized ring will likely wear out, actually wear all the way through, before that laser-weld breaks. Because the laser actually fuses new and old metal together, providing the same metal alloy is used, there is no sizing mark. Technology is a wonderful thing!
If you have a pair of metal eye glasses, a piece jewelry or a metal "object de arte" that has been deemed impossible to repair, I encourage you to bring it in and let us take a look.
We provide our clients with all types of Jewelry and Watch Repair & Restoration and have an entire section of our website dedicated to the topic.