lots of flecks of dust Ort factory dirt

[tkingjr]

I think we all have learned in this wonderful hobby ..Tuition is expensive.

 

[andyr]

andyr .. I came back home and payed with pushing existing (not shattered ) crystal into place. Safe to say I pushed way to hard. Although I question if I need the press to reinstall the crystal at all.

To to get the crystal out I used a small flat price in the top and a 45/46 round on the bottom and mounted crystal down. This worked easily as it was supposed to.

I did the opposite for remounting it. Unfortunately, I think I was waiting for some indication to stop pushing. The indication never came so I kept going until I, well, couldn’t keep going. A few more practice runs and I think I could have done it. Or, doing it by hand. Or I probably shouldn’t have done it in the middle of a mall at the jewelry bodega as my just found mentor was explaining to customers how the $35 blingy ear rings are in fact not real diamonds.

Lots of errors that day.

Couple of points here mate, the method you used popping out the crystal sounds fine using the flat piece on top to push the xtal out, however, because the xtal is domed slightly you don't want to be using the flat piece to push it back in as all the pressure goes down through the small contact area between the domed centre of the xtal and the flat piece. I use the curved piece on the bottom that you popped the crystal out into, on the top. So that the pressure is going evenly around the outside of the xtal where it is strongest, rather than through the middle, where it is at its weakest.

Also, when pressing the xtal back in, adopt the little and often method, so press for a short while, then review, and keep doing this until you have the xtal right. If you use the right piece you can exert a lot of pressure without fear of breaking it.

Pics below and apologies if you did it this way, but hopefully it will help others.

 

[andyr]

see the difference in the contact areas between the shaped and flat pieces

Shaped scalloped piece contacts all around the outside of the xtal and distributes load across the xtal, not straight down through the centre on a concentrated area
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Sent from my SM-G935F using Tapatalk

 

[Ams55557]

For those who want to know how this story ends. Just got my navtimers back from the one-and-only prof. Truly a work of art