950 Palladium
Making a 3-Stone Ring
>By Mark B. Mann, Mann Design Group, Inc.An introduction to 950 palladium’s superior working characteristics
The wax models for the ring and trim pieces were produced by the Revo 540 mill. The palladium casting was done using platinum casting techniques and materials. For casting palladium, induction casting equipment with a sealed melt chamber is used. Ideally the melt chamber should be vacuumed after loading the palladium and then
back-filled with argon. The 14-karat
yellow gold accents were cast using standard gold casting techniques and materials. This image shows the raw castings and the red arrow indicates the location of the single sprue.
was designed by Lainie Mann using Matrix jewelry design software. The rendering in this image was done by Mann using Matrix. The ring contains an oval 2.12 carat pink tourmaline, two 0.33 carat round brilliant diamonds, and two 0.15 carat trillion-shaped sapphires. The 14-karat yellow gold trim 
accents were laser welded prior to the setting.
With pre-finishing complete, the ring was tumbled in a magnetic finisher
with stainless steel micro pins and a burnishing solution for 15 minutes. Next, the outside surfaces of the ring
were sanded using extra fine sanding
sticks then rough-polished using platinum blue compound.
The polished 14-karat yellow gold
accents were fit to the ring prior to
laser welding.
Note: When soldering gold to palladium, a cadmium-free solder must be used to form the best joint.
The stone setter started by placing the ring in shellac and setting the trillion sapphires. The shellac was removed and the ring was placed on a mandrel to set the diamond side stones, and then the center stone in the partial bezels.
For the service department
To size this ring down, it was cut at the bottom portion of the shank and the appropriate amount of metal was removed. The ends of the shank were precisely rejoined and there were no visible gaps or spaces. The ring was placed on a ceramic platinum soldering block. A piece of 1200 platinum solder was placed at the joint. A non-vented torch tip was used and both sides of the shank and the joint were simultaneously heated
to melt and flow the solder. No.7
platinum soldering glasses were worn for eye protection.
When heated to high heat soldering temperatures, some 950 palladium alloys will develop a bluish-purple surface discoloration. It’s easily
removed by briefly and mildly heating the piece with a neutral flame.
When palladium is heated to gold soldering temperatures, no surface discoloration occurs.
After setting, the ring was finished
and polished. Bendicks rouge was used for the initial polish and then a
very fine white rouge to produce the final luster.
Photography by Mark B. Mann
