Hi Phil, I was wondering about the cabochons...I have also made one with the black titanium cabochon, and that went all the way in with no problem...however, these rhodium ones don't seem to want to budge though. I have put them in a vice and put about as much pressure on them as I dare (proper pressure, not wimpy girl pressure), and this is all the way they will go in?
I've just has a measure up with my verniers. The nominal sizes vary by the smallest fraction of a millimeter because of the differences in thickness between the various types of plating, but as far as rhodium components and rhodium accents are concerned they are as follows on the one I've just measured.
On the finial (female) - wide opening: i/d = 8.65, small opening: i/d = 4.99
On the cabochon (male) - visible cabochon: o/d = 8.53, locating shank: o/d 5.03
That is as it should be, the stalk being the part that holds it in place by compression, the visible plate being designed to sit in the recess but indiscernibly
just not touch the sides.
I'm not sure why you may be experiencing the problem Mel, but it may pay you to carefully knock out the cabochons and just double check that nothing has got a burr on it or has become distorted. You could run a 5mm drill through the small hole too, to see if that might help, and/or a fine file around the locating shank. Run-out on your drill will probably make the hole larger than 5mm, but it won't harm if at the end of it the cabochon fits. A dab of glue will cure any resultant looseness.
Sorry you've got the problem Mel. They are not designed that way I promise, but they are a stiff fit I admit, because unlike compressing a component into a tube, where there is a bit of give, the cabochon compresses into solid brass, where there is very little give.
)