Wire breaking with larger beads

[asamp]

Bracelets with beads that are 18 by 20mm or larger tend to break very easily when they make contact with a hard surface with mild force.  Currently ues 19 strand Beadalon wire at .012" diameter.  Any suggestions?

[Luann Udell]

I'm not sure what you mean by "breaking".  Nor why you think the stringing material is significant.

Is the BEAD breaking from being knocked on something?  It could be the quality of the glass.  What kind of bead, made where?  Annealed properly??

If the stringing material is breaking, is it being cut by the bead?  

Or is there not enough "flex" or curvature in the design so bead ends are forced against other bead ends--and breaking?

And what do you consider "mild force"?  These are glass beads, afer all!   '>

Please explain and maybe we can help you more?

[asamp]

The wire itself is breaking not the beads, we use mostly stone beads with 4mm spacers.  Mild force is bumping the wrist agaist a table, not hitting the table but literally bumping.  An example of a bracelt that broke: Nuggets aprox: 15-18mm with bead caps on either end and 4mm spacers in between the silver bead caps.  This was a 7 inch bracelet that was not tight on the wrist.  A customer wore it for less than an hour and she came back with the wire appearring to be "frayed" apart.  It again broke when her wrist came into contact with a hard object.  

Our jewelry is not unusual in its design nor do we use unusual large beads in our bracets.

asamp

[marym]

There are a few issues that could be happening-

A bead that large could use a larger diameter Beadalon- for starters. The best rule of thumb is to use a stringing material that fits snugly into the beads. The more "room" the beads have to wiggle, the more likely they are to fray through the strand. I doubt strongly though, that that kind of wear can happen within an hour- but the real question is:

-Why do beads sometimes wear through beading cable?

Bead vendors can have problems getting stock that has small sharp edges inside the hole.  Glass and metal are more inclined to have a sharper section inside the bead, but gemstones can also have this issue.  If you have checked your batch, and are finding sharp edges, you can return them to your supplier and hope the replacement batch does not have the same issues- or you can give them some extra care and fix them, by using files or a bead reamer to smooth out the rough spots. (follow instructions on the reamer so you do not risk more breaking).

The two final possibilities are not ones I really think is happening here- but just in case, I will include them for you-

-The Beadalon may be bad.  This is rare, but I've heard of the occasional wire that has issues with the plastic coating not adhering (probably the wrong word) to the cable.

-Also, some trade beads will weaken the integrity of the plastic coating. I am not sure why and again, this is just something I have heard- but it's possible that there is some chemical make-up of your beads that could be causing them and the cable to not play well together.

-First though, take a magnifying glass and check out the hole in your beads.  Look for pokey things '>... once you figure out exactly what the problem is, come on back if you still need assistance for the solution.

-Good luck- and let us know if you need anything else.

-Mary

[asamp]

We are still experiencing wire breakage although we have upgraded to the .013 dia, 49 strand stringing wire. We beleive we may have found our problem with wire breakage.  Since our last posting we have experienced several more wire breakages, including a standard braclet with 8mm picasso beads that broke within an hour of wearing.  
We have been using the 3mm plated round beads # 27-573 found on  page 126 in the 2005-2006 catalog. (We have experienced breakage with the gold and silver)

We have ordered these 3mm beads several times this year.

We sell most of our jewlery at art and crafts shows and have no way in knowing how many of our bracelets have broke.  We take pride in my work and at this time we both feel sick at the number of potentially unhappy people who have bought our designs.

[Polly]

I have a few questions/comments that I hope will narrow down the problem (and solution).

1)  .013" sounds very thin for the beads you are describing.
Stringing-cable weights thinner than .018" are best for small, lightweight beads such as seed beads, freshwater pearls, and small gemstones that won't fit on larger cord.
If you can fit .018" Beadalon or .019" Soft Flex through your beads, the breakage problem would most likely be lessened.  However, even using lighter-than-average cable, it seems like something more might be going on, as well.

2)
a) Are the bracelets breaking next to the crimp bead, or elsewhere in the bracelet?
b) If they are breaking at the crimp bead, what type of pliers are you using, and how firmly are you crimping?
If the bracelets are breaking near the crimp bead, then you may be over-crimping, which cuts into the cable.  It can take some practice to find the balance point, between not-crimped-enough (and the cable slides out when tugged) and crimped-too-hard (and the crimp cuts through the cable, either immediately, or later)

3) If the bracelets are breaking in the middle, rather than at the crimp, it could be a combination of sharp/abrasive beads, and too lightweight cord/cable.  None of the beads you describe have a history of being sharp or abrasive, but they can change!  If your bracelets are breaking in the middles, let me know and we'll check out the 3mm round plated beads.

--Polly