espresso machine as jewellery steam cleaner?

[Pieface]

Hiya,

I tried searching around but came up blank...would there be a problem with using the steam wand on a 15bar coffee machine as a steam cleaner for diamond jewellery? Would it be too much pressure or inadequate. Temperature range?

Anybody got any experience good or bad? I am getting my girl an ultra-sonic cleaner for xmas but heard that a steaming to dry would stop any water marks and get the best sparkle.

Cheers,

Pieface

 

[Sparkalicious]

How innovative, Pieface!

I don''t have any idea, however, I thought it quite convenient if it works ... I can stop into Starbucks in the morning to get my coffee fixed & my ring cleaned! I hope someone else knows if this works or not. I''m all about multitasking.

 

[coach_x+]

That is awesome....I was just thinking the exact same thing when I was in a jewelry store and saw they steam cleaned a ring.

I have an esspresso machine and I''m guessing the closer to the wand the hotter it will be.

 

[Diamond*Dana]

I thought that I read that it was not a good idea because of the temperature of the steam, but maybe I made that up in my head??? I have tried this before but it did not work for me...maybe because I was worried about the temp problem that I may have made up in my head???

 

[Pieface]

Hmm hard to find out much technical information. The Jewel jet that is around says it has working pressure of 25-30 psi. I found a steam table on a coffee website that related steam pressure to temperature. This showed steam at 28psi at 118 degrees celsius. Thats around 245 degrees farenheit for the non metrics out there. The only example temperature for the steam thermostat on a simple espresso machine like mine was about 130 celsius or around 39.7 psi according to the reference table. Perhaps this is where Diamond Dana heard they were a bit too hot... then there is wet steam and dry steam apparently..I''m in a spin

Shame I''m not an engineer, lol! Otherwise I might be able to make heads or tails of it.

 

[Diamond*Dana]

Date: 12/11/2007 2:10:21 AM
Author: Pieface
Hmm hard to find out much technical information. The Jewel jet that is around says it has working pressure of 25-30 psi. I found a steam table on a coffee website that related steam pressure to temperature. This showed steam at 28psi at 118 degrees celsius. Thats around 245 degrees farenheit for the non metrics out there. The only example temperature for the steam thermostat on a simple espresso machine like mine was about 130 celsius or around 39.7 psi according to the reference table. Perhaps this is where Diamond Dana heard they were a bit too hot... then there is wet steam and dry steam apparently..I''m in a spin

Shame I''m not an engineer, lol! Otherwise I might be able to make heads or tails of it.

Oh geez, I do not know about the #''s! Maybe one of the experts would know??? I thought that I read something about the steam being so hot that it could crack the diamond, but I really have no idea if this is true or not. I cannot even remember where I heard this! Maybe I heard if from someone that had no clue as to what they were talking about

!

 

[Pieface]

Well I figured the easiest way would be to just stick my hand under the steam...at about 4" from the nozzle the steam is tolerably hot for a second or two at least. Certainly wouldn''t want to put my hand any closer than that so I figure it''s probably down to about 50-55 celsius by the time it''s at 4". Closer the the nozzle there seemed to be a reasonable bit of pressure judging from the bread knife I inserted into the flow.

The steam did seem quite wet though by condensing water readily onto the knife...so maybe not true dry steam which would be counter-productive to trying to dry something off. I had read tho that the thermo block machines take a while to get up to temperature and make dry steam so this could be worth revisiting when I have a bit more time as I ran the machine only for 30-40 seconds.

Hmm...without anyone having any experience on this I think I might go with another pricescopers idea of the can of compressed air for the dry off after ultrasonic-ing (if that''s a word

)

 

[denverappraiser]

An espresso machine works just fine. You can make a decent late with a Jewel Jet too.

By the way, the solution to the waterspots is to use distilled water in your steamer or as a rinse after you take it out of the ultrasonic.

Neil Beaty
GG(GIA) ICGA(AGS) NAJA
Professional Appraisals in Denver

 

[Pieface]

Thanks for the input Neil

I will be sure to use the distilled water for rinsing. Our tap water is particularly hard where I live.

Good to know the espresso machine is OK to use.

Cheers,

Pieguy.

 

[Diamond*Dana]

Well there ya go!