Precious metals & stone-set work

Gold, Silver and Platinum Do Not Take the Same Laser Settings

A pulse that seats a clean bead in platinum can sink into silver without fusing, or thin the edge of a light gold shank. The metal moves every setting you use.

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Validated on gold, silver and platinum · stone-set pieces assessed case by case · no single universal parameter set
Test coupons in gold, silver and platinum laid out beside the M3 on a jeweler's bench, each carrying a row of trial welds
What actually changes

Three Metal Properties Decide Where Your Parameters Land

Before any setting is chosen, three physical facts about the metal in your tweezers have already narrowed the useful range.

Reflectivity at the Surface

How much of the pulse the surface throws back before it does any work. A bright polished precious metal returns more than a matte or oxidised one, so surface state and metal are always read together.

Thermal Conductivity

How fast the metal carries heat away from the spot you are aiming at. The quicker it travels outward, the less time your pulse has to build a joint where you want one.

Melting Range, Not a Point

Alloys soften and melt across a range. Where that range sits, and how wide it is, decides your margin between a fused joint and an edge that quietly slumps.

The repair operations themselves — sizing, retipping, chain and clasp work — are covered on the jewelry repair applications page; this page is about what the metal underneath those operations does to your settings.

Read across, not down

How Each Metal Tends to Behave at the Joint

Tendencies, not settings. Your own alloys and thicknesses still decide the final numbers on the display — this table only tells you which direction to move first.

Metal group What tends to fight you Which way that pushes the setting Where it usually goes wrong
Gold alloys Behaviour swings widely with karat and with the alloying elements behind the colour. Treat each colour and karat as its own starting point rather than one shared gold setting. A setting proven on one colour is carried over to another and burns through a thin section.
Sterling and fine silver Highest heat escape of the three, on a bright surface that returns part of the pulse. Concentrated and short before larger and slower; keep faces tight so metal takes the pulse. A joint that looks welded, parts at the polishing wheel — or a rim that sinks once energy is raised.
Platinum group Melts far higher than the others and holds heat locally instead of spreading it. Aim placement matters more than volume; the pool stays where you put it, including your mistakes. Operators carry over gold habits, over-travel the seam, and leave a heavy bead to file back.

Every row above is a direction to test on scrap, never a parameter to copy onto a customer's piece.

The one worth taking apart

Silver's Heat Runs Away Faster Than Your Pulse Does

Of the three metals on this page, silver is where a borrowed gold setting most often produces a joint that looks finished and is not. Here is the whole chain, including where it stops.

Row of trial welds on a sterling silver scrap coupon viewed through the binocular microscope of the M3
Trial row on scrap silver, before any customer piece.
One · Why this one

Two Properties Push Silver in the Same Direction

Silver carries heat out of the weld zone faster than gold or platinum, and its bright surface returns part of the pulse before that pulse does work. Both effects reduce what reaches the joint and shorten the window in which it can be used. Nothing about the joint looks unusual while this happens.

The honest measure: if a gold setting leaves a shallow, glassy dot on silver, conductivity is why.
Two · What it costs

The Same Setting Fails You Twice, in Opposite Ways

  • Cold joints that pass a glance. The bead sits on the surface and the seam parts at the polishing wheel.
  • Then you add energy. The obvious correction, and the one that starts collapsing thin edges.
  • Sunken rims and undercut walls. A shank or bezel thins exactly where you meant to build it up.
  • A second finishing pass. Extra filing and polishing on a piece already at final thickness.
  • The job comes back. A returned repair costs the bench far more than the weld ever did.
Three · How we do it

Give the Heat Less Time and Less Room to Escape

More energy is not the answer; less escape is. Keep the pulse concentrated and short rather than broad and slow. Hold the joint faces tight so metal takes the pulse instead of the gap. Aim under the binocular microscope so the spot lands on the seam, not beside it. Multiple power configurations exist for this reason — the machine is matched to the metals you actually run.

What that changes: silver stops being a scaled-up gold setting and becomes its own starting point.
Four · How to check it

Read the Joint, Not the Number on the Display

No figure we could print would settle this for your alloys. These checks are answerable on scrap at your own bench today, and they are the evidence that matters.

  • Scrap-first rule. Prove the setting on the same alloy and thickness before the customer's piece.
  • Cut the test bead open. Surface shine tells you nothing about how deep fusion actually went.
  • Move one variable at a time. Change energy or spot size alone, never both, or you learn nothing.
  • Watch the rim, not the centre. On silver the edge of the pool gives way first.
  • Write down what worked. Metal, thickness, joint type, result — that notebook becomes your parameter set.
Five · Where the limit is

When Silver Should Not Go Under the Laser at All

Some silver work is better refused than attempted, and we would rather say so before you quote it than after the piece is on your bench:

  • Heavily porous or repeatedly repaired castings. Old porosity tends to open under the pulse instead of closing.
  • Very thin hollow silver. There may be too little material left to form a sound joint from.
  • Unknown filled, cored or plated pieces. Whatever is underneath decides the result, and you cannot see it.
  • Stone-set silver with sensitive material close by. Assessed against the five points below, never assumed.

When a piece sits near one of those lines, do not settle it by argument — settle it on metal. Submit a Sample — Request an M3 Welding Test

Said plainly

Why One Universal Parameter Set Fails on Precious Metals

We will not publish one setting that covers gold, silver and platinum, because it does not exist. What travels between metals is method: aim, hold, test on scrap, read the joint.

Nor do we claim that all gemstones and metals can be processed safely under the same conditions. That sentence is the one most likely to cost you a stone.

Talk to an M3 Specialist
Goldsmith aiming at a seam through the binocular microscope of the M3 while the integrated display shows the selected settings
Same metal, different answer

The Piece Changes the Setting as Much as the Metal

Two rings in the same alloy can need different settings. These are the five things that move the answer once the metal is known.

  • Alloy composition. Colour and karat change behaviour inside one metal family, so treat each as separate.
  • Thickness and mass. A heavy shank absorbs what a thin bezel wall cannot survive.
  • Joint geometry. Butt, lap, fillet and prong tip each present a different amount of metal to the pulse.
  • Surface condition. Polished, matte, oxidised, plated or previously soldered surfaces do not take the pulse alike.
  • Target appearance. A weld to be filed flat and one left visible call for different beads.
Sample joints in gold, silver and platinum arranged on a bench mat, showing a filed-flat weld beside a visible bead
Same metal, different intent — different bead.
Before you weld near a setting

Five Things We Assess Before Welding Near a Stone

There is no yes-or-no answer to "can you laser weld stone-set jewelry". There is an assessment, and it has five parts. Skipping straight to a verdict is how stones get damaged.

The assessment

All Five, in Order, Before Any Suitability Call

  • Gemstone type. Species differ in how they take thermal shock; an unidentified stone stays an open question.
  • Treatment. Fracture filling, oiling, dyeing, heat or diffusion treatment change the answer for the same species.
  • Setting structure. Prong, bezel, channel and pavé conduct and trap heat differently around the seam.
  • Distance from the working area. How far the seam sits from the stone often decides the job on its own.
  • Heat sensitivity. Some material tolerates a nearby pulse; some does not, and the stone comes out first.

If any one of the five is unknown, the answer is not yes — the answer is find out first. Where the assessment says unset the stone, unset the stone.

Stone-set ring positioned in the M3 work area so the seam being welded sits away from the setting
The distance between seam and setting is part of the assessment.

Send Photographs First

Photograph the setting, the seam and the stone before committing to a repair. A picture answers three of the five points in seconds.

Send Your Jewelry Photos — Get an Application Review

Send the Metal You Actually Work On

The alloy in your drawer settles this faster than any table can. Send the awkward one — the thin silver shank, the previously repaired casting, the set piece you keep declining.

Submit a Sample — Request an M3 Welding Test
If your piece sits outside what the M3 is validated for, we will say so.
Asked at the bench

Questions Bench Jewelers Ask About Precious Metal Welding

No, and we will not publish a universal parameter set that pretends otherwise. Reflectivity, thermal conductivity and melting range differ across the three metals, so the same pulse produces different results in each. What carries over between them is method rather than values: prove the setting on scrap of the same alloy and thickness, change one variable at a time, and judge the joint rather than the display.

Because silver takes heat out of the weld zone faster than gold does, and its bright surface returns part of the pulse before it can work. Less energy arrives at the joint and it has less time to act, so fusion stays shallow while the surface still looks welded. Raising energy alone often trades a cold joint for a sunken edge — concentrating the pulse and closing the joint gap usually comes first.

Yes. Karat and the alloying elements behind yellow, white and red colours change how the metal reflects, conducts and melts, so one gold setting does not cover the family. Treat each colour and karat you work in as its own starting point, and keep a note of what worked for each. Previously soldered or plated surfaces behave differently again, even when the underlying alloy is the same.

Sometimes — but never as a blanket rule, and we do not claim that all gemstones and metals can be processed safely under the same conditions. The call is made on five points: gemstone type, any treatment, the setting structure, the distance from the working area and heat sensitivity. If one of the five is unknown, treat the answer as unresolved and either identify it or unset the stone before proceeding.

It is different rather than easier. Platinum melts far higher than the other two and keeps heat local instead of spreading it, so the pool tends to stay where you put it — which helps precise placement and punishes an inaccurate aim. Operators arriving from gold habits often over-travel the seam and leave a heavy bead to file back. Aim discipline under the microscope matters more here than volume of energy.

Build them from scrap in your own metals, and keep the record. Start from guidance for the metal family, run a trial row on the same alloy and thickness, cut a bead open to see real depth, then log metal, thickness, joint type and outcome. That log is worth more than any published table. Guidance for the metals you work in is part of training and support.
Application review

Tell Us Your Metals and Get M3 Pricing

Describe the alloys, thicknesses and settings you deal with. The more exactly you describe them, the more useful the answer that comes back.

Send Your Jewelry Photos — Get an Application Review

Prefer email? Write to [email protected] with photographs of the piece and the seam.

What makes the review useful

  • The alloy, not just the metal. Karat, colour and whether the piece was repaired before.
  • A photo of the setting. Structure and distance from the seam read faster than any description.
  • Anything you already know about the stone. Species and treatment, or that they are unknown.

Still working out the rest?

What the M3 is and what it does
How a repair bench runs it daily
Price and configurations