Cubic zirconia tolerance temperature.

lapilia · **Joined:** Thu Jan 12, 2023 9:07 am **Posts:** 8

I fixed a flat dopstick on the table of a large cubic zirconia with epoxy glue. To remove the dopstick, I let it soak in Attack. Usually, the epoxy glue eventually dissolves and the stone comes off the dopstick. This time it didn't work. The dopstick has been soaking in Attack for 5 days and the stone does not come off.

To help things along, I heated the dopstick for a few seconds with a small butane torch, but with no result. I would like to repeat the operation as many times as necessary but I am afraid of damaging the zircon. So my question is the following. To what temperature can we heat a cubic zircon without discoloring or damaging it?

Thanks for your help !

Stephen Challener · **Posted:** Wed Feb 15, 2023 3:44 pm

It is fairly heat tolerant, I believe precious metal clay users fire it in place. The rate of heating would be the main issue I suspect.

glhays · **Posted:** Wed Feb 15, 2023 6:09 pm

Try heating a Xacto razor knife or similar to remove any of the excess glue around the dop.
OR
Try wrapping the stone with a cold water dampened paper towel wrapped several times.
Hold the towel area with your fingers while applying heat to the end of the dop to be removed.
Yes CZ is quite heat resistant to a point.

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Faceting 101 by Arya · **Posted:** Tue Feb 28, 2023 10:12 pm

glhays wrote:

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Did you make a heat shield for removing stones from dops!?

glhays · **Posted:** Wed Mar 01, 2023 4:20 am

Yes, as seen in pic. Basically a horseshoe shaped piece of brass sheet, the dop slot on one end is narrowed for smaller dops and the other end somewhat wider. Leave the glue line visible when wrapping, watch it while applying the heat. When you see the glue curl immediately remove the heat and the dop will fall off.

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