I’m getting married next May, and I’m thinking it would be really awesome to have my wedding band made here at MakeICT, either by myself under the guidance of someone who knows what he/she is doing or by said someone. In any case, my fiancée found a very nice little ring style on Etsy that we’d like to try to copy. It has a matching his/hers ring where the bride’s ring appears to be “removed” from the inside of the groom’s ring.
I’d prefer a silver tone to the inner side of my ring, so I’m not sure what materials we could use. The only thing I know of is using ferric acid on steel to give a dark oxide finish. But hopefully one of you who have jewelry experience will know more!
I’m pretty good with 3D modeling and 3D printing, and I have moderate experience in the metal shop. I’ve poured aluminum, but that’s about it. I don’t know if those skills will be useful in this project or not, but I thought I’d include them just in case. Please let me know if one of you would be able to guide me through making my ring!
Thanks for the info! It was interesting to read about the process they used. Maybe I can start with making the design, then see if some of the others can get involved with helping me through the rest of it.
I think it may take a few tries, but casting it in silver or a gold alloy should be doable.
Zac and I have been working on a casting project that will allow us to make copies in wax that we can then use for the lost wax process. Will you be at Maker Monday tonight? If so, find me and we can talk.
I have the ring modeled and sized appropriately, so I’ll print half a dozen or so wax models soon.
I’ve done a bit of research on blackening the ring after it’s cast, and it looks like the most durable option would be plating over white gold. Some options there are black nickel, black rhodium, and black ruthenium. Does MakeICT have any chemicals for this process? Nickel being an exception, the plating solutions are rather expensive, so if we don’t have any and don’t have the ability to get any, I can probably just check with a local jeweler to have the plating service done from them. I’d prefer to do all of it myself, if I can though!
I also have no idea if I’m sensitive to nickel or not. No reason to suspect that I am, but I can’t recall having any nickel jewelry on to verify.
I have some wax models printed, but they’re a little tight on me right now. I know the ring will shrink up even more after being cast. Do you know if this castable resin can be enlarged on a mandrel with a bit of heat? I have no experience with it. If no one knows, I’m more than happy to just bring it over and try it out!
I tried to size-up a couple of the printed castable-wax rings that I had, and it did not go well. I even tried just placing a ring on the mandrel and using a heat-gun to soften the wax, allowing gravity to do the work, but that also did not really work. It looked promising at first, but they all just broke with very little stretching.
FWIW, the resin used in my rings were actually for dental casts, so YMMV with different resins.
Many thanks to Nathan Regan from Burnell’s jewelry (he was the source of the silver I used in this cast and a wealth of knowledge on the casting process) and to Dean for helping make this run a successful cast.
This is my ring cast in sterling silver. I’ll use this as a backup ring for when I go on out of town trips and the like, and I’ll do one more in 10k white gold. It turned out very well. There were some bubbles that didn’t get out of the investment properly, so I had a bit of a job cleaning those up. The ones on the inner surface and inside the grooves inside were the most difficult to deal with. Now I just need to get it resized and give it a good polish, and it’ll be ready for oxidation on the outer surface and inside the grooves. I’m very happy with how this one turned out. It’s not perfect, but it’s still very nice.
