I took it to Gurinsky's for repair, and today they called
and said they have no idea where the bearings can be found, and
cannot fix it, and have no idea who can.
When I lived in Detroit, the local tools/materials supply house,
C.R.Hill company, in Berkley Michigan (a detroit suburb) carried
suitible bearings. Don’t have their number off hand. They don’t
print a catalog, but are happy to do mail order. They’re on west
eleven mile road… From that, the phone company should be able
to connect you.
Repairing these usually means unscrewing the top ornament that
caps the “axel”. Sometimes, it’s fixed to the “axel”, and the
latter is threaded into the ring. Other times the whole thing is
just soldered. In any case, disassemble the thing, even if you
have to cut that axel, which is nothing more than just a piece of
suitable wire. After this is done, you should be able to
install new bearings. usually, they’re just held to each
“dangle” by a few small simple prongs that hold it into a collar.
If those need repair, it’s also pretty basic. Once the
individual bearings are on the swinging parts securely,
reassemble the ring. If it was just screwed together,
reassemble it, adding a drop of loc tite or super glue so it will
stay tight. Don’t strip the threads. If it had to be replaced, I
usually run a new wire all the way through the ring and solder it
to the ring from the inside with a soft repair grade of solder,
taking care to heat sink the bearings as best as possible.
Remove flux with just hot water, not pickle, to avoid damaging
the bearings (which are usually stainless steel, but still will
be damamged by the pickle.)
One thing to remember about jewelry purchased in retail stores.
Most stores just buy the stuff. That they carry it is no
guarantee that they’ve the staff, knowledge, or willingness to
work on the stuff, and these rings can be a real pain for
beginners who’ve not done them before, as well as their bosses
who are watching the clock… You may need to do a little more
searching to find a more skilled jeweler.
If C.R.Hill can’t help you, you might want to investigate firms
like Winfred Berg, or small parts inc, who often carry tiny
bearings at unfortunately high prices… (usually a lot more
than the buck or two Hills was charging me a few years ago…
Hope this helps.
Peter Rowe