Spinner rings

Hi Karen, There is a book called “Two in One” byMadeline Coles by
the Sterling Publishing co. They have a ring called “the russian
ring” which looks like what you described. This is a clearly
pictured and fun source for anyone. It is sold at Allcraft in NYC.
and probably many other sources, too. Call them at 212-279-7077.
Good luck, from JUne at Jj’s or rjtwin@aol.com

I have been trying to make them and either I solder them together
or the spinner won't stay on the other ring. Any ideas? I import
them from Mexico right now but would like to be able to custom make
them as well. 

Hi Karen,

The way I would make these rings would be to make the inner ring and
solder it with a high melting point silver solder, then clean it up
and give it a good coating all over with a paste of rouge in water or
ochre in water and let it dry. I would have pre-prepared the outer
ring and I would again coat its inner surface and edges with rouge
before assembling it and soldering it up with a lower melting point
silver solder. The main thing is to make sure that there is rouge or
ochre between the part of the outer ring you are soldering and the
inner ring. Another precaution I would probably take is to just run
the file over the inside edges of the outer ring ends to bevel them
back just a touch. this will stop them scraping the rouge away if
they move and will give a small space between the inner and outer
rings. Also, be careful not to use too much solder on the outer ring.

Best wishes,
Ian

Ian W. Wright
Sheffield, UK

Hi Karen, I make a version of the spinner ring. So it’s best to The
bottom band is flared slightly on the edges to hold the spinning
band like this: I make the base band -solder it sized slightly
smaller than the finished size I want. Then I make a narrower,
spinning band that is just barely larger than the outside diameter
of the base band so that when it is soldered closed it will just slip
over the base. With the spinner band in place on the base ring( you
might want to tape it or something) I lay the ring on its side on a
smooth steel plate, set the ball of a ball pein hammer on the side
facing up - and then strike the flat of the hammer with a mallet
basically - I don’t have a hydraulic press or other means to flare
the band - so I am using a ball pein that is sufficiently large that
it doesn’t protrude from one side of the ring to the other - and yet
small enough that it can fit into the ring a bit and flare the
edges. I flip the ring from one side to the other, flaring a bit at a
time on both sides and testing that the spinning ring will still
spin. The flaring process usually stretches the ring about a 1/4 of a
size. There’s a picture of the ring on my site
Handcrafted Custom Made Platinum Wedding Bands, Engagement Rings and Commitment Rings that might make the procedure seem
clearer. best, Michelle

We have made spinner rings using 1/16 in ball bearings captured by
grooves in the inner and outer surfaces of the two rings. Having
access to a metal lathe is necessary to make these rings but it is
not particulary difficult to do. The rings end up being about 1/10 in
thick which some people find uncomfortable, so we machine out a brass
ring the size and dimensions of the final peice and have the customer
wear it for a week or two. If that works then we make the ring. I
like to make the inner ring out of titanium because of it’s
stiffness, if the ring gets out of round it doesn’t work very well.
The outer ring can be of gold or whatever as long as you can solder
to it. We even used tungsten once. The difference between the
outside and inside diameters of the two rings should .030in. The
grooves are cut with form tools (.063in dia round) .025in deep.
Gently polish the grooves. This will give you about .003in play. A
good expanding mandrel helps with groove cutting. To assemble the
ring you need to drill a hole in the outer band to feed the ball
bearings into. A plug that fits into the hole and conforms to the
shape of the groove on the inside is soldered in place. Be sure to
use a minimum amount of solder. The plug of course is a design
feature of the ring. 440 stainless steel bearings seem to be best. We
tried ruby bearings once but they break. We call these fiddle rings
and they spin like crazy. John

Thanks Michelle, for sharing a cool tip. I don’t own a hydraulic
press either, but this appears to be a good way to achieve the flared
edges and having looked at your ring on your website, I’d say you
have perfected this method.

Kay, in “trying to be sunny” Sarasota