Hello from the Midwest,
Could someone please tell me how to make a slide (slider) ring. The
middle ring(s) moves around an inner sleeve and often contains
gems. How does one solder the two outer rings to the sleeve without
damaging the stones on the middle (slider) ring?
Hope this explanation makes some sense.
Thanks in advance,
Sheridan in Illinois
Sheridan Check the orchid archives for Spinner rings or Fidget
rings as they are often called.
Karen Bahr “the Rocklady” (@Rocklady)
K.I.S. Creations
May your gems always sparkle.
Could someone please tell me how to make a slide (slider) ring. The middle ring(s) moves around an inner sleeve and often contains gems. How does one solder the two outer rings to the sleeve without damaging the stones on the middle (slider) ring?
For one thing, remember you’ve the option to set the stones in the
center band after the ring is assembled. Drill it first, and
countersink the insides of the holes, so you won’t have burrs. maybe
even cut the seats. but leave the actual setting till the ring is all
together. To hold it for setting, simply fill the gap between the
two with shellac.
The most effective structure to hand make this is a four piece
assembly. make an inner sleeve, which i usually make anywhere from a
half to three quarters of a millimeter thick, in sheet metal, a
little over the full width of the final band, and the correct final
size. then make two side bands that fit snugly over the sleeve, as
well as the inner slider band, that’s as loose as you wish for
movement. Make sure all four bands are smooth, truly round, flat
sides, etc. Solder or weld (if you’ve a laser welder, for example,
one side rail on the sleeve, slip on the center band, and after very
carefully positioning the other side rail in order to get clearances
and gaps between it and the center correct, either weld or solder it
in place. If soldering, you can use yellow ocher or the like to keep
the solder from flooding into the center and freezing the center
band. Remember that you don’t need so much solder as to get a full
fillet on the inner edges of the two side rails, since that’s
hidden. you only need enough to get a full seam on the outside
edges. A slight bevel on the inside of the two rails, cut on the
inner edges that will face the inside sliding band, will also help to
avoid solder flooding into the inside band. the main thing to also
watch out for is to use a large enough, and soft enough flame when
you solder, and that all parts are initially well annealed, so that
the various bands remain truly round after soldering. if uneven
heating warps them to oval, especially the slider, when you’re
soldering, it can be tricky to get them to get round again, to slide
smoothly. Too small a flame also can lead to problems such as the
outer bands being heated a bit more than the thinner inner sleeve,
(probably because you’re trying hard not to melt that sleeve), with
the result that the outer band expands a bit more, and the seam opens
up, giving you a gappy, pitty, opened seam instead of the slick
smooth tight seam the parts appeared to be just before you started to
solder them.
Another way to make these rings, less precise, is to fabricate the
two pieces seperately. the outer band is made too small, so one can
slip the center slider over the side rails into position, and then
holding the whole thing in position, a ring stretcher is used to
stretch the main ring up in size, which then locks the slider in it’s
groove so it can no longer escape. This method needs very careful
math in getting the size of the slider correct, so that when the
main band is stretched up to the right ring size, the slider not only
is trapped in place, but also has the right amount of clearances and
movement, etc. The method can work well if you’re making lots of
these, such as via casting, as then you can take the time, if needed,
to muck with several models until the fits are correct to get the
sizes to come out where you wish. But it suffers from the fact that
you’ll get some distortions in the side rails, and in the center
groove, that you cannot correct after stretching, since the slider
band is in the way, so sometimes the finished result is less precise.
And it’s hard to get quite as deep a groove, or a slider trapped
quite as deeply into the groove, this way, as there are simply limits
as to how much you can stretch a ring before the distortion gets too
noticable, especially inside the thinner center groove. But it does
work, once you work out the needed measurements. This method lets you
set the stones in the slider before you assemble the two bands
together.
Peter