Titanium inlay

I have a client with two bands, one titanium and one gold. Both have deep sentimental value and he would like to combine them. I’m considering re-casting his gold ring into a new design and inlaying pieces of the titanium band into it. Any insight as to whether this is doable, advisable or issues to be aware of? Thanks!

Hi bcavclark
I dont know about casting but I can give you an idea of one process to use. I made a silver and titanium ring set with rose cut diamonds using the following technique.
I made 3 silver rings. The first was a wider ring which slid tightly inside the titanium ring with a wall thickness from .05-.07mm. It would need to be a minimum of 3mm wider than the titanium ring to allow for clean up, other than that go as wide as you like to fit your design. The other 2 would be a minimum of 1.5mm wide with a wall thickness slightly more than the titanium ring also as a minimum. This allows for clean up. These both have to be tight to slide over the internal ring also. I think you know where I am going with this.
Slide the narrow band over the inner sleeve and solder in place, clean up before sliding the titanium ring up hard against the narrow band and then slide the second band on the sleeve sandwiching the titanium ring between them. If you are happy to have the titanium in its natural state you can now solder the second ring in place, pickle and clean up to your design.
If the titanium has been treated the second ring would require a laser or pulse weld.
Hope this makes sense. Much easier to verbalize instruction.Img_1481
I have added a picture of the one I made as an example, the dark grooves are where the titanium was blued. I used a pulse welder to fix the final ring in place.
There are other ways to achieve your goal but this is probably the easiest.

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Craig, thank you so much for this excellent reply! I am considering a similar approach but was unsure about being able to solder gold with a Ti band in the middle. I know Ti changes color when heated. What color might I expect after soldering? Preferably a nice charcoal grey!

The solder won’t stick to the titanium so if things aren’t tight you may end up with a spinner ring. Which may be a cool feature for the client.
I just did a test plate on a piece of titanium with expected temperatures reached, yes you should get a charcoal grey.
Watch the transition colours, it may give you some ideas for future work.


This is the test piece, nice blue/green in top corner.
Just keep the heat on until its all grey.
That will be a nice contrast with the gold.

Above and beyond, Craig! You have ben tremendously helpful and generous with your time. I greatly appreciate it!

Bridget

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