[Jewelry making - Article 00053] - Re: [Orchid] Spinner rings

[John Winters]

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    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 


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