Jewelry making

[Evan]

I've had an urge to get back into jewelry making, something I haven't done since the 1960's. It was some of the first real metal work I did and I enjoyed it. Today I decided to do a little experimental work using low cost materials. I made a small batch of rings, all from copper and engraved with the 12 signs of the Zodiac. I figure I can sell them to the recycled hippie element around here and snooker them at the same time by including a nicely printed small sheet of paper explaining all about the superstions regarding the healing powers of copper, the actual position of the Zodiacal constellations and how nice it was of them to help me spread the Word. <grin>

First, a little lathe work to rough out the rings.



Then a little bit of engraving in 4th axis mode on the CNC mill.




Some finishing operations and parting off using an expanding mandrel on the lathe again.




Finally, after a flash coat of silver from a strike bath we have a few rings. Not all are finished in this picture but I figure it is good practice before I start with the more expensive metals.

[DickDastardly40]

explaining all about the superstions regarding the healing powers of copper

Nice Work!

Will the wearer's finger turning green prove that the healing power is working nicely?

[dp]

If you sell them make certain that no ring has all the zodiacal signs on it - spread them across several rings so the hippies will have to buy a set. It's good karma.

[doctor demo]

Nice work!
I knrw an old indian blade operator that wore coper chains on both wrists. He swore by the powers they had to offset arthritis . I guess if you believe it , then it does work to some extent, not the coper ... the mind over matter part.

Make some out of larger dia. pipe and slit it and You would have nice bracelets to compliment the rings, then add to Your ''paper '' how it helps in'' going green'' .

Steve

[GKman]

You may be a little behind times on your proposed enclosed snake oil copy. My wife just got some cheap earrings for a friend and the enclosed copy said they were "Reiki Charged" by the artist. Whatever the hell that is.

[S_J_H]

The rings look good.
What cam software did you use to wrap the symbols around the ring in 4th axis mode?

Steve

[john hobdeclipe]

Far Out

Wow, That's really groovy, man.

[Evan]

What cam software did you use to wrap the symbols around the ring in 4th axis mode?

I didn't use any special software. I reprogram Mach III to interpolate the A axis with the X axis by just switching the pin assignments in the motor outputs for the Y axis to the pins for the A axis. Then I set the Y axis steps per unit and accelerations to the right values for the 4th axis drive. It takes about 60 seconds to do. I am just swapping the A and Y axis drive signals.

After that all I do is give it ordinary X-Y engraving g-code except that it is scaled for the diameter of the work piece. I use a one inch diameter as scale=1 and work from there. That means a 1" x 3.1415" pattern will wrap a one inch cylinder. It works in exactly the same way as regular flat engraving except for the diameter compensation.

[lynnl]

Nice work!
... I guess if you believe it , then it does work to some extent, not the coper ... the mind over matter part.

...
Steve

Hey, the pharmaceutical companies learned that long, long ago! It's key to their success.

[FatWheels]

Lord of the Rings

Evan,

Are you perhaps the latest embodiment of Sauron, the Dark Lord?

One ring to rule them all;

One ring to find them.

One ring to bring them all;

and in the darkness bind them.

. . . in the land of Mordor, where the shadows lie.

Sorry to geek out on you, middle earth style. It's just I've never seen you and Sauron in the same room before, hmmmmm

Cheers,

Jim

[Evan]

Thanks for the idea!

That sounds like a very good subject for some rings.

I also want to make some with Egyptian hieroglyphs on them, perhaps relating to the movie Stargate. I'm also going to see just how much text I can fit on a band and still be readable with a magnifier.

I forgot to mention one step I did that makes the engraving show up better with the silver. Before silver plating I used gun blue to blacken the copper in the engraved lines, then polished it off the rest. The blued lines don't take the silver.

[Dawai]

If you need another small job Evan.. pm me..

Yes.. the egyptian symbols would sell well on ebay..

[jkilroy]

Oh yeah baby, there are plenty of idi.. um, I mean people, who are ready to part with hard earned cash for just such an item.

[wierdscience]

You need to setup for spring winding,once the pericing fad hits full force I'm sure they will sell

[dp]

Oh yeah baby, there are plenty of idi.. um, I mean people, who are ready to part with hard earned cash for just such an item.

You've never met my first wife - a Berkeley girl with at least one of everything any hippy girl could ever lust after.