Ring help

[SeanT]

Hi all, I wonder if you could help.

I'm needing to make this, in s/s and 18 gold. It's my first time with gold, and anything this complex, so I'd like to check I'm not an idiot. My plan goes like this:

Make inner ring slightly under size
Make 2 outer rings in s/s
Make centre band in 18Au
fit outer rings over inner ring
stretch inner to secure outer rings tight
solder whole thing with silver solder, borax to flux



To solder, I'm hoping that pallions around one edge of the assembly will wick all the way through, and into the gaps between bands. What do you think? Advice much appreciated.

Thank you in advance,
Sean

8640

[Nick martin]

Hello Sean,

I wouldnt go about making the inner ring significantly undersized, then go stretching it to begin with.

When I'm making finger rings I always make them a touch smaller though, as this allows a margin for when you refine the ring therefore making it a touch larger.

As you're talking about stacking them so to speak, you'll need to make sure the ring cross-section is square to allow for a good solder joint. Alternatively you could of course always do the inner gold ring in square section, and the two outer silver rings in D section perhaps, with one edge squared off.

Personally I'd flux the outside edges of all three rings ( when they touch ) and also flux the seams on the inside of the ring. I'd also put solder pallions in the inside of the ring as they'll be easier to blend in, or you could sweat solder all three of them. As you say, once the piece is up to sufficient heat, simply move the touch from the inside to the outside and vice versa to ensure the capillary action of the solder on both sides.

Hope this helps.

Nick

[Dennis]

Please forgive me if I repeat what has already been said but:

Get all stretching done before soldering, or the solder will break.

For accuracy use a ring stretcher with a lever, not one of those you hammer.

To fill gaps with silver solder you will need to use a great deal, so plan to have the excess where you can file it off easily. For me that would be next to the finger and on the opposite surface.

To minimise the amount of gold used, I would make four rings: a silver one within the gold, so allowing the gold to be quite thin and a thicker one on each side, to cover the join. Dennis.

[SeanT]

Thanks for the replies - maybe I didn't give enough detail. The inner (base) ring is full-size - 6mm wide by 1.5mm thick. The three outer rings are 1.5mm thick, the gold being 1.5mm square wire, the others sized to suit (a little over-wide, to provide an overlap so I can clamp the 2 silver outers against the gold). I thought to make the base ring a little (I mean tiny) bit smaller so that the outer rings would slide on easily; my intention then was to stretch the inner (base) ring to close the gap (what little there is). The end result being no gaps, anywhere. I get that everything needs flux everywhere - but don't see why inside the base ring? Unless you were thinking I was going to do all the soldering in one go! The base ring and outer rings would be soldered first, before assembly - are you saying I can't stretch it? Not even a little bit? (Only need enough clearance to get the outer rings in position). CS of construction attached.

Thanks again,

Sean
8641

[SeanT]

Dennis, I just realised how your construction works - would that be a preferable arrangement to mine? I'm just working with dims convenient for the silver I have to hand...

Sean

[trialuser]

I have done exactly what you are proposing to do, it worked well, might not be the 'proper' way to do it though.
Just be careful you dont remelt the joins on the individual rings when you solder it all together.
I think I ball burred a few divots around the inner band and sweated some solder into those so it could remelt and run around.
There will also be an almost imperceptible taper on the inner ring if you use a durston type ring stretcher if its reasonably wide , it will expand onto the outside rings before it grips the gold ring - not a problem but something to note.
Turn it over and stretch from both sides.

[SeanT]

^^ Thank you - pretty much what I planned, as well as taking the corner off the inside of the outer rings very slightly, to make a runnel for solder. Inner ring will be rounded at the edges anyway. Hadn't thought of divot solder wells, though - will mull it over for a bit.

Sean