Lathe to use in ring making

Does DMS have a small lathe that can be used in ring turning? I’m looking to make my wedding ring by purchasing a ring blank and adding wood. The woodshop lathes look like they would be too large

1 Like

I use the Jet lathes in woodshop to make rings. I have used several different mounting techniques and currently making an expanding mandrel out of a ring stretcher (well see how well it works).

What kind of ring blank are you looking at and are you doing a bentwood wrap or edge grain cut out of a plank?

2 Likes

They turn pen blanks which are smaller diameter than fingers.

1 Like

Depends on the Etsy sellers response. He sells these

https://www.etsy.com/listing/662345027/titanium-ring-coreblank-for-inlays-inlay?ref=shop_home_active_5

But I wanted a ring blank similar to this type below. He’s looking into the possibility of making that. If he’s able to then I would be looking at end grain.

ringexample

Thats true I guess…I don’t have much lathe experience so they just looked like overkill

Let me save you some money on that ring core. See the link below. it sounds like you want a solid titanium core which you can get here for waaaay less. After you get the core, a ring blank, and the bushings you’ll need, you might get close to what they are charging for the core alone. Plus Craftsupplies also has really good videos on making them.And the Jet lathes in the woodshop are exactly what you would want to use. Hope this helps. Ask me any other questions you may have.

PS, if this is your first time making a ring, and it sounds like it might be, you may want to double (maybe quadruple) up on the materials just in case. First time I made a ring, I blew through 4 blanks before I got it right.

https://www.woodturnerscatalog.com/Sales/52/Ring-Turning

5 Likes

They don’t have the two piece “Inlay” style in titanium. They do have the Stainless though.

correct. If you check that Etsy link, its not a 2 piece either. Had it been, I wouldn’t have been too shocked at the price. My guess is the seller is milling them themselves, thus the 2-3 week shipping time.

Speaking of milling them yourself, do either of the Sherline Micro Lathes work in the machine shop (I see them on the wiki, but don’t go into the machine shop often)?

Speaking of ring turning…if anyone wants to teach a class (hint hint) I know at least two people who would sign up. :smirk:

2 Likes

I’ve heard yes and that they can do one off trainings for those. I also want to get signed off on them for exaclty what you’re thinking. Hey @malcolmputer, who should Greg and I ask for training on the Sherline’s?

1 Like

Its been on my list to do for a while, but I keep getting distracted with personal projects :thinking:

Cause you know we can cast our own resin blanks then turn them…

4 Likes

There are just so many different things to do! My brain is gonna explode!

2 Likes

I think I figured out the logistics of a bentwood class covering both using the lathe or dremel/belt sanders. Since it takes a while for wood to dry (even in an oven) I was trying to figure out how to do it all in one class. I will try to get it put on the calendar this week.

I am also thinking about a laser portion as I finally got around to using the rotary and doing a full band around a ring.

4 Likes

Piggybacking - I’d love to be a third on this, pretty much for the same reason.

Sherline classes are added to the machine shop schedule like any other class from there. I could teach the class, but you guys would be my first set.

Current teachers in that space are @Photomancer @John_Marlow @BobKarnaugh

If you guys strike out, let me know and I’ll teach one.

2 Likes

Appreciate the info and link.

Because I have little to no lathe experience, I wanted to avoid milling the core and those listed in your link don’t have an ‘inlay’ area like my picture. I would prefer the style of inlay where the wood has a center band of metal either offset or directly in the center with the wood “inlay” on either side (don’t know the official term for this style of ring). The blank is all one piece.

ring

1 Like

What kind of metal? I ask because you could use the flat band core, do a wood ring around that, then set up an inlay wherever you want. just groove out the wood where you want the inlay. They make powdered metals for this. Or you could even put a full on piece of wire in there but that’s more tricky.

Titanium. What I plan on doing has been evolving as I find more rings I like…lol.

Initially I was just going to with straight bent wood ring but I hear those are much more susceptible to breaking or crushing so then I switched to a core and was going to use bent wood over that or bent wood in an inlay like the orig. blanks I listed. Ultimately I’m just trying to take the ‘easiest’ path since this will be my first lathe project. Seemed pretty straight forward of sanding/turning the wood to match the blank size, compared to any of the other youtube methods I’ve seen of creating an inlay and wrapping wire/etc.

Might I suggest starting with a pen or 10? :laughing:

Rings are finicky and not the best beginner project, however that doesn’t mean it cant be done as your first project. and yeah if you want metal edges or a pre-built titanium inlay then you’ll have to go with one of the blanks you were asking about. Also, bent-woods are not that bad if you do a good solid finish like CA or better yet, a UV cured resin. if you are tough on rings like I am, then a solid metal core is definitely the way to go. That first blank you were looking at would work great for a bentwood inlay.

3 Likes