3D Printed Engagement Ring

The Backstory

The Development

Brainstorming

Specifications

The First Prototype

The Second Prototype

Fully 3D Printed Prototype

The Backstory

For anyone that knows me, they know about my constant quest to learn new skills and make things from scratch, and in asking my partner to spend the rest of their life with me, I didn't want anything else; creating the ring by hand and adding a personalized touch felt even more special. And with my experience revolving around all sorts of mechanical design and additive manufacturing technologies, I figured it was well within my capabilities to create a sentimental ring from scratch.

Looking back at the many different processes it took to get to what is now the final ring, we will never know if the hurdles I experienced were due to my over-simplifications of way more complex skills, or general issues the jewelry industry experiences. However, despite the obstacles I faced along the way, I continued through various methods to get what is being worn today.

And with all engagement rings, the hardest part throughout this whole adventure was keeping it a secret. Since my partner and I already lived together, all the design, fabrication, and purchasing associated with the project needed to be covered by constant excuses, whether that be my excuse for purchasing a resin printer, the constant Amazon packages I kept getting, or the work I did while they were working late nights at the restaurant. (Sidenote: Thank you to Eric and the rest of the employees at the Sole who helped G build their confidence to become who they are today. It also came in handy in the creation of this ring, since they were CONSTANTLY working at night, giving me time to try different things).

The Development

Brainstorming

Fortunately, we had already talked about getting married, so although they didn't specifically know I would be looking to make the ring, I was shown a few rings and styles they liked. I began collecting various ideas for what would become my inspiration for the beginning designs of the ring I would make. This began my collection of tons of photos that would help me create similar designs and sketches of possible choices. Below are a few of the final photos that inspired the final ring design. I then began to look into how other jewelry designers create sketches for rings, and included a few to assist with when I started sketching the rings.

From these images, I began sketching designs that would become a guide for the creation of the CAD model. I wanted every portion of the creation of this ring to have some part made by me, from the beginning stages of the sketches and CAD model to the production of the physical ring.

After creating these sketches I began to better understand which models would be the most effective at creating with the methods I had available to me. This allowed me to significantly narrow down the potential options and start creating the CAD model. I also wanted to see other CAD models of rings that have been created through 3D printing techniques, some of which I included below.

Specifications

From all these options above, I began to look into ways to narrow down the ring options through certain specifications, including a few key elements:

Simple design
Colorful Gem
Prong ring
Silver or engineering-grade material

This left me with a similar ring shown to the right that would be easier to create through 3D printing techniques, but met all the above specifications. Following this decision, I had several other specifications I needed to determine, including the stone, sizing of the ring, and the material options available.

The Stone

While I was heavily considering a Diamond for the stone in the center of the ring, I opted for a moissanite gem instead due to its properties. Moissanite is a step between Cubic Zirconia and Diamonds regarding quality, while still offering nearly the same hardness as seen in Diamonds, which makes it a perfect alternative for rings. While doing research into possible stone options, I learned that moissanite gems tend to also be more *sparkly* than Diamonds, and offer a wider range of colors when in the sun, often giving off rainbow effects. After purchasing a gem, I made sure to keep track of the dimensions of the stone, which would become necessary later down the line when creating the CAD model.

The Ring Size

When it came to determining the final sizing for the ring, this was a bit more tricky. If they typically wore rings, I would have taken one of those and made the size based on that, but they didn't. What I did instead became more of a Mission Impossible meets James Bond scene. While you picture this, please also picture the Mission Impossible theme song playing while I did this.

To set the scene, I purchased ring sizers which are basically many different rings of differing sizes. For those who know G well, they are one of the deepest sleepers I have ever met, so although this made it easier, I was still very nervous that the one time they woke up would be this time. Luckily, I was able to determine their ring size without a hitch, and they were still left in the dark.

The First Prototype

After these specifications were decided, I was ready to start the process of creating the CAD model. Luckily, I have about 8 years of CAD experience on a number of different software platforms, so I wasn't too worried about creating the model. However, this was VERY different than other models I usually make, which are more functional and have defined measurements. Since the ring is more freeform, it can often be difficult to design in certain CAD modeling software.

For the first prototype, I wanted to include the prong-based design with additional gems along the band. The thought would be to have these additional gems in some sort of blue or black color, possibly having them as some sort of birth stone.

For the first prototype, I resin-printed the CAD model on my own printer. For those who are not familiar with Additive Manufacturing technologies, resin printing or Stereolithography is a family of technologies that uses resin to build a part layer-by-layer. I used a standard clear resin to prototype the ring and see how it would come out. Since resin printing is still fairly new to me, and the resolutions I was hoping to obtain with the additional gems on the band were extremely low, I opted to continue with another prototype that left these additional gems out. I was concerned that processing further in the creation of this ring would become extremely difficult if I left them on the ring, both during the sand-casting stage as well as the stone-setting stage.

The Second Prototype

The second prototype used the previous design but left the additional gems off the band. This came out significantly better than the previous design and allowed me to move on to the next stage of the production of the ring - sand casting.

To more effectively set the stone later in the process, I also extended the prongs further than the last prototype. My hope was that this would make it easier since I have never set a stone in a ring before. To be fair, I've never done any of this before, so I was looking for recommendations from others on how to make this process easier.

Sand-casting, like other casting processes, uses a model that creates a negative. Then, molten metal fills that negative to form the replica of the model that was used to create that negative. Below are photos of the stages to create the sand-casted model that would turn out to be what I ended up proposing with. Despite the fact that I was able to create a cast, I ended up removing the prongs as they would require significant post-processing to be able to get it back to what the original CAD model looked like.

Fully 3D Printed Prototype

Since sand casting did not prove to be an effective method with the equipment I had available, I thought that I could fully turn to Additive Manufacturing technologies to create the ring. Rather than just creating the model to create a mold, I thought I could create the design and resin print it on my own, and then when I was happy with the final design, I could turn to metal 3D printing techniques to create the final ring.

Because I was moving to a fully 3D-printed design, I made certain changes to the model to ensure the model would print perfectly in all the different AM technologies. I had several design reviews with ProtoLabs, Stratasys, and Xometry engineers who offered suggestions on possible revisions to the previous prototype to better ensure its "printability." Some suggested changes revolved around the wall thickness and overhangs within these parts.

Once the design was set, I started by printing the first version of this prototype using the same resin printing method, which can be seen to the right.

After resin printing the model, and when I was happy with the design, I ordered a model to be printed in Nylon using Selective Laser Sintering. This allowed me to test the capabilities of my design before having it printed in metal. Selective Laser Sintering is a technology in Additive Manufacturing that uses powder to produce parts.

After I was satisfied with the results of the Nylon print, I chose to have the final ring printed in Titanium Ti6Al4V, which is an extremely durable material offering High Tensile Strength, Low Weight, Corrosion Resistance, Bio-Compatibility, and High Yield Strength. I thought this would be a cool way to make our material science background become more involved in this ring-making process. Unfortunately, after I received the print and went through the process of setting the stone, one of the prongs broke leading me to go back to the drawing board.

Final Ring Creation

Luckily, thanks to my conversations with a friend who has family in the jewelry business, I got into contact and asked for guidance on the next steps (Thank you, Victor!). I met with the uncle and cousin of my friend who agreed to print the exact same model and cast it in a similar process to what I was doing during the sand casting back in the second prototype, and that I would only need to pay for the material costs of the silver. Below are photos of the process, as they were kind enough to include me when they went to cast the model. Certain design changes were made to ensure they would work with the casting process, but major portions of the ring's design were kept constant to follow with what I was looking for in the ring.

The Outcome

The Proposal

In my sporadic state when the Titanium ring's prong broke I started to think to myself when I would like to ask them. Although there was part of me that wanted to make a huge proposal, I was fairly limited at the time when they were in a boot. I also was starting to stress myself out with all that and realized that it had been a good amount of time since when I first started this process. Instead of continuing to wait, I did the complete opposite. I walked right into our apartment and walked into our office where I was hiding the different model iterations, and grabbed the original sand cast model. Then I got on one knee and asked them, right there in the living room.

The Mistake

Turns out, when I first sized the ring, I sized it incorrectly. It may have been fine if I had not sized it while they were sleeping. What I didn't know is that your fingers swell slightly while you are sleeping, which meant that when I took the size of their finger it was larger than usual. This was discovered when I completed the final ring that was polished, and it was much looser than expected.

I will eventually be getting it professionally resized for both the final rings they have, but until then, it works well and is still not too large to wear.

The Wedding

And now, with the engagement complete, I can continue working on other in-depth projects until the wedding on April 12th, 2024! We are still discussing what we would like to do with our wedding bands, and I have even thrown the idea around possibly going to a couple's wedding band-making workshop.

Final Thoughts

So there you go: a 6-month process summed up into a simple page-long wrap-up; how a young engineer created a custom engagement ring for his partner. With me being one of the largest critics of my own work, I am very happy with how it turned out. For others looking to do something similar to what I did to ask your partner to spend the rest of their life with you, I wish you luck learning these new skills!

At the conclusion of the creation of the final ring, a total of 9 prototypes were created to get to the final model they are wearing today. This includes the many different processes that went into the creation of the final ring, as well as the different materials I looked into to get to the final model.

References

Similar Ring-Making Resources

https://christian.gen.co/ring/

https://www.justinmklam.com/posts/2019/diy-wedding-ring/

https://formlabs.com/blog/an-engagement-ring-with-a-twist/

https://all3dp.com/3d-printed-wedding-rings/

https://3dprint.com/133773/3d-printed-wedding-rings/amp/

https://www.shapeways.com/blog/archives/38404-created-perfect-engagement-ring.html

https://formlabs.com/blog/3d-printed-jewelry/?utm_source=linkedin&utm_medium=social

Technical Resources

https://hlhrapid.com/knowledge/design-guide-metal-3d-printing/

Page updated

Google Sites

Report abuse