NUT RING SS

Intro: NUT RING SS

OK now that I have your attention, get your mind out of the gutter!!  LOL

What I want to show in this instructable is how I make a ring out of a Stainless Steel Nut. This idea was given to me from a co-worker who learned that I make jewlery and stuff during my off time.

STEP 1:

After you have found a nut that is close to the final size you want, you need to chose a pattern you want for your ring. I chose a simple signet type ring to make as it is simple and easy. I used a ultra fine perm. marker to draw the layout on the ring.

STEP 2:

Once you have your pattern drawn, get you handy rotary cutting tool, or hack saw if you perfer. Cut out your pattern, leaving a small amount of material. You can and will do more trimming as you go, but if you cut too much off on the first cuts then you will need to adjust the pattern or start over.

STEP 3:

After rough cutting you can follow up with files or your favorite rotary tool! I also trim the inside of the nut to fit on the finger I chose. It makes for a smooth fit inside to use a sand drum to remove the top of the threads.

STEP 4:

The first ring is rounded and smooth, the second is for my son. He wanted the "flats" to be left on. I just sanded the bumps off the side to make it comfortable to wear.

STEP 5: Final

The final step I polished the top down to 2000 grit wet/dry then cut a "V" into the top. I havnt cut the "V" into my son's yet. I wanted to show the two before I cut his.

Comments

[Tobyag]

What size nut did you use or was it trial and error?

[ironsmiter]

Just as a procedural hint...

Before beginning work on the nut, Take a moment and drill out the threads.
With the flats still on, it'll be much easier to clamp in a vice, and the interior then starts smooth and concentric.

If it is for a particularly small finger, the threads can be left intact, and filled with epoxy.  The machinist version of the nail polish ring fix! :-)


Before final polishing, consider doing some nice temper coloring. For real contrast, after coloring, you can sand/file/polish everything back to shiny silver, except the part you want to leave. I advise Blue heat color for guys, and a darker purple for te gals, but that's personal preference. MY choice would be a straw/bronze all over, with a blue lettering(do the purple, file/sand everything NOT to be purple, then re-color to bronze).

Keep up the fine work.
Hope your son enjoys his.

[Achan20]

um. how do you temper color? i know what tempering is but have no idea how to temper color. Thanx

[ironsmiter]

when doing tempering steel, by hand/eye... we use color to determine relative temperature. The easiest procedure, imho, is with a good oven. Since the ring doesn't really need to be "hard", we can use any temperature we want, without fear that the steel will be too soft.

So, finish the ring how you'd like it.
Set your oven to whatever temperature/color you'd like to achieve.
Stick the ring on the oven rack, and wait a few hours.
If you set the oven right, it should color just right, and stay there indefinitely. When it gets there, just shut the oven off and let everything cool off, and you're done.

For Blades, I use a red hot bar of steel, and pass the work very near to it, sometimes even rubbing on the block. this lets me control where the heat is going. When the desired color is achieved, you must plunge the work into cold water. otherwise the heat will keep running, and it'll go too far, too hot, and ruin the temper, before air cooling sets in. Basically, this allows a bladesmith to leave the cutting edge of a blade nice and hard, while making the flats less brittle and more flexible.

Have a read over at http://www.tpub.com/steelworker1/11.htm I'm not a professional writer, and I find it MUCH easier to SHOW the technique than to describe it. And I think they may have done a much better job of it than I have.

[Achan20]

awesome. ok another queston. what temps give what collors? is there a chart out there or what? lol. thanks.

[ironsmiter]

My previous link has a chart on that page, but if you need a more VISUAL guide, try here.

[Achan20]

Thank you so much! you have helped my day go from bad to good! thanks for all your help.

[vardamanj]

Good ideas on the coloring, I will look into that for future projects.
Thanx,

[NutandBolt]

Cool, I like it. Might be easier using brass nut. More shiny and softer type of metal..

[vardamanj]

Yes it would be easier to cut and polished highly it could look "gold". But due to my work soft metals dont last long and we have these SS nuts that we demo or scrap out from time to time.

[jtobako]

Rather than cutting with a dremel, wouldn't it be easier to use a large bolt as a holder (with a jam-nut) and use a larger grinder?

[vardamanj]

Thats a good idea,I just hold it in my hand or in a small vise. Needle nose visegrips work great too.

[lemonie]

I like it, but how much hard-grinding did it take? That nut doesn't look soft to me.

L

[vardamanj]

I did the major cutting with my rotary tool with fiber reiniforced cut wheels. It didn't take to long, maybe hour to hour and half. the shaping to takes a little more time and patience, I didnt want to mess it up and have to start over.

[lemonie]

Thanks.

L