Sold/Expired Titan Ring Designs -- 5Axis CNC Machined Titanium Wedding Rings

[LEDobsession]

Hey guys,

I've been working hard at starting this business of CNC Machined Titanium Wedding Rings for a while now, and with my first prototypes soon to be finished at the machine shop I work at, I will be devoting more time and effort to getting the word spread about.

I haven't had much coverage online yet, and have really only shown friends/family/co-workers. With that being said, I'd like to see what kind of serious interest there is in these.

You can check out my website here, at www.titanringdesigns.com. Also, be sure to check out the Progress tab to see more of what I've done so far.

These rings have gone through a lot of design changes to be where they are now, and each ring assembly starts as 3 different 3D Solid Models (the bolt has to count for something too, right?), and as each ring is a different solid, the Triangles and Bands are both created from their own individual CNC program. Each ring is made from 6AL-4V Grade 5 Titanium and assembled with 304 Stainless Steel countersunk bolts. The Band is turned in a CNC Lathe with Live Tooling, and finished on a 5 Axis Mill, while the Triangles are machined on a 5 Axis mill as well. Working as a machinist for several years now, I've always been intrigued by the way titanium looks after a ball end mill surface-finishes it, leaving a beautiful rainbowy shimmer in the right light. This is the finish I'm leaving on them. There is no other process that can achieve that look, and that is why I have chosen that to finish them with. If a customer is interested, I will offer a hand-finished brushed finish or hand polished finish as well, though they aren't my personal favorite options. I also love the way titanium blues with heat treating or anodizing, and those finishes may be offered in machine finish only.

If you'd like to see what the blue looks like on a previous project I did, as well as what the machined Surface-Finished looks like, check out this thread here.

Here are a few 3D Renderings of the Tri-tanium ring I will be offering.


Untitled by Trevor Hirschi, on Flickr

25 piece CNC Machined Titanium Ring by Trevor Hirschi, on Flickr

Mens Titanium Wedding Ring - Exploded View - Titan Ring Designs by Trevor Hirschi, on Flickr

Untitled by Trevor Hirschi, on Flickr

CNC Machined Titanium Triangle Prototype Ring by Trevor Hirschi, on Flickr

If you understand the design, programming, and machining process that gives birth to these, and being that they are a wedding ring meant to last a lifetime, one that you can really be proud to wear, you'll understand that these will be an investment, work-of-art, and momento that you'll want to take care of.

My pricing is not yet set in stone, as I need to see exactly what it costs me to make one ring, after my prototypes are complete, but I am aiming at the $1500-$3000 range due to the amount of time, work, tooling, materials, etc. involved in creating them. As I am just staring out, they will be machined to order, and until I can buy my own Haas Office Mill, I have to put them through the machine shop I currently work at.

I will offer these rings in a variety of sizes (all 3/8" width), from about size 7 to 15, with any half, quarter, and whole size in order to better serve my customers.

I may also be offering this same Tri-tanium design concept in a solid one piece band made from 3D Printed Titanium, Silver, Polished Silver, Platinum, 14K and 18K Golds, as well as a handful of other solid metals offered me through Shapeways 3D Printing Service.

I have a few other multi-piece assembly designs in progress right now, that will be offered in the future as well. But for now, I just want to know what kind of interest I get from my fellow CPF'ers on this ring.

What do you say?

 

[tobrien]

I'm not even dating a girl currently but I wanted to say those look incredible!

great work man, absolutely impressive

 

[Str8stroke]

If I didn't already have a ring, I would consider these. They sure do look super cool. I like the modular design. One could change out the color triangles to match their outfit.

 

[nfetterly]

Wow. Not in the market, but Wow.

 

[djburkes]

What kind of price are we looking at for one of those rings?

 

[Jumpmaster]

What kind of price are we looking at for one of those rings?

My pricing is not yet set in stone, as I need to see exactly what it costs me to make one ring, after my prototypes are complete, but I am aiming at the $1500-$3000 range due to the amount of time, work, tooling, materials, etc. involved in creating them.

 

[D2000]

Unfortunately that's a bit out of my range - I was hoping for under 1000

 

[LEDobsession]

I'm not even dating a girl currently but I wanted to say those look incredible!

great work man, absolutely impressive

Wow. Not in the market, but Wow.

Thanks guys!

If I didn't already have a ring, I would consider these. They sure do look super cool. I like the modular design. One could change out the color triangles to match their outfit.

Absolutely! I don't know if I'll be ready for it at initial start up, but as I get going, I hope to purchase the equipment (constant voltage source) to anodize the full titanium color scale a little bit safer than by just using a series of 9-volt batteries.

What kind of price are we looking at for one of those rings?

Good question. Here's my chance for an update. I stated earlier that I'm looking at the $1500-$3000 range, which is fully dependent upon what it costs me to make them. One of my biggest concerns is that, while I have access to an amazingly capable machine shop (I work there) with 20+lathes and 20+mills, they consider me an employee before a customer, and therefore anything I submit to the shop to be made is subject to being pushed back any other customer, especially, Boeing, NASA, ATK, (example companies, of course), etc. So, I don't like the idea of having a customer that wants to buy one of these and I have to tell them it could be anywhere from 3 weeks to 9 months away before they get their ring from me.

In consideration of this, I have decided that what I really need is my own little 5 axis mill in my garage so that I would be able to receive an order for a ring and within 2-4 weeks be able to ship it out. Happy customer, happy me, everybody's happy.

One of the benefits of having my own machine is that it will affect the cost I sell them at. I would try to be selling these for about $1800-$2000, ideally at that point. This because I can afford to have my own machine and charge much less than $100/hour for a shop rate of 5 axis mill time.

So, my current plan of action is to start a Kickstarter ASAP and try to make at least enough that I can have a 20-40% down payment on Haas' cheapest 5 axis mill to put in my garage and make loads of these. I am currently waiting on my shop to finish production on my 2 prototypes this week. They've had since January and are just now telling me that this week they've seriously hoped to get them done for me. This is important because I can't start a Kickstarter Campaign until I have these prototypes made and in my hand.

Of course, I can still have them made in my shop if someone were that interesting and willing to wait a while to get it back. I would sit down with the owner of the company and let him know that I really need to one done as soon as possible, with none of this getting pushed back for every other customer, even the small ones.

Anyways, I've met with my local Haas Dealership and have been doing a ton of research on everything else for my upcoming Kickstarter and I hope to get it going here very soon. I'm just about out of school for the summer and I will be dedicating my whole summer to this project. I will be updating here as I get closer to and start the Kickstarter campaign.

So, to answer your question a little better, I hope to offer these for $1800-$2000.
I'm interested in your feedback.

Trevor

 

[LEDobsession]

Unfortunately that's a bit out of my range - I was hoping for under 1000

Well, don't lose hope yet! I understand the market of what most men pay for a ring, but there's also a ton of work to these so I can't afford to give them away. But check back frequently and we'll see where these end up. When I get my little Haas, I hope to cut cost on these to be able to appeal to more people.

Also, I have about 4 other completely different designs that I hope to prototype and offer after this current project. They are all multi piece rings, but one or two of them I have aimed at offering for around $1000 each. I don't have any pictures of them on my website yet as I fear people might want one of them when I'm not ready for them to be made yet.

 

[Str8stroke]

I was just thinking. Ever though about a Kickstarter?? This would probably work well there.

 

[stateoftheart]

Im interested but it would have to be below 800 for me. I however understand the work involved.

 

[nader]

These are magnificent. Do you have a picture of what the ball end mill surface-finish looks like? Out of curiosity because gemology&jewellery is an old job and hobby of mine, are you able to make one of the triangle segments a setting for a bezel-set (or tension setting somehow?) trillion cut stone of the right size? I guess it would be tricky to have enough room for the pavilion with the screw in the way, but I can see something like a merelani mint garnet/vanadium chrysoberyl or a cambodian zircon with the bright icy quality being stunning

 

[LEDobsession]

Im interested but it would have to be below 800 for me. I however understand the work involved.

There's so much work to these. I'm glad a few people understand, because most people I show think it's just a cool design. To me, the process of manufacturing this is at least half of why they're so different and cool. I really need to get some production videos to show off what it takes, because frankly, to anyone that doesn't know, it's just another ring, as far as they're concerned.

I finally was able to get my first two prototypes finished, and as far as I can tell right now, price will be above 1000, especially if I have to have them made by a third party, i.e., the shop I work at. However, I'm hoping to possibly offer them at 1000 if I can get that for each through a Kickstarter campaign, because all I need is to fund a Haas Office Mill purchase and have enough orders for them that it takes cost down for me and I can them make them for that.

That being said, I know successful Kickstarters usually have some cheaper options, so I've been looking at other possible ideas to backers who want to support me but might not want to go all out for 1000. These rings are pieced together, and as such, I'd decided to offer different Triangle Packages. They look really cool with only a few pieces on the band. The inner band also looks pretty rad solo, with the time consuming internal countersunk holes in it. So, I want to start with offering the inner band alone (with countersinks, so as to be able to accept Triangles at a later purchase possibly), then working up in 1, 2, 3, 6, 9, or all 12 triangles, with the price tag going up with each triangle. I also have this design available in a solid band which I want offer in 3D Printed Gold, Silver, or Titanium, as cheaper options.

These are magnificent. Do you have a picture of what the ball end mill surface-finish looks like? Out of curiosity because gemology&jewellery is an old job and hobby of mine, are you able to make one of the triangle segments a setting for a bezel-set (or tension setting somehow?) trillion cut stone of the right size? I guess it would be tricky to have enough room for the pavilion with the screw in the way, but I can see something like a merelani mint garnet/vanadium chrysoberyl or a cambodian zircon with the bright icy quality being stunning

Thanks! Pictures will follow in the next post. I hear you on the Trillion cut stone. I saw one at a local jeweler the other day and immediately thought the same thing. However, due to the design of each triangle, the thread is only about .020" from breaking though, so there wouldn't be any way to put a stone in place of a titanium triangle. But, if I could find some rather small carat trillion cut stones, I could somehow incorporate one into one point of a triangle, I think. That would still look pretty cool.

One of my friends sometimes sets precious stones in his titanium rings, so I'd have to ask him a bit about how he likes to do it. I like blues, so sapphires or cambodian zircons might happen if I can figure it out.

 

[LEDobsession]

It's time for everyone's favorite type of post! Photos of the completed product!




Also, check out and follow my upcoming project on Prefundia here!






Tritanium Ring Assembly with Blue Anodized Insert by Trevor Hirschi, on Flickr


Blue Anodized Insert by Trevor Hirschi, on Flickr


Tritanium Ring Group withsite by Trevor Hirschi, on Flickr