RING GENIE by SDL Precision
Review by Sam Alfano
A large portion of my engraving work is done on wedding bands and engagement rings. If you're an engraver or stone setter you know that working on the tight radius of a ring means frequent stops and repositioning. While I'm fairly fast at this, a bit of time is lost each time the ring is repositioned in my engraving vise.
Engraver and goldsmith Chris DeCamillis has developed a ring fixture that has turbo-charged my ring engraving. His American made Ring Genie is machined from aircraft aluminum and stainless steel and is loaded with options. It gives an engraver or setter the ability to rotate a ring while engraving, 10 degree and 45 degree indexing options for precisely dividing and marking rings for repeating engraved patterns or rows of stones, and a top mounted layout and drilling guide that can work in concert with the indexing features. The set comes fitted in a nice cabinet grade plywood box with 24 expanding collets, 8 of which are full size black nylon. The other 16 are aircraft aluminum and designed to minimize vibration, and come in full and half sizes. An optional vertical ring holder which accommodates Ring Genie's collets makes it easy to work on the sides of rings.
To use Ring Genie, slide the ring onto an appropriate sized collet and mount on the tapered mandrel. The knurled knobs give plenty of tightening power or two brass rods fitted into the holes in the knobs can tighten more if needed. The mandrel will rotate freely or tension can be applied with the adjustable drag screw. With a bit of tension the mandrel can be rotated with precise control. Its design provides adequate clearance for my handpieces, and because I can rotate the ring into my graver as I'm cutting, I don't have to engrave with my graver going uphill and downhill with frequent stops and repositioning. While I do my engraving with the body of the fixture mounted low in my vise jaws, clamping Ring Genie just below the raised semi-circles on the sides of its frame allows you to tilt the fixture while keeping the ring in focus under a microscope.
For years I've been wanting a fast and easy method of making equal divisions on rings for layout of repeating patterns. Ring Genie to the rescue! Below each knurled knob is an adjustable click detent that stops the rotation of the mandrel at every 10 degrees or 45 degrees. A sliding pointer can be used to mark the ring at each stop. This pointer is suited for marking the edges of a ring, but can also be used as a guide for pencil or scriber markings on a ring's top surface. After marking all the way around, the ring can be repositioned between the marks and marked again for even closer spacing. The detent can be easily disengaged allowing the mandrel to rotate freely.
Jewelers will especially like the top mounted layout and drilling guide which provides precise layout and marking capability. It features an adjustable pointer which can be replaced with its 1/8" or 3/32" hardened steel drill guides for drilling rows of holes for stone seats or using a bur to mill a channel. The pointer can also be replaced with a user-made graver that can cut V-shaped borders on each side of the ring by rotating the mandrel into the cutter in a lathe-like fashion, quickly and accurately.
My engraving setup consists of a stereo microscope, GraverMach AT with palm handpieces, and a GRS Low Profile Vise mounted on a turntable base. This has proven to be the fastest and most flexible setup for my work, and using Ring Genie with this setup has nearly doubled the speed of my ring engraving. If you're doing ring engraving or stone setting, Ring Genie can pay for itself in short order. This fixture is now a permanent part of my ring engraving toolkit.
Ring Genie is available as a Basic set with the 8 plastic collets, Basic Plus which includes the box, 8 plastic collets, and the layout and drilling guide, and the Deluxe set which includes box, layout jig, and all 24 plastic and aluminum collets. It's available now at the Hand Engraving Gallery. Questions can be directed to Chris DeCamillis at chrisdecamillis@hotmail.com.
~Sam
Review by Sam Alfano
A large portion of my engraving work is done on wedding bands and engagement rings. If you're an engraver or stone setter you know that working on the tight radius of a ring means frequent stops and repositioning. While I'm fairly fast at this, a bit of time is lost each time the ring is repositioned in my engraving vise.
Engraver and goldsmith Chris DeCamillis has developed a ring fixture that has turbo-charged my ring engraving. His American made Ring Genie is machined from aircraft aluminum and stainless steel and is loaded with options. It gives an engraver or setter the ability to rotate a ring while engraving, 10 degree and 45 degree indexing options for precisely dividing and marking rings for repeating engraved patterns or rows of stones, and a top mounted layout and drilling guide that can work in concert with the indexing features. The set comes fitted in a nice cabinet grade plywood box with 24 expanding collets, 8 of which are full size black nylon. The other 16 are aircraft aluminum and designed to minimize vibration, and come in full and half sizes. An optional vertical ring holder which accommodates Ring Genie's collets makes it easy to work on the sides of rings.
To use Ring Genie, slide the ring onto an appropriate sized collet and mount on the tapered mandrel. The knurled knobs give plenty of tightening power or two brass rods fitted into the holes in the knobs can tighten more if needed. The mandrel will rotate freely or tension can be applied with the adjustable drag screw. With a bit of tension the mandrel can be rotated with precise control. Its design provides adequate clearance for my handpieces, and because I can rotate the ring into my graver as I'm cutting, I don't have to engrave with my graver going uphill and downhill with frequent stops and repositioning. While I do my engraving with the body of the fixture mounted low in my vise jaws, clamping Ring Genie just below the raised semi-circles on the sides of its frame allows you to tilt the fixture while keeping the ring in focus under a microscope.
For years I've been wanting a fast and easy method of making equal divisions on rings for layout of repeating patterns. Ring Genie to the rescue! Below each knurled knob is an adjustable click detent that stops the rotation of the mandrel at every 10 degrees or 45 degrees. A sliding pointer can be used to mark the ring at each stop. This pointer is suited for marking the edges of a ring, but can also be used as a guide for pencil or scriber markings on a ring's top surface. After marking all the way around, the ring can be repositioned between the marks and marked again for even closer spacing. The detent can be easily disengaged allowing the mandrel to rotate freely.
Jewelers will especially like the top mounted layout and drilling guide which provides precise layout and marking capability. It features an adjustable pointer which can be replaced with its 1/8" or 3/32" hardened steel drill guides for drilling rows of holes for stone seats or using a bur to mill a channel. The pointer can also be replaced with a user-made graver that can cut V-shaped borders on each side of the ring by rotating the mandrel into the cutter in a lathe-like fashion, quickly and accurately.
My engraving setup consists of a stereo microscope, GraverMach AT with palm handpieces, and a GRS Low Profile Vise mounted on a turntable base. This has proven to be the fastest and most flexible setup for my work, and using Ring Genie with this setup has nearly doubled the speed of my ring engraving. If you're doing ring engraving or stone setting, Ring Genie can pay for itself in short order. This fixture is now a permanent part of my ring engraving toolkit.
Ring Genie is available as a Basic set with the 8 plastic collets, Basic Plus which includes the box, 8 plastic collets, and the layout and drilling guide, and the Deluxe set which includes box, layout jig, and all 24 plastic and aluminum collets. It's available now at the Hand Engraving Gallery. Questions can be directed to Chris DeCamillis at chrisdecamillis@hotmail.com.
~Sam