Stainless Steel Ring Material

On Sun, 24 Sep 2006 21:00:54 -0700, in rec.crafts.jewelry Abrasha
wrote:


And how would you propose holding a hex nut (assuming he finds one with the
right dimensions to machine his ring) in a lathe?

Furthermore, where would he go to buy just one hex nut with the right
dimensions, that would cost him less, than say 6" of 303 stainless rod?

BTW, a size 11 requires an inside diameter of approximately 20.6 mm (.81")

Let me know when you find the nut, will ya.

Actually, I did just that a few years ago. A local non-chain hardware store
stocked a surprisingly wide range of stainless marine grade hardware, including
3/4 and 7/8ths hex nuts and bolts. I used one of the bolts, with the head cut
off, and chucked into my lathe chuck so the nut screwed onto the short extending
bolt end and jammed tight to the chuck jaws, to face off the ends, and turn the
outside. Then the inside was bored out with the outside of the ring held in a
four jaw chuck with the jaws reversed. This worked well mostly because the
final finish of the ring was not to be a machined finish, but traditionally hand
polished, so the slight marking on the outside left by the chuck jaws was no
problem. The main problem was that it was all done on a silly little Unimat
lathe. Way too underpowered, so it took much longer than it should have,
especially the bumpy part of cutting off the hex edges.. But it did work well
enough. About the trickiest part was getting the band mounted really true in
the four jaw chuck to bore the inside... That store is gone now, however, so
I'm not sure how easy it would now be for me to find another of those large hex
nuts if I needed. That time was much too easy. The place was five blocks from
my house.

Peter

Peter W.. Rowe, wrote:
On Sun, 24 Sep 2006 21:00:54 -0700, in rec.crafts.jewelry Abrasha
wrote:



And how would you propose holding a hex nut (assuming he finds one with the
right dimensions to machine his ring) in a lathe?

Furthermore, where would he go to buy just one hex nut with the right
dimensions, that would cost him less, than say 6" of 303 stainless rod?

BTW, a size 11 requires an inside diameter of approximately 20.6 mm (.81")

Let me know when you find the nut, will ya.


Actually, I did just that a few years ago. A local non-chain hardware store
stocked a surprisingly wide range of stainless marine grade hardware, including
3/4 and 7/8ths hex nuts and bolts. I used one of the bolts, with the head cut
off, and chucked into my lathe chuck so the nut screwed onto the short extending
bolt end and jammed tight to the chuck jaws, to face off the ends, and turn the
outside. Then the inside was bored out with the outside of the ring held in a
four jaw chuck with the jaws reversed. This worked well mostly because the
final finish of the ring was not to be a machined finish, but traditionally hand
polished, so the slight marking on the outside left by the chuck jaws was no
problem. The main problem was that it was all done on a silly little Unimat
lathe. Way too underpowered, so it took much longer than it should have,
especially the bumpy part of cutting off the hex edges.. But it did work well
enough. About the trickiest part was getting the band mounted really true in
the four jaw chuck to bore the inside... That store is gone now, however, so
I'm not sure how easy it would now be for me to find another of those large hex
nuts if I needed. That time was much too easy. The place was five blocks from
my house.

Peter

Yeah, I've seen machinists rig ways to mount, index and cut lots of very
odd stuff - even on 'limited' lathes. But I still wonder if Abrasha's
complaint about the cost might be valid. How much did that size
stainless nut cost?

Carl


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to reply, change ( .not) to ( .net)

On Mon, 25 Sep 2006 08:06:49 -0700, in rec.crafts.jewelry Carl 1 Lucky Texan
wrote:


Yeah, I've seen machinists rig ways to mount, index and cut lots of very
odd stuff - even on 'limited' lathes. But I still wonder if Abrasha's
complaint about the cost might be valid. How much did that size
stainless nut cost?

Abrasha's point about cost is certainly valid. The nut, and bolt I used to
mount it, probably cost me five to eight bucks, if I recall. A costly
alternative to buying proper stock. But the Unimat lathe probably couldn't have
mounted a larger bar anyway, at least not easily, and for a quick solution to a
one-shot "rush job" problem, the cost was a trivial concern, and likely more
than offset in time savings for me. But that's only the case because the store
was just right there, and I'd already known they carried the stuff.

Peter

Carl 1 Lucky Texan wrote:


Peter

Yeah, I've seen machinists rig ways to mount, index and cut lots of very
odd stuff - even on 'limited' lathes. But I still wonder if Abrasha's
complaint about the cost might be valid. How much did that size
stainless nut cost?

Carl




I would think, that if you're lucky enough to find one locally at a hardware
store (unlikely in that size), it won't cost much.

Locally, I can go to Harrison and Bonini. They specialize in fasteners.
Minimum over the counter sale $15.00.

If you buy one from MSC, you'll pay a minimum shipping charge of around $7.50
And I don't know if you can even buy just one from them, or if they are sold in
minimum quantities of 100.

It would not be any different with McMaster-Carr.

--
Abrasha
http://www.abrasha.com