3D Printed Rings

Learning Outcomes

• • Exposure to TinkerCad, a free 3D modeling tool for beginners

  • A sample design process that includes measuring

  • Concepts of 3D printing like design, resolution, and general expectations

Determining Size

The wonderful people at Zales have a few ways to determine your ring size using a printed PDF or this PDF. Like our 3D Printed Cuff class, it will be more accurate to use a cylinder shape the size of your ring finger, and "cut it out" of a slightly larger cylinder. Here's an example:

3D Printing Limits and Consideration

Ring depth: 3 or 4mm

Advantages of TinkerCad

Create a free TinkerCad account at TinkerCad.com.

• TinkerCad is free

• It autosaves your work

• It is easy to share your work to Thingiverse.com

• Importing SVG files is easy

• It includes short lessons you can practice later

Starting TinkerCad

After creating a new account, TinkerCad automatically starts in lesson mode.

Go to New Project or New Design. Many of our shape and tool options are on the right.

Using TinkerCad

Use the white cubes to resize objects.

Use the cone to raise and lower objects along the Z-axis.

Use the curved handles to rotate or flip objects.

Design Steps

There are many ways you can approach designing a ring. Today we are going to:

• • select and resize the hollow cylinder (this is the one that is your ring size)

  • then add the orange solid cylinder (the positive is what will be printed)

  • limit the depth of our ring to 3 or 4mm

  • flip our ring to a standing position

  • design a mount/face for the ring

Measure your ring finger or ring

Use the Zales PDF to determine your ring size if  you don't know it, or to determine the size in mm, or this Wikipedia page's chart on ring size.

Select the Hollow Cylinder and Size It

Select the Hollow Cylinder and size it with the white cubes or the ruler.

Add the Solid Cylinder and Size It

Add the Solid Cylinder and size it a few mm bigger than the Hollow Cylinder, about 2 or 3mm larger.

Check Alignment, if applicable

Select All, go to Adjust > Align. Click on a gray dot to align to Bottom and Center.

Group the Hollow & Solid Cylinders

Group the two shapes. Shorten the height to 3 or 4mm.

Flip the Ring (Optional)

You can flip the ring for a flat face, or leave it flat to add a standing shape:

Designing the Mount/Face

Add a duplicate shape or letters or numbers to create holes. Beware of letters like A or B, which have their own little holes that may float if you plan to "cut" all the way through.

You can see and play with this example here: https://tinkercad.com/things/3buHFb7vo1x

Name and Download

Click on Design. Select Properties to rename your file. When finished renaming, select Download for 3D printing. Select STL. Save your file. We'll collect files for processing in MakerWare and for printing.

Survey

Surveys are here: https://sites.google.com/site/cplmakerlab/surveys