Project 1 Gents Ruby and Diamond Ring

In this first project we are going to design a simple gents ruby and diamond ring to get familiar with the tools in ArtCam Jewelsmith. I will be designing in ArtCam 2009. 

Gents Ruby and Diamond Ring

 Step One

In this project I am going to design a gents mounting to hold nine channels set round stones and a total of 34 small round diamonds bead set with common prongs. There are 17 stones on each side of the channel. The specifications are as follows:

Finger size is 10
Round Center Gemstone Sizes are:
3 at 2.5mm
2 at 2.25mm
2 at 2.0mm
2 at 1.75mm

Round Side Diamonds are: 34 at 1.0mm

One of the great things about ArtCam Jewelsmith is the fact many pieces can be completed in a number of different ways. What follows is one technique to produce this piece and not necessarily the only way to achieve this. This piece was completed in 14K white gold and set with diamond cut rubies for the 9 center stones and 34 diamonds in the beaded sides. It was milled in wax, cast, and sold to a purchasing customer. Total design time is about 30 minutes.

Other considerations to note is the ring has a half rounded style and shape to the entire surface. Also a minimum amount of metal is desired for the channel section. Round under bezels are also desired for the channel section.  

Picture of Finished Ring Showing Under Bezels

 The Thinking Process
 
I am first going to create a new project in ArtCam, then select and build the tapered flat shank from the model library. I will then edit that model to fit the specifications desired. I need to figure out the approximate dimensions for the finished ring. To determine the top width of this ring at the widest section it is necessary to add the stone size diameters (plus a tolerance) with the thickness of the desired walls for the channel and the beaded sections. This is as follows:

2.5/2 +.15 for the center stone (half the diameter of the middle stone plus a .15 tolerance). This equals 1.4mm
.7 for the channel wall
.25 for the first inside wall of the beaded section
1.0 + .10 times 2 for the beaded stone; this equals 1.3mm
.25 for the second side wall of the beaded section
.6 for the outside wall
See following picture for better understanding....

This equals 4.5mm for one half of the ring, so times 2 is 9.0mm ring width. I like a 50 % taper from top to bottom so the bottom of the shank will be 4.5mm wide. I already know the bottom thickness needs to be 1.5mm. Lastly, I need the height for the top of the ring. Since, 61% of  largest stone of 2.5mm is 1.525 and the gems will be channel set at least .5mm down from the top. The ring needs to be at least 2.50mm thick to keep the stone off the finger. I will edit the cross sections to also achieve a 1mm flat edge on the side of the ring. The rest of the profile for the ring will be half rounded.

 Making The Blank

Since we have all the required information to create the shank as a blank lets see a video for this first step. The following video is going to start after I have selected "Create New Project" from the ArtCam opening menu. I am using ArtCam 2009. Also, I normally use a resolution of at least 40, but because of the video recording software I have selected only 30 resolution to reduce the load on my computer.