A ring-fixture kit for hand engraving holds non-standard rings and speeds batch work. It includes 20 expanding mandrels, five cones, and bell-shaped jaws that mount on a GRS ball vise. The vertical drawbar allows side-angle engraving, while a double-sided comb holds two different mandrels at once for faster production.
If you are hand engraving on a non-standard ring, or if you have a few rings to batch engrave at the same time, this ring fixture is ideal for you. First of all, I am not sponsored. I just have this fixture in my place, and my channel is about anything jewelry related, so I make a video showing how to use it. In this video, I am going to show you all the things that come with this fixture, and 4 features that other tools don't offer, but you can find them all in this one. This fixture comes with lots of things. Before showing you the 4 special features, let me show you the 4 basic attachments.
The first is the 10 pairs of different expanding mandrels in plastic. Their sections look a bit like flowers. When they expand, each of them provides even pressure from the inside to give a firm support to your rings during the engraving and stone setting process. Together, there are 20 of them. That's quite a lot. The aluminum storage tray is quite handy to make sure none of them are missing and they are well organized in size.
When I'm very busy, these mandrels could be lying everywhere. So at the end of the day, if I can fill up all these seats, I will know they will be all there waiting for me next time when I need them.
Also, having them well organized like this can help me find the right size mandrel quickly. For instance, if I want one that is slightly bigger, smaller than the mandrel I just picked, then I know it is the one right next to it. Or if I want a much bigger mandrel, I will jump a few seats away.
If you like this video, do you mind clicking the like button? Thank you.
There are 5 single-sided cones together here. 3 standard cones, 2 of them in plastic and the other one is in steel. These two are plastic locking cones. I talked about these cones in the other video called "8 Tools to Hold Your Work for Hand Engraving." They work the same as those on the inside ring holder. If you don't know what these cones are for and how to choose them, make sure to check out that video. The link is in the description below, so I'm not going to repeat it here.
Besides the aluminum tray, the next big thing in this set are these bell-shaped jaws.
They attach onto the top of the MicroBlock vise with 6 long button head cup screws. Don't use the screws that come with the MicroBlock. They are too short. You need the ones that come with this fixture. They are specially designed for this use. With these jaws on, now the clamps have been extended taller. There is a hole through the top of this fixture on each side of the clamp. The bigger one has threads on, the other one is just a smooth hole. Below them, there is a 10mm dimple on both sides facing each other. I noticed that from different suppliers' websites, there are two pads on the bottom of each drawer here. They are for fitting into the holes on the microblock vise.
I got my set directly from Alexander in person when I was in Antwerp, so I think I have the special edition of this fixture that you cannot get it online. Without the two little pads, these drawers work perfectly fine. Now you know the four basic attachments of this fixture. Let's move on to the four special features that you cannot find anywhere else. The most extraordinary thing of this attachment is this vertical drawer bar.
To install it, you open the ball vise. And put this spherical base between the two dimples on the bell-shaped clamp. With this thing, you can tilt your ring almost at any angle for engraving on the side of your ring. It works a bit like a ball and socket joint. To tighten it, you simply use the hex key for the ball vise to close the clamp. These teeth around the spherical base increase the friction between this ball base and the clamp. Once the clamp is locked tight, it holds on to this vertical drawbar very firmly. When you want to change the expanding mandrel, use the Allen key to release this countersunk screw at the end of the vertical drawbar, and then you can swap for different mandrel to fit another size of ring.
If by any chance you lose any of these Allen keys, they are all standard sizes. You can easily get a standard set from your local hardware shop and take your pick. To engrave or set stones on the surface of your ring, you need the standard horizontal drawbar.
To install this, open the wrench, Take the vertical drawbar out. Screw this side of the drawbar into the fixture with threads. Put on the expanding mandrel, follow with the ring you are working on, then the cone of your choice. Press the end into the hole on the other jaw, and then close the ball vise. Because the bell-shaped jaws are raised much higher from the base, This gives you much more room to maneuver for non-standard items. The next extraordinary feature of this attachment is this long horizontal drawbar. To install it, you do the same as you did with the standard one, but you need to have the wrenches on the MicroBlock wide open, almost to the point that the jaws will drop off the base. With this drawbar, it allows you to put two of the same size expanding mandrels on, so the supporting area is double the width. This can be quite useful when the support you need is wider than one mandrel can provide, which is 13mm. For instance, if your ring is wider than 13mm, or you want to work on a few rings or of the same size simultaneously. Then this setting can give you a very good support that you won't find anywhere else. The last special thing of this attachment set is this double-sided comb. It allows you to put two different sized mandrels on at the same time. In this way, you can increase your production level in those busy days.
With that being said, there is a small problem with this attachment set.
You see, after the clamp has been raised up, it becomes much closer to the bottom of our microscope. This will get your microscope out of focus easily. To fix this, you can get the MicroBlock short jaw kit to reduce the height about 1cm.
So I would say this attachment set is good if you are working with non-standard rings or if you have a very busy workflow. If you like this video, you might want to check out the one here. It's about 7 other attachments for the GRS ball vise. I will see you in the next video.
This ring took me 3 hours just for the stones #howitsmade #jewelry #craftsmanship
