# Using stainless steel nuts for rings? how to tell?



## stioc (Aug 13, 2019)

So I was asked to make a titanium or a stainless steel ring. I've seen people use stainless steel nuts to turn them into rings. Looking at what I have in the garage I can't determine whether they're really stainless steel, what type and if so will they be suitable to make a ring out of? Any thoughts?

Here's a sample of what I've got laying around...


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## Barncat (Aug 13, 2019)

Some stainless is non-magnetic. If a magnet doesn't stick, could be stainless. Two out of the three don't look like stainless to my eyes though.


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## stioc (Aug 13, 2019)

Thanks...yeah I tried the magnet trick and they all stick.

I think the ones that are gold might not be SS but was curious if perhaps they had some plating on them. 

I guess I'm also wondering what type of SS is suitable to wear? can it be any variety of SS like 304, 316, 416 etc?


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## Nogoingback (Aug 13, 2019)

The gold ones are plated.  No one would plate stainless nuts.  Why not just make them from 303 bar stock?


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## Dave Smith (Aug 13, 2019)

the better quality ss is not magnetic ---Dave


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## Flyinfool (Aug 13, 2019)

Is this rings as in jewelry? If so stick with 300 series stainless. The 400 series will still corrode with skin oils.
The 300 series stainless is non magnetic.
All 3 of the nuts in your pic look like plated steel.


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## benmychree (Aug 13, 2019)

Back in the day, late 1950s, the preferred material was Monel, procured from the local (Mare Island Naval Shipyard); nuts were sawn, filed, drilled out, polished, etc.  The product was a ring worn on a chain by one's girlfriend "going steady".  As someone above suggested, 303 SS is the best choice for ease of machining/shaping.
Theft of Monel nuts was such a problem, I was told, that the Navy had carbon steel nuts installed until a ship was ready to commission, when they were replaced with Monel.


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## stioc (Aug 13, 2019)

Thanks everyone. Yes, a ring as in jewelry. I will look to see where to source the 303 SS.

What about Titanium btw? is that about the same machining wise or much harder? My guess is the latter and SS is probably not as expensive either.


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## rock_breaker (Aug 13, 2019)

Not sure of the history of a small piece of Monel, but the CPO in charge of the crew asked me to make him a ring to hold a "cat eye" found in the coral dredged up for road base on an airstrip in the Philippine Islands.  Used a 4 jaw on a 9" South Bend. Haven't heard Monel mentioned in many years.
Have a good day
Ray


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## Nogoingback (Aug 14, 2019)

A small quantity of 303 is not expensive.  Check eBay, I've bought small pieces of material
there a number of times at reasonable prices.  Make sure it's not 304, which is more difficult to machine.


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## john.k (Aug 14, 2019)

Some nuts Ive seen have the grade stamped into them.......the austenitic stainless steels are generally sold as suitable for marine use /salt water......the magnetic stainless steels are susceptable to rusting ,or at least rust staining.......


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## machPete99 (Aug 14, 2019)

Stainless has a different look to it than the cheap zinc plated steel fasteners. Its not as bright looking, a bit greyish. After a while you can tell by looking.
The nut on the  left *could* be SS.


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## fixit (Aug 14, 2019)

McMASTER CARR sells stn stl nuts


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## mmcmdl (Aug 14, 2019)

Monel is great stuff . Throw it in the ocean for 10 years and pull it out , it looks like the day you threw it in . It is also a great conductor . 303 is cheap , easy to machine and not heat treatable as is any 300 series stainless . 400 series is HTable , as well as other exotics . 15-5 , 17-4 etc . Titanium is tougher than a $2 dollar steak , strong and light , can be machined slowly . Try and find a hunk of Berillium . Light , machines well , good looking . Don't breath the fumes as it is toxic and causes Berilliosis (sp) .

If it is magnetic , you can heat treat it .


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## Flyinfool (Aug 14, 2019)

I would stay away from Beryllium, it is very toxic.








						Facts About Beryllium
					

Beryllium is one of the lightest metals and has one of the highest melting points among the light metals.




					www.livescience.com


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## mmcmdl (Aug 14, 2019)

Flyinfool said:


> I would stay away from Beryllium, it is very toxic.



Only if you breathe it in a mist type state .
I machined the Automatic Boresight Equipment prototypes for the DOD back in the 90s . Had to wear respirator and full containment suits on the CNC equipment . You can wear it , just don't breathe it !  The one part I machined was approx. 5" in diameter by 3" thick . It was $5000 for the chunk . I had one come out of the chuck at 6000 rpm and shatter the safety glass in the Makino , ruining the material . A full study of why that happened was done and someone got dismissed for it . ( they moved my lathe and did not lag it down ) .

Check out ABE at AAI Inc .









						Advanced Boresight Equipment®
					

Our ABE system is on target with precision alignment




					www.textronsystems.com


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## stioc (Aug 14, 2019)

Thanks everyone. I ordered a 6" long 1" diameter slug of SS 303 for $11. Shipping was about as much, I should've ordered more!


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## mmcmdl (Aug 14, 2019)

You should've check here !  My scrap pile is endless .


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## rwm (Aug 14, 2019)

mmcmdl said:


> You should've check here !  My scrap pile is endless .


Since you mention this I need some 4" 6061 round bar? PM me if this is possible!
THanks
Robert


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## rwm (Aug 14, 2019)

Oh yeah...I made my wedding ring out of titanium. It is not too difficult to machine. I really like how light it is. I can hardly notice when I take it off in bar and put in in my pocket  ; )
Robert


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## stioc (Aug 14, 2019)

rwm said:


> Oh yeah...I made my wedding ring out of titanium. It is not too difficult to machine. I really like how light it is. I can hardly notice when I take it off in bar and put in in my pocket  ; )
> Robert



That's a good point to consider. In my case though I decided to take care of the problem the legal way about 10yrs ago. It wasn't cheap but worth every penny I lost


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## stioc (Aug 15, 2019)

So as I get ready to do this, the next question is the design. It's for a female so a flat band isn't going to be the most suitable. I'm thinking either a very thin 3mm wide ring with a convex shape (using a ball turner). I see there's something called 'comfort fit' design and looks like the inside of the ring is also made convex. Any thoughts on how to do this?




Another design I like that seems very straight forward is Bvlgari they come in different widths but even a small one like this seems pretty simple and straight forward to make, I can probably even engrave it with the CNC mill using a diamond tipped drag engraving bit.


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## Flyinfool (Aug 15, 2019)

If you have a CNC mill then the comfort fit profile is easy.
Nothing says round things MUST be done on a lathe.


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## rock_breaker (Aug 16, 2019)

If I were to try  this ( I am pushig my skill limits ) I would grind a  boring bar tool end to  half the shape of the inner "comfort fit"
Then cut the back inside to size. Grind another bit to shape the front  side of the inner "comfort fit". Cuttting the ring to size outside would be next followed by shaping the outer areas in reverse order to the inner cuts. No doubt the ring would need sanding and polishing. There! you have a beginners approach.
Have a good day
Ray


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## stioc (Aug 16, 2019)

rock_breaker said:


> If I were to try  this ( I am pushig my skill limits ) I would grind a  boring bar tool end to  half the shape of the inner "comfort fit"
> Then cut the back inside to size. Grind another bit to shape the front  side of the inner "comfort fit". Cuttting the ring to size outside would be next followed by shaping the outer areas in reverse order to the inner cuts. No doubt the ring would need sanding and polishing. There! you have a beginners approach.
> Have a good day
> Ray



That is ingenious, a form tool, of course! Why didn't I think of that...may be because I'm not skilled at grinding but this shouldn't be too bad since the width of the ring was only going to be 3mm or so I can shape it entirely using the same form tool both inside and outside!



Flyinfool said:


> If you have a CNC mill then the comfort fit profile is easy.
> Nothing says round things MUST be done on a lathe.



Good point but how would you do the convex shape on a mill?


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## stioc (Aug 16, 2019)

I had about an hr this afternoon so I gave free-hand forming the tool a quick try on aluminum stock. Looks like it'll work for the slight convex on the outside.

Now for doing the same thing to the brazed boring bars for the inside shape I don't have the right grinding wheels for carbide. Just the usual alum oxide ones. I'll take a look at my dremel set to see if I have anything usable there.

Thanks for the suggestion, this is the way to go for smaller work rather than messing around with the ball turner etc.


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## rock_breaker (Aug 16, 2019)

I hope the form tools will work in stainless. The cutting sequence might be wrong. Doing this on a mill puts me way out beyond my comfort zone but could it be done with a boring head and a small boring bar? I am not sure about this but grinding the entire "comfort shape" at the end of a low cost end mill then mount the nut in a rotary table and again take light cuts inside and out.  Not knowing anything about CNC but from what I have gained here could  it be possible to use a form tool and small incremental steps to make the circles.  Hopefully Flyinfool and other experienced milling people will get involved here. Good luck on yur project Stioc!
Have a good day
Ray


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## Boswell (Aug 17, 2019)

If you wanted to use a CNC Mill, then you would just use a small ball end mill and mill the contours in 3D. No form tool needed.You will still need to work out workholding and have to flip it at some point in the operation but that is true for both CNC MIll or Manual Lathe.   I like the idea of the formtool on the lathe.


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## RJSakowski (Aug 17, 2019)

If I were making the "comfort style", I would tse the lathe to cut the ring from ther end of a piece of round stock.  Bore the i.d. first and turn the maximum od..  I would use gravers to do the contour work first the i.d. and then the od. Clean up both surfaces with increaswingly finer grits of wet or dry followed by polishing with diamond paste.    The final operation would be parting the ring and sanding and polishing th last edge.  I have made a mandrel for polishing my ring using a pice of pvc pipe and some duct tape.  The ring is slid over the duct tape and has a tight enough fit towithstand the sanding and polishing forces.


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## RJSakowski (Aug 17, 2019)

There are a number of threads on HM about using gravers on the lathe. https://www.hobby-machinist.com/search/72922/?q=graver&o=relevance


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## stioc (Aug 17, 2019)

Boswell said:


> If you wanted to use a CNC Mill, then you would just use a small ball end mill and mill the contours in 3D. No form tool needed.You will still need to work out workholding and have to flip it at some point in the operation but that is true for both CNC MIll or Manual Lathe.   I like the idea of the formtool on the lathe.



Ok, that's what I figured i.e. I'd have to flip the ring over and do the contour one half at a time. Plus on such a small part I'm sure the contour will leave steps...though I could sand them even.



RJSakowski said:


> If I were making the "comfort style", I would tse the lathe to cut the ring from ther end of a piece of round stock.  Bore the i.d. first and turn the maximum od..  I would use gravers to do the contour work first the i.d. and then the od. Clean up both surfaces with increaswingly finer grits of wet or dry followed by polishing with diamond paste.    The final operation would be parting the ring and sanding and polishing th last edge.  I have made a mandrel for polishing my ring using a pice of pvc pipe and some duct tape.  The ring is slid over the duct tape and has a tight enough fit towithstand the sanding and polishing forces.



Thanks RJ! interesting, never even knew what a 'graver' was. However, going this route means learning and acquiring more stuff before I can do the actual work. I think I'm going to try the form tools first. I've been meaning to make small boring bars that take HSS inserts so this will be a good time to make that happen.

Great tip on the pvc/duct-tape mandrel, I was thinking of making an expanding one out of alum but pvc one sounds much easier/faster.


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## Boswell (Aug 17, 2019)

stioc said:


> Plus on such a small part I'm sure the contour will leave steps


Some surface finish would be required.  With CNC you can control the resolution (step-over) of each pass at the trade off of process time.  Once you get it fine enough, then sand, polish, tumble, buff, or some combination to get the surface finish that you would like


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## stioc (Aug 17, 2019)

So I started making a small boring bar and insert. The boring bar is a 5/16" 12L14 and the insert is a broken #1 HSS center drill shaped using a diamond bit in a Dremel.

















I think I'll face it off a bit more and use a shorter set screw so the bar doesn't stick out as much and I may even turn the diameter down at the top.


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## stioc (Aug 18, 2019)

I posted it in the POTD thread but thought I'd close this thread with the results. I did do the outside contour but didn't do the inside because I goofed on the sizing and didn't leave room to cut the convex shape on the inside! doh! but nonetheless I'm pretty happy with the results. Thanks for everyone's help especially suggesting 303 stainless, while it was tough for the HSS contour bit (smoke and squealing) but my carbide insert tooling cut it pretty easily.

It's quite small, 2.5mm wide and 1.2mm thick which includes the convex contour on the outside.


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## westerner (Aug 18, 2019)

RJSakowski said:


> The ring is slid over the duct tape and has a tight enough fit to withstand the sanding and polishing forces.


Well said! It is this appreciation for the forces at work that separate hacks like me, from the pro's like you. 
Superglueing your part to a faceplate, and then actually getting something done.....
I gain further understanding every time I log on here.
Thanks to all of ya!


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## pontiac428 (Aug 19, 2019)

Stoic, be aware that some small percentage of the population has an autoimmune reaction to the nickel in stainless steel jewelry.  It usually starts with a rash under the ring for those poor folks.  Titanium is non-allergenic, which is why you see so much jewelry in that material.  Nice work there, that's a rather small part to make!


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## stioc (Aug 19, 2019)

Thanks for pointing that out, I didn't know about the reaction and I wouldn't have thought of it considering most medical equipment is made out of stainless steel. I'll let the owner know to watch out for any rash.


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