[Paul Williams] wrote in to tell us about his most recent and dangerous endeavor. Marriage.
As a masters student in Mechanical Engineering, he wanted to give his wife (to be) to be a completely unique engagement ring — but as you can imagine, custom engagement rings aren’t cheap. So he decided to learn how to make it himself.
During the learning process he kept good notes and has produced a most excellent Instructable explaining the entire process — How to make the tools you’ll need, using different techniques and common problems you might have. He even describes in detail how to make your own mini-kiln (complete with PID control), a vacuum chamber, a wax injector and even the process of centrifugal casting.
While soup can forges are probably the easiest to make, we love the simplicity and 
design of [Paul’s] Kiln — professional but on a budget.
He can’t take all the credit though, as [Wolfgar77] showed him the way.
Oh yeah, and after all the blood sweat and tears that went into the ring… She said yes.
talk about a serious investment!
No pun intended, eh?
Thanks for the great summary!
Dear Paul:
Please stop making us other guys look bad.
Sincerely,
An Other Guy
(c:
Wretch has a point here, but 18 years of marriage has tempered my wife’s expectations considerably, so I think I’m in the clear.
In all seriousness: very, very nicely done, Paul.
Thank you – it was actually a very fun project. Though it took me a lot longer than expected (6 months), but that seems to always be the case.
This doesn’t look like a five second job…
What did your(now) fiancee think you were doing whilst making the ring?
I said “I have a garage project that I need to keep confidential” – pretty lame excuse in hind-sight, especially since she pretty much figured it out on her own anyway (I’m such a bad lier, plus she hates not knowing about surprises).
That kiln deserves its own post.
I made one, and it looks like he based it off the same instructable that I did.
http://www.instructables.com/id/Homemade-Electric-Kiln/
I made my own pyrometer with a thermocouple and arduino, but otherwise it’s pretty much the same. Mine easily gets to 700 degrees C.
Wow. This is almost identical to what I did about a year ago for my (now) wife. Our kilns look almost identical, except for I made my own pyrometer ;-). Very nicely done! I always think about making it a new hobby.
Great hack! For those of us who aren’t ready to go into such lengths, you can get quite affordable custom rings by ordering from Shapeways. IIRC the gold doesn’t cost much more than the price of the metal, and the silver is even more affordable.