[Hans Peter] had reached the moment of popping the question. Going down on one knee and proposing to his girlfriend, the full romantic works.
He’s a brave man, [Hans]. For instead of heading for the jeweller’s and laying down his savings on something with a diamond the size of a quail’s egg he decided that his ring should contain something very much of him. So he decided to 3D print a ring and embed a slowly pulsing LED in it. He does mention that this ring is a temporary solution, so perhaps his soon-to-be-Mrs will receive something sparkly and expensive in due course.
To fit his LED and flasher in such a small space he used a PIC10F320 microcontroller that comes in a SOT-23-6 package. This was chosen because it has a handy PWM output to pulse the LED rather than flash it. This he assembled dead-bug style with an 0603 LED, and a couple of hearing aid batteries to power the unit. He has some concerns about how long the hearing aid batteries will power the device, so as he wrote he had better hurry and get on his knees. (He informs us in his tip email that she said yes.)
Surprisingly we’ve covered quite a few engagement ring builds over the years. Closest to this one is an LED ring powered by an induction coil, but we’ve also featured machined titanium rings and some rather nice cast rings.
I hope she likes his SOT-23-6 package.
hopefully no, uhm, thru-hole puns…
It looks like it’s an on-again/off-again relationship.
I wonder if she likes it when he talks qwerty.
read 3D-Printed Enlargement Ring, pretty close
Talk about additive manufacturing
If SHE needs HIM to buy HER expensive nonsense, SHE ain’t no loving him. If SHE really loves HIM, SHE is going to buy HIM a better 3d printer for the wedding night.
You’re only talking about His side of the story. Sure, let them use this for the wedding day as one’s gesture of acceptance, but He should still buy a proper ring that would last a lifetime, or two. Something that can be kept and passed on to their kids, and the next. Some people may find this acceptable, but to call a 3D-printed-battery-operated device as a family heirloom is kinda weird. My Mother’s ring have been passed through 7 generations, if you’re curious of what I mean.
I’m imagining what marketing for sex-oriented 3D printers would look like.
I did a similar thing. CNCed acrylic and copper tape, the hardest part was finding small enough batteries to drive a 3V green LED. Shortly after the proposal we headed of to the jeweler to get a shiny thing that could take hand washing.
His way of saying “This is the kind of person I am. Can you put up with me for the rest of your life?” :grin:
I don’t know why but I was hoping for, it changes colour when he’s within wifi range.
an ex colleague did actually have his engagement ring printed in silver and then left a place for a diamond, the jeweller was apparently quite surprised when he asked them to put that gem in place on hist self designed unique ring.