I know you enjoy the magnificence of your hairy knuckles as much as the next guy, but after you take a look at this ring, you may be reaching for razor.
Ben Hopson and entrepreneur Glen Liberman of Kinekt Design are collaborating together on a series of kinetic jewelry pieces. This Gear Ring is the first to come out of production and onto your fashion sensitive fingers. It was designed in SolidWorks, but you know there’s always more to the process. Glen Liberman had a few gems to tell us about the design challenges they faced.
Oh, and you know we’ve got the hi-res images and video you all love.
What were the challenges you faced with designing and manufacturing the ring?
Despite the fact that a ring does not seem like a complicated object to produce/manufacture, it did take quite a bit of time and effort (about a year) to get to the finished product.
What are the key attributes of the design process?
I believe this process takes flexibility, patience, and persistence. Also, sharing this vision with others is not an easy task and takes clear and precise communication skills to convey what you want as the desired result. It is important to be able to bounce ideas off of others and get feedback accordingly. You (the designer) become so close to the product that is often difficult to make final decisions about it whether it be the aesthetics or even the packaging design.
The ring is made of high quality matte stainless steel, which means you can growl as loud as you want when you put this beauty on. Take in the brilliance of the design and catch the video at the end to see how it works. (click to enlarge)
BIG thanks to Joe Birner for the heads up!!
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SolidSmack is a very small behemoth of an online community about 3D CAD, technology, design, robots, and ninjas… Ok, maybe not ninjas so much, but those guys are COOL so there just might be something about some dang ninjas.
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Wicked cool, although it doesn't appear to be using actual gear tooth profiles w/ involute splines and all that. If it used that, and came in white gold/titanium/platinum, I'd be all over that!
so picky Bruce!
I'm betting there's an extent to what can fit around a finger, but actualy gear teeth would be cool, maybe a whole differential across the fist. oh yeeeeeah.
I agree. Real involute tooth profiles would make this irresistible for the mechanically obsessive. But this is badass, regardless. Now I want to see one that provides mechanical advantage in thumb wrestling.
WOW very very cool.
Very impressive work… I'd love to see the manufacturing and assembly process behind this amazing ring!
Jon @ WoodMarvels.com
It mechanical geekery unleashed for my fingers. I admire the looks of the design and coolness it would generate if I had one on my hand.
Just because it is not using completely proper design to make the gears is not a reason to avoid it. EMBRACE it for the geek coolness and take it as it is Bruce. You know you want one just as bad as I do.
I stumbled upon this the other day. I want.
Wow, I kinda knew the daggers would start flying. Please, don't get me wrong, this thing is TOTAL MECHANICAL GEEKERY SWEETNESS! And, yes, I want one, but as it is now I wouldn't be willing to pay more than $75 for it, not the $165 they're asking (plus I'm a size 8 and the smallest they have now is a 9).
I'm just trying to give some perspective from a consumer's standpoint. Think about it, as cool as this is, it's still a ring. And a ring is still considered a piece of jewelery. My wife and I just celebrated our 10th anniversay awhile back and were considering getting new rings. Now, at the time I was considering getting a fairly plain yet cool tungsten ring. Men's bands like that range anywhere from $500-$2000. I was willing to shell out around $500. If this were available as I described it above, I'd be willing to pay up to $1500 for it. You see the difference? And as Ocell pointed out, the target market for this would be engineering geeks so the extra details would be appreciated, whereas this appeals to a broader audience.
While I'm on this picky kick, I might as well throw in: I absolutely loathe flathead fasteners. Make it a hex drive or torx, and that would rock even more. And o-ring seals to keep out the crud. Does this thing use cartridge needle bearings? Wow, I really am picky.
Oooh, and comfort fit. Gotta have the comfort fit…
Besides the ring, holy moly, have you checked out these guy's music? Mutli-talented fo' sho. Pretty rockin' beats.
http://www.kinektdesign.com/extras.php
Bruce, we gotta get together and design some stuff. I agree on the hexdrive and bearing too.
Not to worry Bruce, just giving you a slightly hard way to go on your first comment. Your points are well taken on you response expanding upon your first comment. As with all designs, they can be improved upon. I think a phillips head would have been cooler than a flat head. Since this is what is offered, I am going to go with it. I just need to go and get my finger sized so I can order one.
You're right. I also am not giving enough credit to these guys for just getting something out there, now, instead of waiting until they thought it was perfect. Definitely better to just get out there and DO something rather than not accomplish anything at all. I'm sure they learned a TON from process. Kudos guys, really.
Regarding the flathead, I'm sure they did that to keep costs down. Looking at the images, it appears the slots were cut manually, so it means this was a custom fastener. So cutting a hex,philips, or torx drive would have been very difficult/expensive.
Hafnium is a shiny, silvery, ductile metal that is corrosion-resistant and chemically similar to zirconium. The melting points and boiling points of the compounds and the solubility in solvents are the major differences in the chemistry of these twin elements. The physical properties of hafnium metal samples are markedly affected by zirconium impurities, as these two elements are among the most difficult ones to separate because of their tantalum chemical similarity. A notable physical difference between them is their density (zirconium being about half as dense as hafnium). The metal is resistant to concentrated alkalis, but halogens react with it to form hafnium tetra halides. As a tetravalent transition metal, hafnium forms various inorganic compounds, generally in the oxidation state of +4. The chemistry of hafnium is so similar to that of zirconium that a separation on chemical reactions was not possible, only the physical properties of the compounds differ.
Awesome!! This will be my wedding ring. Now I just have to convince my fiance to buy me one.
They really need to add a nice radius to the edge of the inner dia . I have a friend who purchased the ring and says it's not very comfortable.
They really need to add a nice radius to the edge of the inner dia . I have a friend who purchased the ring and says it's not very comfortable.
this is made from high
quality matte stainless steel. they should have used this in lord of the rings I really want one of these, though. This is way better.
designer rings
Hi ! i was interesting your ring ! but is it UK size ? and wt is the smallest size ? if i pay in paypal is it i need to pay UK$165 then u will post it to me because i live in Hong kong ! one more thing , if it is UK size i only wearing 5 or 6 , do u have it ? my e-mail is garyhoyeah@yahoo.com.hk .THANK YOU !
SolidSmack,
I want to order the product of Kinekt Design, but i cannot get the email address of Kinekt Design. Would you mind sending me the email address. Thank a lot .
Gary.
It is very nice information to find good Rings in the online market. Here you explain very well about the good quality rings. I am thankful for your information.
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