Rings Project

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Hello all,I'm starting a new project and would like some advice about the welding requirement.Briefly, I am going to make some stainless steel rings.  Their diameter will be 7" (that could go to 9 or 10 inches, but absolutely no smaller than 7").  I am going to use stainless steel rod stock 7/32" in diameter.I plan to use a spring company to 'wind' the rod into circular forms, and then butt weld the ends together.  This weld must be done with some precision because I want the ends to line up as perfectly as possible.  I will then polish the weld/ring until no seam shows.  The ultimate idea is to have the appearance of a solid ring.So, after that windy explanation, if you have any ideas, advice, etc., I thank you in advance.
Reply:I'd set up a little jig to hold the ends tight and in alignment.  Then I'd TIG them together with some matching filler and grind, file & polish them to match.  Work carefully and you shouldn't be able to even see the joint.Good luck, let us know how you make out.BTW, what's the application if I may ask?Oh, and how many are you making?  I was assuming that this was just a small number of them and you weren't looking to go into production.  If it's volume production we may have other ideas to add.Last edited by Tinker; 09-03-2004 at 02:35 PM.TinkerCentury 135GS, ThermalArc 250GTS
Reply:I think you also want to make sure you taper each rod end and leave a small gap before joining. By leaving a small gap and tapering, you might be able to get the best penetration and also give yourself plenty of room for the filler to flow in and bond both ends. That's how a Psycho would do it anyway. PsychoKart
Reply:What is the application.. just want a pile of shiny rings?
Reply:I make shiny rings all the time- although not for precision uses- mostly for sculpture and ornamental iron projects- so I am happy if they are within a 1/16" of each other. Mostly I bend them on the hossfeld bender- Especially if they are under 2 feet in diameter or so. For larger ones, hossfeld makes a series of fixed radius dies, ranging from a 6" diameter up to 60" diameter. These make accurate, repeatable circles in all kinds of profiles- square, round, flat the hard way or the easy way.For smaller circles, there is a hossfeld setup where you can use a short (4" long) piece of pipe as the mandrel- so I have pieces of pipe from 1 1/2" up to about 6" for little circles.With both setups, you bend a longer piece around and around until you have a spring like coil. Then we just slice up on the little jet 4x6 bandsaw- for stainless I use a bimetal blade.On bigger circles, or really large profiles, I use a BPR ring roller from eagle bending machines- we just finished a project where we had to make a dozen rings, from 1 1/4" dia. round bar in 304 ss. The ring roller rolled them cold, no problem. the rings were 22 3/4" diameter when finished, and we managed to get them pretty close in diameter to each other. Those big boys, we beveled, tig welded with a gap as suggested, then sanded the welds out. After that, we used a rosebud to apply selective heat to clamp out any wavy spots.On small rings like the ones you are making, I always flatten them out before welding them together. I use a 24" crescent wrench, and put the ring in a big bench vise, and tweak the ring with the wrench until it sits flat on the table. Then I tig weld them together.  For final sanding on the stainless, I am partial to klingspoor flap discs, zirconia in a 50 grit. They last a long time, and give a very nice finish on the stainless.
Reply:one more thing- to get a nice butt joint, we either clamp em down to a steel table, or make a little jig from a short piece of ss angle iron- clamp the ring to the inside of the "v"- this keeps two of the sides in alignment at the same time, making for a good smooth joint. You tack where you can reach, then unclamp and finish weld.