A Useable Tool Ring?

[Cogito]

PM sent

[Tofty]

I've been messing around with a few more tritium ring designs, with simpler designs and cleaner lines.

   

   

   

   

   

   




I'll have printed versions of some of these rings, along with the original tool ring in steel and brass, hopefully in a few days.

[Grant Lamontagne]

Those look awesome!

Not even the coolest rappers have bling so bright it glows!



Def

[RT1969]

I like those more than the older designs.   
Especially the red-to-yellow one 

I know someone who would love one of those in shades of blue. 

[Tofty]

Thanks Guys,

For bling factor I even looked at the concept of mounting tritium under precious, or semi-precious stones, but the bulk would have been excessive for a ring and most stones aren't cut into anything like a sensible shape.

I've got a few examples of some of the rings arriving in a few days and once they pass scrutiny, I can offer rings for sale.
However with a ring like this, every different size requires re-modelling, rather than just simply scaling the original model up or down. This is due to the need to keep the tritium channels the same size.
I'll have to think about how best to offer tritium rings for sale.

[Tofty]

This thread has been deviating from the original premise a bit, so lets bring it back in line with, what I hope turns out to be, the conclusive Tool Ring:

[Etherealicer]

That looks interesting, how comfy is that ring for wearing?

[Tofty]

That looks interesting, how comfy is that ring for wearing?

It's not too bad, but the slightly squared hole makes standard ring sizings incorrect, as the skin of the finger fills the corners to some extent, making it feel too loose.
The major issue is that there's far too much bulk under the finger, so the ring makes contact with anything being held.
Also the design doesn't scale well at all, due to the required dimensions of the phillips, flat head, 1/4" hex drivers and the M3 screws, so a smaller sized ring would almost certainly need to loose features.

[MadPlumbarian]

Very interesting! JR

[RT1969]

Does the bit store in the ring?
Or does it have this funky shape because you like to design stuff? 

[Tofty]

Thanks JR.


The bit is retained in the hex driver, due to the o-ring in the V-slot, but does not have anywhere else to be stored in the ring.
I'm actually quite impressed with how well the o-ring system works , as it holds the bit firmly, without needing too much insertion or extraction force and never wants to fall out when the ring is opened out. 

For a more practical solution to bit storage, a low profile hex bit could be printed (or a normal hex bit could be cut shorter), so that it sticks out of the hex driver, just enough to be usable, while not getting in the way during general activities.

[Tofty]

Due to a recent request I had a go at completely redesigning the tool ring to make it simpler and a lot cheaper:










I've also made a few more tritium rings:

[Etherealicer]

Really love the tritium rings, they are very pretty.

[nate j]

Very cool!   

[Schneider]

That driver ring is a cool idea.

Any idea how much it would cost and what materials would be available?

[WWW]

This new iteration is really simple but really nice! Love the tritium ones as well!!

[Tofty]

Thanks guys,
The driver ring will be available shortly on my Shapeways shop, available in stainless steel, with various finishes.
Cost will vary slightly with sing size, but the most it would be is 18 euros, plus shipping.