The Iris

[btboone]

Here's a ring I had on the drawing board for a while. The idea is to have a working iris mechanism hide something in the middle like a picture, message, or a stone. It took several iterations to get the mechanism to work properly, as it would tend to wander off center when the dial is rotated, and the shutter pieces would get out of time. I finally nailed down the mechanism to working properly by moving the gear teeth over by .004" That was the difference between not working well at all and being perfectly dialed in. It may or may not stay in this configuration, but at least the mechanism works now. It's laser cut from titanium sheet, and I even laser cut the holes in the ring that the pins stick into. It may or may not be practical, but it was fun to dial in.

 

[firewhatfire]

Could see you modify it for a camera lens shape. Make the main body of the ring a camera and make that the lens

 

[PenPal]

Bruce,

I predict your new ring will get a far reaching exposure especially with Photographers and their families and there are more of them than Penmakers, your ideas are solid gold keep them coming.

Kind regards Peter.

 

[btboone]

The camera idea is great. I'll think about that.

 

[BRobbins629]

Yet another great idea on such a small canvas.

 

[btboone]

I had to wear a magnifying visor to assemble this one! The little gear pieces are tiny. I had to dial in tolerances, like the axle holes, allowing for laser kerf. When I cut through the ring shank with the 5 small holes for the pins, leftover pieces somewhere around .010" diameter rods came out of those holes. It was pretty neat to be able to dial in the numbers and have them stay consistent.

 

[bluwolf]

Very cool Bruce!

Mike

 

[CHARLES STOPCZYNSKI]

Outstanding!

Bruce,

A most impressive bit of work there. Bit, that was a poor choice. I'm sure it was hundreds of hours time on this project.

Charlie
30043

 

[OKLAHOMAN]

Crazy different, love it.

 

[thewishman]

That is AWESOME!!

It reminds me of the James Bond opening sequences (yes I know that is looking out through the rifling of a gun barrel.)

 

[mredburn]

Very nice Bruce. Half the fun is sometimes proving you can do it. Practical or not.

 

[btboone]

That's true. I'm working on a lot of mechanical ones like a working combination lock safe ring, a working music box ring, and a moving motion picture ring and a few others. This summer has been real busy, so I haven't gotten a chance to dial them all in.

 

[Curly]

Looks like a mini-stargate. Any possibility of stepping through it for your next off world vacation to collect meteorites??

Seriously cool mechanicals but how would one keep it clean and functioning in the real world. Would an ultrasonic cleaner be enough?

 

[walshjp17]

Stunning! Thoughts of coloring the shutter pieces to give a bit of contrast?

 

[Fishinbo]

Very cool and amazing! Awesome work on that great mechanism.

 

[btboone]

Stunning! Thoughts of coloring the shutter pieces to give a bit of contrast?

I think anodizing might scratch, but they might be possible in black zirconium. I have some zirconium sheet and haven't experimented with it yet.

 

[Ed McDonnell]

Now you need to adapt that to a push button fountain / rollerball. No need for a cap if you can incorporate your iris into the nib end of the barrel.

Ed

 

[jimjam66]

Holy cow that's nice! Well done!