**Jamie's Engagement Ring — Transcript & Summary | SozAI** Source: https://sozai.app/transcript/jamies-engagement-ring/ Alec Steele and Jamie craft a custom 18k gold engagement ring using 3D printing, casting, and hand-finishing techniques. ## Key Takeaways - 3D printing allows multiple wax models for casting, offering flexibility over traditional wax carving. - Vacuum chambers improve casting quality by removing air bubbles and aiding metal flow. - 18k gold is preferred for rings due to its durability compared to softer 24k gold. - Casting jewelry requires patience and multiple attempts to perfect the process. - Hand finishing and prong setting are delicate steps requiring skill and precision. ## What the video covers - Alec Steele collaborates with his friend Jamie to create a custom engagement ring for Jamie's soon-to-be wife. - The ring design is created via 3D modeling and printed using a 3D printer for casting. - They use a vacuum chamber to remove bubbles from the investment mold before casting gold. - The team alloys 24k gold with silver and copper to create durable 18k gold for the ring. - The first casting attempt fails, but they prepare for a second pour with improved materials. - Alec discusses the use of Squarespace for jewelers to build websites and sell products. - The second casting is successful, and they begin the detailed filing and finishing work on the ring. - Jamie carefully shapes the prongs to secure the diamond, highlighting the precision required. - The video covers the entire process from design, casting, alloying, to final setting of the stone. - The project is a blend of traditional jewelry techniques and modern 3D printing technology. ## Chapters 1. 00:00 Introduction and Project Overview 2. 00:35 3D Printing the Ring Model 3. 01:26 Preparing the Investment and Vacuum Process 4. 02:00 Setting Up for Gold Pouring 5. 02:30 Making 18k Gold Alloy 6. 04:03 Burnout and First Casting Attempt 7. 06:06 Second Casting Attempt and Website Promotion 8. 09:30 Finishing Work: Filing and Prong Setting 9. 11:08 Final Stone Setting and Project Wrap-up Answers ## Questions about this video Why is 18k gold used instead of 24k gold for the ring? 24k gold is too soft for rings and wears away quickly. 18k gold, which is 75% pure gold mixed with alloys like silver and copper, is more durable and suitable for everyday wear. What advantages does 3D printing offer in ring making compared to traditional wax carving? 3D printing allows multiple copies of the ring model to be produced easily, enabling retries and adjustments. Wax carving is typically a one-time process, whereas 3D printing offers flexibility and precision. How does the vacuum chamber improve the casting process? The vacuum chamber removes air bubbles from the investment mold and helps pull the molten gold into all parts of the mold by reducing atmospheric pressure, preventing defects in the final casting. ## Full Transcript — Download SRT & Markdown 00:00 Speaker A Seven years ago, my best mate here made an engagement ring for his now wife. And all these years later, I'm going to hopefully have him help me make one for my soon-to-be wife. 00:10 Speaker A That might be a terrible idea because I'm profoundly underqualified for this. [laughter] I also haven't made it particularly easy on us with the design of this ring either. 00:18 Speaker A And you opted to go with a 3D model that we 3D print and then burn out instead of carving wax. 00:24 Speaker A Yeah. So, typically you do like a wax carving, but there's kind of like a one and done, whereas this allows us to print as many as we need. It takes... But it definitely doesn't take away all the complexity because even just 00:35 Speaker A printing it was very challenging. We spent all day printing it yesterday. Yeah. And all the finishing work is just as difficult as it would be in wax. And this is a result of your modeling. We need to turn that into gold. And we're 00:48 Speaker A going to do it by filling up this flask with investment, connecting it to the lid with some wax. 00:53 Speaker A Turn this out. And then we're left with the negative. That's the hook. So this 73 mm by 76. 500 g of that. 200 g of this. 01:12 Speaker A Oh. Okay. Now we have to get all the bubbles out of there. This is a pot. This is a vacuum pump. And what we're going to do is we're going to draw a vacuum which is going to pull all of the air bubbles out 01:26 Speaker A of the investment. And what's crazy is because we're going to reduce the atmospheric pressure in here, you're going to start to see the water boil. 01:32 Speaker A Look at that. Isn't that crazy? Going to lift that off and very gently pour it in. 01:44 Speaker A If we wanted to, I think we can even [music] degas it again. And now we wait. 01:49 Speaker A It's getting solid, mate. But we got to prepare for the pour. Because the whole idea here isn't just that we use the vacuum chamber to get all the bubbles out, but it's also to use the vacuum to pull down 02:00 Speaker A on the gold as it's poured in. You know, when you pour something out of an oil jug, for example, and it goes glug. 02:06 Speaker A Yeah. It goes glug glug. It's because the air has to come in while this goes out. 02:10 Speaker A In opposite sense, we've got that same problem. We're going to be pouring in that gold and all the air that's inside there either needs to go up or if we pull the vacuum we can suck it through that slightly porous investment. In 02:23 Speaker A order to do that we need a little small vacuum pot that can handle the hot flask. And, uh, Jamie, you're going to make it. 02:42 Speaker A Might be a better welder than me. [laughter] Mr. Steel's got your beat. Got the kiln set up. So what we can now do is we can melt out and then burn out the wax and the PLA. 02:52 Speaker A So we're going for quite an aggressive burnout here, aren't we? 03:01 Speaker A Yeah, we are under a time crunch. We are risking it for the biscuit. If this doesn't work, we're going to have to do it again in the morning. Quarter BSP. 03:22 Speaker A Yes, please. BSP. I think none of that was in focus. Orbean. [music] [laughter] Right. So, we got to figure out how much gold we actually need to pour the thing. 03:30 Speaker A Yes. But we actually [music] need to make the gold. We do. Because here I have a 24 karat gold bolt. I have 24 karat gold scraps. 03:36 Speaker A But 24 karat gold is not good for a ring. Too soft. Much too soft. It'll wear away. Doesn't last very long. We want to make 18 karat gold. 03:46 Speaker A The recipe for 18 karat gold is 75% pure gold, 25% alloy materials. So we've got 12 1/2% of fine silver casting grain and a little bit of copper. 03:56 Speaker A Perfect. So we got to do the maths. We'll know the density of the wax. We'll know the density of the PLA. We'll be able to convert that into its mass in gold. Mixing, concocting, calculating. 04:03 Speaker A We'll get our gold ready. 0.43 wax. You could find out the exact [music] volume of that in your software. 04:09 Speaker A 277 mm. So, if we need 15 g, how much gold do we need? And how much of that do we need? 04:20 Speaker A We have 8.6 g. No, we need 7.4 more. So, we need about a gram of silver and a gram of copper and 5 1/2 g of 24. 04:35 Speaker A Perfect. 0.95. Perfect. I need five and a half of gold. This is exciting, isn't it? 04:48 Speaker A That's good. God, I didn't even have to sacrifice my bolt. No. Thrilling. So, it has been burning out in the kiln for the appropriate recommended 13 hours. And by appropriate recommended 13 hours, I mean about 5 hours. And, uh, 04:51 Speaker A we're going to just... we're just going to send it. Just going to send it, bro. 05:13 Speaker A We're going to send it. [music] Wow. [music] Right. It's time. [music] Slowly up and in position. Begin the pour. Yeah. 05:22 Speaker A Go for it. [screaming] [laughter] Yeah, boy. Why are you touching your lips with your fingers? There's something wrong. I hope not. 05:26 Speaker A Oh, no. No. But you make... you're doing this as if like you just realized we did something wrong. 05:30 Speaker A No, no. This is just the cumulative stress. I think that pour went really well. 05:34 Speaker A If this doesn't work, we have by the skin of our teeth one more chance. 05:54 Speaker A Mhm. [music] Oh, it's a failure. I can feel one tongue [music] missing. Are you serious? OH. [screaming] OH, that's a shame. Damn. Good practice for [music] the next three. 06:06 Speaker A And so since this one was made up, we have received proper printing, um, filament for the 3D [music] printer as compared to just PLA, which was a little bit of a win in the prayer. Time to brew up attempt number two. The gold 06:10 Speaker A didn't go anywhere. We still got it. And at least we don't have to do any more alloying this time. 06:20 Speaker A So the first pull didn't go to plan because I'm not a jeweler. But if you are a jeweler and you need somewhere to sell your products, you should have a Squarespace website. It's a website building platform that Alex's been using 06:26 Speaker A for I don't know, God knows how long, 15 years or something. I was actually using it when Alec found me 9 years ago. 06:34 Speaker A A long time ago. Long time ago. It's super easy to use. It's got dozens or even hundreds of drag and drop themes that you can pick and choose from. Change [music] your fonts, change your colors, add photos, change 06:39 Speaker A your text. You can build a great looking website in like an hour. You can run your email marketing campaigns there. 06:47 Speaker A You can sell your time with Squarespace scheduling. You can even do your invoicing straight in the Squarespace app. It's great. It's on all the more platforms. You can even buy your domain there, too. You can get a free trial 06:50 Speaker A down at the link below and then get 10% off your purchases with code FORGE. 07:30 Speaker A Thank you, mate. That's pretty good. Yeah. And smooth. [music] [music] Right [music] it's now 9:00 p.m. I've waited an hour and a half for this to cure. So, this can now go back in the kiln and it's going to have a full 12 hours in the kiln 07:46 Speaker A overnight, ready for us to hopefully pour it again in the [music] morning. Wow, that's so cool. 08:01 Speaker A [music] It does look very similar. It doesn't look like it's gone much further. Oh, let's prone her. Maybe it's marginally deeper in the little button, but you'd expect it to be a bit deeper considering how much didn't fill last time. 08:24 Speaker A [music] OH, [screaming] COME ON, BABY. ALL FOUR PRONGS, MAN. DAMN. YES. YEAH MAN. [music] I'm nervous, man. This has a lot of work. This is a long way to go from here. Like, that was a great success. 08:30 Speaker A We're out of the water, but we still got to go all the way through the [music] forest. You know, there's a long old hike ahead without a compass. 08:38 Speaker A Without a compass. I've got like a dodgy GPS with Alec, but it's sort of like the signal comes [laughter] Hey, hang on. Signal comes like in and out. 08:50 Speaker A One GPS. Thanks, guys. Welcome to your new home for the next few weeks. Few weeks. Like we've got that kind of time. 09:16 Speaker A First blade. Time to get the files out. Oh yeah, this drawer is all made with files. So these are super small, dainty fellas. You'll [music] be using a lot of these around the prongs. Here is the better files for the kind of work that 10:11 Speaker A you're doing right now. [music] [music] Heat. Heat. [music] [music] [music] How's it going, Jamie? 10:24 Speaker A It's going well. It's almost a shame that my soon-to-be fiancé isn't some sort of like giant Goliath because it's just so small. Getting in all these little bits is a bit of a pain. But I... We're making progress. We're making 10:30 Speaker A progress. How many days to go? Not many. Two da 10:54 Speaker A Two days of filing filing and polishing. However, today is the big day of putting the diamond in the thing. And I am [music] petrified. Very, [laughter] very scared because a lot of things could go wrong here. and I'm going on 11:08 Speaker A holiday in less than 48 hours. [music] So, the pressure is really on, eh? The pressure is really on. We need to open these prongs in order to get the stone in there. [music] They could snap off while we move them. We may need to 11:19 Speaker A anneal them to be able to open the prongs. We could melt the ring whilst we're annealing it. Then the diamond might not sit [music] flat. It might be like tilted or something. It's a tough day today. 11:28 Speaker A It is amazing that that was an idea in your head, a model on your computer, some scraps of gold, and it's now an actual ring. It looks like a ring. It's just that we have a very important step 11:38 Speaker A ahead of you. Should we um see how that uh diamond sets on top of it? 11:41 Speaker A Viewers haven't seen the diamond yet, have Oh yes. Let's have a look at this diamond. What did he grab? 11:45 Speaker A We're going for an oval. Oh yes. Wow. Check that out. Oh, [music] that's a beauty, dude. How good does that look? 11:57 Speaker A That looks fab, doesn't it? So, I made these prongs purposefully very thick because I don't know what I'm doing. Uh they need to open slash be filed a bit in order to [music] let the diamonds sit down. 12:08 Speaker A Beautiful, mate. Right. Um how do we decide the order of operations here? Well, if you want to anneal it, better anneal it. 12:13 Speaker A I know, but are we going to make the prongs narrower in order to have to bend them less? 12:18 Speaker A You could file a little spot on them or flat spot so the thing kind of tucks down in. 12:25 Speaker A [music] It feels sick. What? You feel queasy from the microscope? No. From just being so stressed. 12:36 Speaker A Oh, no. You got a whole day to finish this thing. It's not really about the time. It's just like, can I do it without messing it up? 12:42 Speaker A You know what they say. Fourth times the charm. Oh, it's less funny on the receiving end. [laughter] Eh, this is not supposed to be a Christmas present. 12:50 Speaker A And that's relevant cuz it's currently September. [laughter] Yeah. Decent distance. Okay. Closer than that. Closing that. 13:02 Speaker A Really? Yeah. Well, it's got to get red, mate. Little more. A little closer. Your tongs. 13:10 Speaker A Terrifying. Everybody with your pincers. There we go. A little more. A little more. A little more. Yep. Keep it going. 13:15 Speaker A Little closer. Closer. Oh my god. Closer. Little closer. I'm going for it. I'll go for it. It's dark red. 13:24 Speaker A [laughter] My heart can't take it. I can't go any further than that, man. Like said 550 [music] to 650. If that was like 520, we'll take it. It's got to That had to be like 500° though. It was going like 13:34 Speaker A slightly red, wasn't it? Yeah. Yeah, slightly red. And it's bright outside, so you know. 13:38 Speaker A Well, it is. That actually is a big thing. Yeah. It's add 50 Celsius. Thank goodness you pulled it up so nicely. 13:43 Speaker A All right, let's go open her up. What the hell am I doing? I don't know, Jamie. [laughter] Gently does it. Gent. Gentle. 13:53 Speaker A Is that moved? I don't know, mate. That's terrifying. Oh, I can't watch. I know. It's I can't watch. 14:00 Speaker A I'm trying not to think. I'm just trying to do. [screaming] Oh, I did it, mate. Look at that. A little bit. 14:09 Speaker A Yeah, it's definitely wider. I mean, they look kind of even to me. I don't know. 14:14 Speaker A Yeah, I'd say they look super nice. So, just all of them a little bit more. 14:18 Speaker A Uh, maybe. That's That's the uh most confident answer I can give is a maybe. 14:25 Speaker A What did you break? No, I just need to open them a little bit more. Don't do it. 14:29 Speaker A Don't do it. I can't stand being near it. I can't I cannot stand. [clears throat] Oh yeah, mate. Look at that. 14:37 Speaker A Okay, all four are in just But it needs to be down. Yeah, it just needs to go good bit lower. 14:43 Speaker A But there's only so much bending you can do cuz the actual like spot that it bends around is well supported by those bridges. 14:49 Speaker A So I think you may need to maybe you'll need to file the rest. I don't know. 14:58 Speaker A What are you doing now, Jamie? Well, it's the semifinal polish before we set the diamond. So, earlier on, I filed and bent out these prongs. The diamond now sits in here. 15:10 Speaker A Fantastic, mate. That looks great. So, it's now time for the uh the grand finale. 15:15 Speaker A Do you see a career in jewelry? Absolutely not. This is a one and done. 15:19 Speaker A This is a one and done, which makes it very special. It does. Think of it. your future fiance every time she's they're going to be like, "Oh, where did this ring come from? It's beautiful." H my husband made 15:29 Speaker A it. We got to bend the prongs over. Well, you got to make a little notch for it first. Establish the height. 15:32 Speaker A Mhm. Then prongs need to be bent over, securing it. We're at the stage of putting the force on it. The pliers are now to bend the prongs over the diamond. Hopefully, nothing happened, right? 16:08 Speaker A Don't try and do it all in one go, you know? Just you moving it a tiny bit, then do the other prongs, then move it a tiny bit. 16:20 Speaker A This is terrifying. This is why people don't make their own rings. [music] We just slipped. 16:36 Speaker A Yeah, we just slipped. I just slipped. [snorts] [music] [music] I tell [clears throat] you what, it's [music] in. 16:55 Speaker A It's in. I don't know how in it is, but it is in. I don't know how more it needs, but it it is in. 17:02 Speaker A It's closed over. I'm going to up. [laughter] I've never heard you breathe so hard in your life. 17:12 Speaker A [music] Heat. [music] Heat. [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] Well, there we have it. It's done, mate. It is done. I'm really pleased and proud of myself to be able to pull this off. But I mean, it's not perfect. You wouldn't have bought this 18:11 Speaker A in a showroom, but the fact that myself as a videographer with a bit of your help has managed to make this from scratch is I think that's pretty cool. 18:20 Speaker A And I think that she's going to be over the moon with it. I think you should be very proud. That's awesome, mate. I'm very very happy for you. There's uh just one final question, isn't there? 18:28 Speaker A Yes. Topics: Alec Steele Jamie engagement ring 3D printing gold casting 18k gold jewelry making vacuum chamber ring setting hand finishing --- This is the markdown twin of https://sozai.app/transcript/jamies-engagement-ring/ — the same content, without the markup. Published by SozAI (https://sozai.app). Reuse and quotation are allowed with attribution and a link back. Machine-readable index: https://sozai.app/llms.txt · data API: https://sozai.app/api/