What does the CAD (computer-aided design) process involve for custom rings?
Let me walk you through what actually happens with CAD for a custom ring. I've been using it since about 2008, and I still do it a specific way. The first...
Let me walk you through what actually happens with CAD for a custom ring. I've been using it since about 2008, and I still do it a specific way.
The first thing I tell clients is that CAD is not a magic button. It's a tool, like a jeweler's saw or a wax file. If the designer doesn't know how metal flows, how stones sit, what a size 6.5 feels like on the hand - CAD won't save them. It will just give them a pretty rendering of a ring that won't work.
How it actually goes
Step 1: The consultation. I'll sit with you - usually for about an hour - and I'll draw on paper first. I want to see where your hands move when you talk. I want to know if you use your hands at work. I want to know if you sleep with jewelry on. The CAD designer gets all of that, in my notes and sketches, before they open a file.
Step 2: The CAD file. This is the part you see in videos. The designer - in my studio, it's a woman named Elena who's been doing this fifteen years - builds the ring in Rhino 3D, usually. She'll start with the shank, then the head, then the details. A simple solitaire takes maybe two hours. A complex pavé or three-stone with a gallery can take eight or ten hours spread over two days.
Here's what matters: she works at a specific scale. The band width, in the software, is measured in millimeters - exactly. A 2.2mm half-round shank looks different from a 2.6mm one, and the difference in comfort is noticeable. Same for thickness. A 1.6mm band vs a 1.8mm band - that's the difference between "I forgot I'm wearing it" and "this ring has some substance." We measure everything.
Step 3: The rendering. I send you a rendered image, usually from Keyshot. It shows the ring in light, in color, from multiple angles. It is not a photograph of the finished ring. It's a digital approximation. The metal will look slightly too perfect. The stone will look slightly too sparkly. I tell every client: "This is the idealized version. The real ring will have depth and imperfection and life. That's better."
Step 4: The resin model. This is the step most online jewelers skip, and I think it's the most important. We 3D-print a resin model of the ring in the actual size. I mail it to you, or you come in and try it on. You feel the width on your finger. You see the stone height. You can put it next to your wedding band. The resin catches maybe 90% of the fit issues. If something's wrong - too tall, too snug to the next finger - we adjust the CAD before we cast. That's cheaper than recasting metal.
Step 5: Approval, then casting. Once the resin is approved, we send the file to casting. Usually Hoover & Strong or a specialized shop local to me. The CAD file gets converted to a wax or printed as a resin burnout pattern, invested in plaster, and cast in your chosen metal. That takes about a week, give or take.
What CAD can and can't do
CAD is great for:
- Symmetry. If you want a perfectly matched pavé band, CAD is your friend.
- Complex geometry. Cathedral settings, trellis work, multi-stone arrangements that would take insane hours to hand-fabricate.
- Iteration. Want to see the band at 2.0mm, 2.2mm, and 2.4mm? CAD gives you all three in an afternoon.
CAD is not great for:
- Soft, organic curves. A hand-carved wax or hand-fabricated piece has a life to it that CAD struggles with. I still hand-fabricate certain bezels and signet rings because the CAD versions come out stiff.
- Milgrain. Machine-applied milgrain from a CAD model is usually too uniform. Hand-rolled milgrain has subtle variation that makes it look old. If you want real milgrain, you want hand work.
- Repairs. If the ring gets damaged and you need a replica, CAD files help. But if you need a piece rebuilt twenty years from now and the file is lost - that's a real risk. I keep the files, but I also keep the resin models in a box behind my bench.
The timeline
For a custom ring with CAD: consultation to finished piece is usually six to ten weeks. The CAD phase itself - file creation, rendering, resin, one or two revisions - takes about three to four weeks. Anyone promising you a CAD file in two days and a ring in two weeks is rushing it. They're using a stock model with your stone dropped in. That's not custom. That's assembly.
CAD is a tool that lets me build complex, precise work that would have taken weeks of bench time thirty years ago. It doesn't replace the bench. It feeds the bench. And if the bench jeweler doesn't know how to refine that cast metal - file it, polish it, set the stone, tighten the prongs, check the feel - then the CAD file was just a pretty picture.