3D Printed Ring Counter

Hello, this is a tutorial for making a free-spinning ring that works as a counter. The ring works well for board games, or multiple can be strung together for a makeshift abacus.

This project is made using Tinkercad and can be printed with most any 3D printer I think. Within Tinkercad, the file can be modified to fit the diameter of different fingers and the number of sides can be easily changed as well. Included is the stl file for the counter I designed, but some tweaking will need to be done to suit each individual.

All that is needed is:

- Tinkercad

- 3D printer

- Pencil or Sharpie for drawing in side faces

- (Optional) Paint

The ring model consists of three pieces: two inner pieces made in part A and an outer piece made in part B.

To start, open up a new Tinkercad 3D design and drag a cylinder object from the right. Note that the number of sides should be 64 so that the inner ring is smooth. The two inner pieces are built so that they fit into each other so one is slightly smaller than the other. But the ridges on both (see 4th image) should be the same size so that the align smooth with the outer ring. The dimensions of your ring should be custom to whatever fits your finger but you can follow the dimensions in the photos for a general guide.

In this step, create the ridges of both inner rings (copy and paste makes this easy). Next drag over two more cylinders with diameter slightly less than those of the ridge cylinders. Then align each pair of cylinders, one new cylinder per ridge. Use the align tool to line up the cylinders x and y coordinates. Finally, use the group tool on both pairs. Look at the last image for reference.

Next drag another cylinder and select the "hole" material. The diameter of the ring should be the same as the diameter of your finger and the height should be larger than the pieces made in part A1.

Duplicate the hole cylinder you made and align one each with the pieces made in the previous step. Use the align tool and then the group tool.

To make the outer ring, drag over a polygon object and set the desired sides in the dropdown menu. The diameter is whatever you would like the thickness of the ring you would like but the height of the outer ring should be less than the inner rings, specifically 2 times the ridge height in part 1A.

For this step create a cylinder with larger diameter than the inner cylinder from part 1A and then set the material to "hole". Align with the Polygon using the align tool and then group the hole and polygon together.

After you are done creating the model for the ring, export from Tinkercad as a STL file. Then open it up in your 3D print software. I am using QIDI but it doesn't really matter. You should get a gcode file which you can bring to your 3d printer and then print.

After printing and cleanup, assemble the ring in the order of inner ring - outer ring - inner ring. Look at photos if you need help.

After 3d Printing you can choose to paint it to look nicer. I used cheap acrylic paint and sealer.

When you are done painting (if you chose to), use a pencil, pen, or sharpie to draw in the side faces.

And you're done!