About
About McWhinney Designs
Active rings engineered for your active lifestyle
Our rings are highly engineered, high-performance mechanical pieces - precise, beautiful and rugged. Each ring is designed to have as low-profile and smooth a cross-section as the hinged mechanism allows. This gives the wearer the “naked feel” necessary for active sports like cycling, sailing, climbing, golfing, tennis or weightlifting. This also means that common daily activities (like putting a hand in pocket) are smooth and catch free.
Hinged for a perfect fit & easy removal
Our unique, hinged opening mechanisms also prevent the need for buying an over-sized band to gain knuckle clearance. In addition, this functionality can be a vital safety feature in many professions or sports - places where all jewelry must be removed prior to the activity. It also allows easy removal for washing hands, showering, or even sleeping. With over 50 custom sizes to choose from, you get a super comfortable ring that fits you perfectly.
Functional & sleek artistic design
The special design features of a McWhinney ring create a beautiful and streamlined yet functional modern art piece that you will enjoy wearing daily for a lifetime of precision.
All of our designs are first created and tested as 3D models using the most advanced CAD engineering software available. Because there are important dimensional qualities that must be preserved between sizes (e.g. band thickness and fastener size), each individual ring size is regionally scaled. This means that no two sizes share like parts. This adds significant programming and manufacturing steps but ensures that each custom-made ring maintains important functional and aesthetic proportions.
Machining: The technical process behind a McWhinney custom ring
Every ring begins life as a rectangularly shaped billet chunk of metal. To achieve the intricate detail unique to our jewelry, each piece is machined using a variety of miniature carbide cutting tools on a state of the art Haas 4-axis CNC mill outfitted with an ultra-precision 30,000-RPM spindle.
Most rings require 13 to 16 different tools each to reach their final form. Starting with trochoidal shaped high-speed machining roughing passes, to tiny drills, reamers, and keyseat cutters. The ultimate finishing tools are typically miniature ball-shaped endmills which contour out the final details and surfaces. All of the complex machine code (G-Code) generated to drive the 3 and 4-axis tool paths are created using state of the art CAM software.
U.S. Construction
Every functional part in a McWhinney ring is machined from American made, aircraft grade 6-4 Titanium for its incredible strength, beauty, and hypoallergenic qualities. Linkage pivots are made from stainless steel or are directly machined into the Titanium ring parts.
Meet the Designer
Jeff McWhinney’s love of high function, high design mechanisms started with creating hardware for luxury yachts and racing sailboats. It next led him to the world of bicycle component design and manufacture with much respected Paragon Machine Works.
During the technology revolution in ultra-precision machining design and manufacturing, Jeff spent a decade at 3M Corporation’s Optics Technology Lab immersed in the most advanced microstructure design and machining in the world.
As the Senior Research Machinist, he was in charge of creating tooling, strategies, and programming multi-million dollar CNC machines. He regularly cut structures so small and complex that it wasn’t always clear whether making them was even possible.
Today, Jeff has set up shop in Marin County, California to meld his professional expertise with his passion as a multi-sport athlete and adventurer to create jewelry that has purpose, function, strength, and elegance.