Printing jewelry on a 3D printer. Application of additive technologies in jewelry

Jewelry art has always been considered one of the most difficult, since painstaking manual labor was used for many stages of the work. With the advent of 3D printers, a real revolution took place in this art form, because now you can create a three-dimensional model on a computer and obtain its high-quality embodiment using 3D printing. Additive technologies make it possible to create truly exclusive jewelry, while their cost will be significantly lower than if they were made in the traditional way.

Possibilities of 3D printing in jewelry

Additive technologies in jewelry are developing in two directions:

• creation of high-quality master models for the manufacture of jewelry and decorative items;
• printing of finished jewelry products.

Prototyping jewelry and decorative products allows you to completely eliminate such actions as rolling, sawing, bending, soldering, etc. After creating a three-dimensional model, the master can print it out of wax or polymers, cover it with plaster and in this way obtain a ready-made mold for casting the final product.

3D printed master models have undeniable advantages: they help create jewelry that does not need modification, and also significantly save time and consumables for creating the mold. In addition, if the craftsman does not like the manufactured prototype, he can correct the corresponding 3D model rather than redo the product.

You can also print finished products from polymers and metals using a 3D printer. In the second case, selective laser sintering (SLS) technology or melting method (SLM) is used. Modern equipment makes it possible to achieve fairly high resolution when printing jewelry, which makes their quality impeccable. However, specialized 3D printers and powder metals are too expensive, so not every jeweler can afford to use these technologies to print finished products.

What 3D printers are used for jewelry making?

Since 3D printing of jewelry is considered one of the most promising areas, appropriate equipment has appeared on the market, tailored to the needs of jewelry craftsmen. Below we will look at popular models of 3D printers that are used to create jewelry masterpieces today.

Solidscape- a device that creates products using Dwax, SCP and DODJet technologies. Jewelry prototypes are made in ModelWorks modeling software. After this, consumables are loaded into the cartridge, where they melt, and an object is formed by layer-by-layer application.

DigitalWax- a 3D printer that provides high speed, with a printing resolution of up to 10 microns. Works using SLA technology.

Envisiontec Perfactory is a company that produces equipment for fast printing of master models of the highest quality, which naturally affects the quality of the final products. 3D printers from the Perfactory line work mainly using DLP technology, which provides excellent detail of objects.

Asiga Freeform Pico- 3D printer from Asiga, which uses an LED light source when creating a product, thereby achieving high printing accuracy.

ProjetCPX 3000- a specialized printer from 3DSystems is excellent for printing wax models. The device is distinguished by consistently high quality of work.

These are just the most popular 3D printers used in jewelry making. In fact, there are much more of them. And, moreover, every year more and more unique devices appear on the market that offer absolutely extraordinary solutions for 3D printing of jewelry. For example, Autodesk Research and Carnegie Mellon University researchers have invented Exoskin technology, which allows jewelry to be printed directly on the skin.

Examples of the implementation of 3D printing in jewelry

When you look at 3D printed jewelry, you realize that the possibilities of additive technologies are limited solely by the imagination of designers.

For example, employees of the American company Nervous System constantly surprise the world with their extraordinary ideas. When implementing one of the projects, the company used the direct metal laser sintering (DMLS) method, thanks to which it was able to create an exclusive piece of gold jewelry.

The French jewelry house Jaubalet also actively uses additive technologies to create jewelry. The company’s specialists take orders from clients, create a three-dimensional wax model according to their wishes, on the basis of which a unique piece of jewelry is then made. It is worth saying that such a service is very popular, as clients from all over the world contact the company.

Prospects for 3D printing in jewelry

As mentioned above, making jewelry using a 3D printer is one of the most promising and rapidly growing areas. The use of innovative technologies allows us to make truly original, one-of-a-kind products that would be impossible to create using traditional methods.

In addition, 3D printing makes it possible to significantly reduce production time and production costs, due to which the cost of jewelry is also reduced.

But most importantly, 3D printing allows private jewelers to enter the world market and compete with well-known companies, since the quality of jewelry will largely depend on the model of the 3D printer and the skill of the designer.

An individual approach, original design, high production speed, affordable cost and the ability to make high-quality products at home - these are the main factors thanks to which we can confidently say that additive technologies in jewelry have a great future and in the near future can completely transform this industry .

The production of jewelry and jewelry using additive technologies is one of the priority and developing areas. Jewelry on a 3D printer, printed at home, is not inferior in quality and aesthetics to products from the store. On the Internet you can find many models of pendants, earrings, bracelets, brooches and other jewelry. Using a 3D printer you can make products of any shape and color.

Application of additive technologies in jewelry

The printer can not only print jewelry, but also make a full-fledged piece of jewelry from precious metal. Additive technologies make it possible to create special models from wax or burnable polymers. They are used for casting finished products. As a result, significant savings occur, since this technology avoids waste. Creating unique jewelry takes much less time.

3D jewelry printing usually refers to the lost wax casting technique. Initially, a special mold is created (from wax or polymers), which is covered with plaster. After solidification, a casting mold is formed. This is a simple and reliable way to produce jewelry.

The cost-effectiveness of using such technology is obvious. In this case, there is no problem with “reworking” the jewelry. Immediately after casting it will fully meet the initial requirements. The use of special services for 3D printing almost completely eliminates the use of manual processing.

Jewelry 3D printing is characterized by another advantage - the ability to change and adjust the 3D file. This means that there is no need to cast a product from precious metals to evaluate its compliance with the desired sample. In this case, the plastic prototype is subject to change, thereby saving expensive materials and time. Also, printing jewelry on a 3D printer allows you to create very detailed elements of small sizes.

Jewelry 3D printers

It is impossible to do without special additive technology when printing jewelry. The market is constantly evolving and offering improved models of such units. A 3D jewelry printer is a special type of printing device. Let's consider the most famous and used by many models:

1. Solidscare. This printer is based on three technologies: Dwax, DОDJеt and SCP. Jewelry prototypes are created using the ModelWorks program. First, the three-dimensional model is loaded, and consumables are filled into the cartridge. After the material melts, it falls on the printing unit. The consumable is applied in layers. Using SCP technology, it is possible to create smooth shapes.
2. DigitalWax models. 3D printing for jewelers will be a pleasant experience, since the main advantage of the units is their high production speed.
3. Printers from Envisiontec Perfactory, for example, Perfactory Heed. Helps to quickly produce high-quality models. The devices mainly use DLP technology, which creates highly detailed models.
4. Unit from Аsiga (Аsiga Freeform Piso). The object reproduction process uses an LED light source, so the printer creates high-resolution models.
5. Devices from 3Dsystems. For example, the ProjetCPX 3000 printer is excellent for making wax molds. The device is characterized by stable printing accuracy.

Examples of active use of additive technologies

One striking example is the French house Jaubalet. Clients approach him with their ideas and sketches, after which a 3D wax model is created. The buyer evaluates it and makes his own changes. Only after this do jewelers begin making jewelry from precious metals. Customers like 3D printed jewelry so much that they come from all over the world: Central Asia, the Middle East, China and even Russia.

American Pearl is another example of a successful jewelry business that uses additive technologies. The company is based in New York. Employees invite customers to take an active part in creating jewelry. They use a combination of 3D wax printing and CAD modeling.

Among the jewelry manufacturing companies that have turned to additive technology is Bosmans. If we talk about domestic jewelry groups, Smolensk Diamonds also actively use 3D printing. Their main pride is a replica of the Great Imperial Crown. It was modeled using a CAD editor. Thanks to this, enough attention was paid to the smallest details.

Development prospects

3D printed jewelry is slowly but surely replacing standard jewelry sold in regular stores. This is due to a number of reasons:

1. The uniqueness and originality of jewelry, the ability to bring any, even the most daring idea into reality.
2. A product made from sketches is 50% cheaper than regular jewelry in stores.
3. You don't need to spend a lot of time creating jewelry.
4. No need to adjust finished jewelry.

Experts say that in the near future, jewelry production will be even more closely interconnected with 3D technologies. It is possible that all large companies will use additive technology in the process of producing jewelry. This motivates manufacturers of consumables and 3D printers to create new materials, technologies and devices.

The uniqueness of jewelry is that it belongs to both the sphere of art and mass production. The profession of a jeweler requires not only original creative thinking, but also high skill and scrupulousness in work. And if we talk about the specifics of this industry, then the first place here is to ensure the highest precision of products. The jewelry industry has a difficult task - to translate the perfect creation of a master into mass-produced jewelry.

3D printing in jewelry is precision, productivity and simplicity

“Jewelry precision” is a concept that perfectly describes one of the advantages of additive technologies: 3D modeling and 3D printing make it possible to quickly create products of the most complex shape, including very small ones, that closely match the original model. It is logical that with the advent and development of 3D technologies, jewelry enterprises began to show keen interest in new opportunities. In recent years, additive methods have proven their effectiveness in a variety of fields - in oil and gas, industry, mechanical engineering, metalworking, science and education. The jewelry industry is also at the top of this list.

We talked about the importance of 3D technologies for jewelry with Nikita Kudryashov, product manager of the 3D direction of iQB Technologies.

– Please tell us how 3D printing is used to create jewelry?

– Today, the jewelry industry uses two main technologies for obtaining master models and finished products – casting and casting. The first of them is the simplest and most common: wax models are created using a 3D printer using MJP technology for the subsequent production of master models. When casting using burnt models, the product is grown from liquid photopolymer using the method or multi-jet modeling.

3D model of jewelry in the Rhinoceros program

– What is the technological process?

– A three-dimensional model of the future piece of jewelry is created and developed in specialized software. The design is usually developed in the Rhinoceros program, after which the 3D model is loaded into the Materialize Magics software. This is where the polygon mesh is checked for errors and corrected to prepare the models for placement on the printer build platform. The next step is sending these models for 3D printing.

– Is 3D scanning used in the jewelry industry?

- Yes, definitely. 3D scanners (for example, Solutionix D700) are an indispensable solution if required, that is, if the task is to restore or recreate a certain product, say, a historical one.

To withstand competition with dignity is the key to the success of any business. And jewelry making is no exception. Many small workshops and large companies strive to win the hearts and souls of jewelry fans, and to do this they use all possible methods. To feel comfortable in such a vast and diverse market, sometimes you have to use non-standard moves. One of the still less common ways to beat competitors is to use 3D printing to create jewelry.

Buying a 3D printer for jewelers means being ahead of everyone else

Due to the fact that this technique is not yet widely used, buying a jewelry 3D printer right now means outperforming your competitors in all respects. After all, already at this stage of technology development, a 3D jewelry printer is capable of creating products that are indistinguishable from handmade ones, while spending much less time. Due to automation and acceleration of the process, a 3D printer for jewelry can significantly reduce the cost of the final product, which also serves as an extremely compelling argument in favor of its purchase.

In addition, the price of a modern 3D printer for jewelers has decreased significantly compared to the samples that were offered at the dawn of the era of using such technology, and has now become affordable even for small workshops. And the opportunity to gain an advantage over competing organizations at relatively low cost, of course, cannot be missed.

To buy a 3D printer for jewelers that will create truly high-quality products and at the same time last a fairly long time, you should extremely carefully choose the appropriate model, relying not only on its description, but also on user reviews. In addition, in this matter you need to resort to the help of only trusted sellers with a positive reputation. After all, the risk of contacting careless traders is always quite high. And the result of this will only be significant costs for equipment, which in the end will not justify the money invested in it.

On our website you can buy a 3D printer for jewelers, which has excellent quality and durability, and at the same time has an affordable price. We offer only proven products from reliable manufacturers, so our customers can be sure that the equipment purchased from us will meet the highest requirements of reliability and accuracy. To demonstrate the quality of the products that your future 3D printer will create, we will print a test sample for you so that you can personally check all its indicators.

Our company recommends buying a 3D printer for jewelry of excellent quality, the price of which will pay off many times over during its operation. From us you can also buy consumables for all models presented in our catalog. And warranty and post-warranty service will allow you to get rid of the annoying hassle associated with possible repairs and maintenance of equipment.

The range of tasks for such devices, of course, is not limited to jewelry making. 3D printing already covers quite a wide range of applications. With its help you can create both small parts of mechanisms and quite large products. One of the areas of activity in which this technology is increasingly being used is the construction of houses. And here we have something to offer our clients. Our online store offers a fairly wide range of construction 3D printers of the highest quality.

Hi all.

Recently, debates have become more frequent about which 3D printer to choose for launching jewelry production, and which one is better or worse. To bring some certainty in making this important decision, I will try to briefly break everything down.

With the advent of more and more new 3D printers, this topic comes up more and more often. All disputes come down to finding the optimal balance between such parameters as

1. Price. (including service)
2. Quality
3. Productivity.

And, since these debates continue, we can safely say that everyone determines the optimal balance for themselves, based on their own tasks and capabilities.

So, as you can see, there are a lot of printers, and this is only a small part of what is currently on the market. But not all of them are suitable for small jewelry production, some are very large in size and price, and some suffer in quality.

If you understand and get into the jungle of settings, parameters and costs, you can go crazy and end up choosing the wrong thing. So it is necessary to make some classification and remember - buying a 3D printer is always stressful, money and time that needs to be spent learning how they work.

1. Printers - milling cutters
2. Single-component printers
3. Two-component printers

You can also decompose them into the properties of the model material - wax or not wax. Because the wax- is heated using a standard calcination mode, and not wax - is drowned out by dancing with a tambourine. And no matter what the sellers of these cars say, you still have to adapt. This is not critical and you need patience to learn how to get good castings.

1. Milling cutters

(MIRA, ROLAND, Swift)
Perhaps one of the most important parameters in 3D printers is the quality of the resulting surface, both after the printer and in the casting. And here, the undoubted leader will always be milling cutter The model can be obtained immediately from wax, in ideal quality and you can be sure of its size and thickness. Many opponents of milling machines claim that they take a long time to figure out, they cut out one model at a time, and in general, not every model can be cut out on a milling machine. That's right, but only after learning how to create cutting strategies for models can you do it quite quickly. At the same time, the milling cutter cuts quickly and if some parts on it are technically difficult to cut, then, most likely, these parts will also be impossible to process after casting, and due to its construction, the part can always be divided into several parts and assembled without problems.

Cuts quickly
+ Better surface quality
+ Can be cut from various materials
+ The wax has precise dimensions
+ Does not require consumables except for a cutter, which needs to be changed occasionally.

You need to use your head and work with your brain to learn how to get models quickly and well. (Software developers are doing their best)
- Cuts only one model at a time
- Quite an expensive thing, about 1 million rubles.
- There are restrictions on models (not everything can be just cut out)

2. Single component printers

(EnvisionTEC, Asiga, DigitalWax)

As for these devices, their main advantage is speed. They create models very quickly, but you have to pay for it with quality and inconvenience in processing. The cost of these printers is about 500 thousand rubles. but the support for the model (those structural elements that prevent parts of the model from falling down during growth) is created from the same material as the model itself. Developers use various tricks, develop software to automatically create support, but these elements will still have to be removed either during casting or after growing. And in the places where the support connects to the model, holes often form that need to be soldered or cleaned out. In general, it’s not much fun either. And the quality of their surface depends on the properties of light (wavelength), since the model is hardened using a luminous mask or laser. During growth, the layer thickness is set to 25 µm (this is the optimal layer size), however, this thickness may differ slightly and be, for example, 25.1 µm. And with the number of layers more than 1000 pcs. this error can be significant if we are making a round part that needs to be installed somewhere in the model.

Since the model material is a light-curing polymer, manufacturers have to find a balance between the baking properties in the printer and the melting properties during casting. And, often, it is the quality of the plastic model, and not the casting, that becomes decisive. All models grown using this technology have ash content and their own special calcination regime.

And one more thing - you don’t need to expect any outstanding results when comparing two devices using the same technology. In things like layer-by-layer lithography, a lot depends on the properties of the polymer itself. And if it appears from one manufacturer, it means it will soon appear from another.

No need to turn your head on

High speed

Low (relatively) cost

Consumables - lamp and material

Small size

Problems with polymer melting

You need to create support, which will then have to be removed

Poor surface quality (especially noticeable after casting)

The polymer deteriorates over time

3. Two-component printers

(Solidscape, 3d systems)

In such printers, there are two materials from which the model is created. These are the base material and the support material. As a result of this trick, you don't need to worry about creating support at all, you don't need to think about how to process the model. I just placed it on the table, started the calculation and sent it to the printer, which will print such pieces of something that can later be put into a special solution, in which, when heated, only the model that we need will remain. And here, too, not everything is smooth. Since printing occurs using a nozzle from which wax is poured onto the build table, we are limited by the properties of the material. Also here such parameters as pressure, temperature and air stability in the growth zone come into force. In other words, it's a very capricious thing. However, the material from which the construction is made is wax, with some additives so that it can be used in a printer. And due to this, the models are perfectly heated without residue. Today, the most commonly used printers for jewelry are Solidscape (3Z) and 3DSystems (Projet). Projet is, of course, cooler, better quality and more reliable, but its cost is 3 times more than Solidscape. Therefore, Solidscape is the “people's” printer today. This device is quite capricious. It has a lot of replaceable parts, and the models are so fragile that it is very difficult to hold them in your hand without breaking them. At the same time, during washing of the models they swell a little and the size may change. Nevertheless, it is possible to work with this printer, and it is precisely due to its replaceable parts that it can be kept in good shape for a long time.

Ease of processing models for printing

Material - wax. Excellent heating

The 2-component composition of the model allows you to remove the support without a trace

Replaceable Parts

Works reliably for a long time

Surface quality is not always good

Very moody

Sooooo very moody

It's easy to ruin the model if you miss the cleaning time

The latest modifications are crammed with automation, which do not work very well.

Prints slowly

And finally, I would like to give some advice:

1. Buying a 3D printer requires analysis and research. Be patient and study. The more you study the market and technology, the better it becomes. Now this market is developing by leaps and bounds and delaying the purchase will only be beneficial.

2. While it is possible to order cultivation on the side, you need to do this. You need to think about buying a printer based on the overabundance of tasks that can no longer be done without it and orders for growing on the side.

3. Decide what is more important - quality or volume. If quality - then a router, if quantity - solidscape. If you need to save money, then it’s better not to buy a 3D printer now, but to outsource the cultivation. A good printer - from 1 million rubles. If you can’t live without a printer, then you need to take the simplest option - Asiga, and get used to working with it. If the printer was purchased for specific purposes, it will quickly recoup its cost and can be replaced.

4. Pay attention to whether it is a toy. Nowadays, many manufacturers create their own 3D printers, but not all of them have the quality of model construction suitable for jewelry. For a printer, the best quality assessment parameter is the layer thickness and resolution along the X, Y axes. It should be about 25 microns. If it is less, then this does not affect the quality of the surface, but the construction time increases. This is especially noticeable for Solidscape printers, which are not particularly fast even at 25 microns. For example, the Picaso 3D Bulder printer is used to quickly create prototypes of 3D models for industrial design, but is not suitable for jewelry.

5. You can take a used printer, but you need to prepare for the fact that you will have to replace some parts (nozzles or cutter if it is Solidscape).

6. If there is a constant flow of orders for cultivation and there is a desire to take EnvisionTEC, then you need to remember that in the latest models, the operation of these devices is determined by the shelf life of the polymer (about a year), and given that it takes quite a long time to reach Russia, then There are 6-7 months left to spend the entire batch.

I tried to describe everything as it is from the point of view of 8 years of experience working with various 3D printers. My opinion is just my opinion and unconditional IMHO - an attempt to help in choosing. I wish you a successful purchase. I will be happy to answer questions about this.

Best regards, Dmitry Medvedev

j-DESIGN CLASSES / School of modern jewelry design. 2014