Knowledge Base

3D Printers for Jewellery

3D Printers – a Revolutionary Technology

3D printing, which is also called as additive manufacturing is a new way of building real objects from digital files using different materials. The 3D printer takes a STL or SLC file and converts a software blueprint the finished object, building it layer by layer. There are many forms of 3D printers available in India today that work on four different technologies:

1. Stereolithography (SLA): Liquid Based 3D Printing

2. Selective Layer Sintering (SLS): Powder Based 3D Printing

3. Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM): Plastic Filament Extrusion Based technology

4. PolyJet / InkJet 3D Printing: Print by layers of curable liquid photopolymer onto a build tray. Compared to traditional manufacturing methods like cutting, carving and drilling, 3D printing is gaining more and more acceptance in India and the world because it consumes lesser raw material and less time for the prototype to be completed.

Click here to read more about 3D printing technologies.

Pros and Cons of Traditional Jewellery Making Process 

  • Jewellery making is an art. Custom made designs are unique
  • The artist can take some liberty with each design
  • Traditional made jewellery can be inconsistent and have minor flaws
  • It is time consuming and therefore costs more

3D Printers for Jewellery
3D printers were initially introduced to create rapid prototypes. However, the extreme versatility of 3D printing has opened up many creative possibilities. One such area is 3D jewellery printing. With India being a nation that adorns gold ornaments, the potential for 3D jewllery printing is very high. 

Here are the steps involved in 3D printing of jewellery:
The desired jewellery model is designed using jewellery specific CAD software. This allows the artist to explore various designs. The finalized design is exported as a STL or SLC file. This design is then printed using special 3D jewellery printers. It is important to note that the 3D jewellery printing process enables printing of multiple models of different geometries at the same time. This not only saves the time consuming wax design step, but also the cost of printing. In the next step, a casting tree is created by dewaxing / removing supports from the 3D printed jewellery models. These models are then cast using the investment casting method. This involves pouring the investment material over the jewellery models in a steel flask. These flasks are then put in a kiln and heated at a temperature that burns out the wax. The jewellery models are then vaccum cast, replacing the centrifuge casting method. The last step involves setting precious stones (if needed) and polishing each piece.

Voila! The 3D printed jewellery is ready to be handed over to the customer.
 
There are many advantages to print 3D jewellery. A few of them include:

  1. 3D printed jewellery has a very smooth finish, and does not require further manual finishing. In India (and elsewhere too), it is the manual finishing that increases the cost of the jewellery
  2. High resolution and high accuracy. Printed jewellery works on digital files, which are typically in a STL format. They are highly precise, and leave no room for error.
  3. People can design their own jewellery and experiment about which design appeals to them using inexpensive plastic prototypes. They can print the jewellery only when they are satisfied about the prototype.

Factors Influencing Choice of Printers
3D printing of jewellery is an exciting and growing field. Your choice of choosing a 3D printer should depend on the following factors:

Affordability: By far, this is the most important criterion that affects buying choice. While it is desirable to have all the good qualities in a 3D printer, you are restricted by the budget. A good printer should also be affordable.

Speed: For mass manufacturing, you need to have a printer that works faster

Accuracy: By far, this is one of the most important parameter for choosing a jewellery 3D printer. Jewellery is typically intricate, and all your design creativity will go down the drain if the printer is not accurate enough. 

Material: You do not cast jewellery directly. You will experiment a lot on different designs. It is therefore important that the 3D printing material is affordable.

Types of 3D Jewellery Printers
There are three basic types of 3D jewellery printers:

  1. Drop on Demand – these printers work on piezoelectric jet technology
  2. Digital Light Processing (DLP) - uses a projector to define individual layers at a time of a projected image
  3. Stereolithography (SLA) - uses a laser to “draw” each layer of a CAD file

Both DLP and SLA 3d printers use photopolymers that react to light and solidify.