3D printing for bespoke jewellery - the future?

[Somersetmaker]

I've just heard a segment on Radio 4's PM programme about Cooksons' sintering machine, during which it was suggested that this was the future of bespoke jewellery.

It's about 45 minutes in to the programme - have a listen, and what do you reckon?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01r5s26

[Dennis]

Well it's an impulse buy. If they can't deliver tomorrow I shall be right off it by Monday.

[Goldsmith]

If this is the future then I am glad I am part of the past. Where is the job satisfaction in looking through a window and watching a machine create anything. I do know some craftsmen who work at a company that has adopted many new technology machines and they tell me that they feel they are now just assemblers of items rather than creators of pieces.
James

[ps_bond]

There was an interesting comment there regarding the design of the piece under construction - it tallies with some remarks in a book on design I'm currently reading in that designers need to have bench skills & familiarity with traditional methods before making the leap into CAD/CAM.

In the home-built RP world, I'm coming across a lot of people who have no machining/manufacturing/design experience creating some truly, truly hideous objects and marvelling at them...

[Gemsetterchris]

Well, it opens up new doors for designers to create things that are not practical to make by hand.
There are limitations, a lot of fancy cad designs don't work when it comes to converting them to metal.
Programs like zbrush allow sculpting wizards to do their thing without the problem of fragile wax carving & mess.

Having just bothered to watch the video on the new machine, i notice it`s forming in metal so that helps ..those designs made by wax printers would probably fail when cast.
I suspect it`s abit expensive & best for one-off designs?

Sent from my HTC Desire S using Tapatalk 2

[medusa]

If this is the future then I am glad I am part of the past. Where is the job satisfaction in looking through a window and watching a machine create anything. I do know some craftsmen who work at a company that has adopted many new technology machines and they tell me that they feel they are now just assemblers of items rather than creators of pieces.
James

I think that unless someone wants something that can ~only~ be created using printing, most people who like quality jewellery will stick with stuff done by hand. I mean, can you imagine how hideously expensive a bezel set cabochon ring would be made by this method? Having said that http://www.fluid-forms.com/design-yo...t-rings-silver do 3D wax prints of silver rings with a fingerprint on them and they are about 5x the price of the hand made versions and they seem to sell alright.

I think it's interesting and can be used as a tool, but the customer isn't getting much of a personal touch.

[medusa]

I'm coming across a lot of people who have no machining/manufacturing/design experience creating some truly, truly hideous objects and marvelling at them...

this comment is useless without pics. anonymised of course, to protect the guilty.

[ps_bond]

Put "reprap" in as a search on Google images... Plenty of examples should present themselves.
Safesearch may be wise in some cases.

[Tabby66]

There was an interesting comment there regarding the design of the piece under construction - it tallies with some remarks in a book on design I'm currently reading in that designers need to have bench skills & familiarity with traditional methods before making the leap into CAD/CAM.

In the home-built RP world, I'm coming across a lot of people who have no machining/manufacturing/design experience creating some truly, truly hideous objects and marvelling at them...

Hhhmmm..........yes, I have to agree Peter,...............an understanding of what can be done with metal also with metal and stones is just so necessary for designers, it seems computer generated design images alone are valid entries for competitions these days..............oh well........us luddites