Making a basic ring in CAD

[ps_bond]

Just been reading around Solidworks' 3Z Studio. They've come down a lot - looks like the price is now circa £26k, which is - while still a lot for most individual jewellers - getting down to an attainable level. Heck, if people are prepared to spend up to £5k for a domestic low-res 3d printer that only does PLA & ABS, then that's comparable.

I'm still inclined towards the opinion that for smallish volume work it's better to send a file to a casting house who have the facility than it is to print the wax & post it; the opportunities for things going wrong seem fewer.

Besides, I tend to upset the RepRap crowd with 2 questions - a) why would you want to print that and b) wouldn't it be better to make that with more traditional subtractive techniques?

[Victoria]

Thanks Josef, you're brilliant! I've been wanting to have a go at CAD for ages. Tried teaching myself Google Sketch Up and didn't get very far so this will be really helpful! Do you know if there's a free version of Rhino, or if the functionality is similar to that in something like Sketch Up?
Cheers
Victoria

[josef1]

This is a link to the Free Trial of Rhino 5 its good for 25 saves (so don't save anything until you get it sussed!!) I hope its ok to post the link. Not sure about google sketch up similarities. I've not really used it but there are loads of stuff on youtube about making jewellery with rhino

http://www.rhino3d.com/download

[Exsecratio]

I tend to agree Peter,

Rep-rap stuff is on the whole layered rubbish, sadly so are most of the affordable 3D printers.The material technology just isn't there yet for heated extrusion printing. The Z-Corp was expensive but a requirement for some of the work I have to do so I bit the bullet and went out and got one.
CUfusion is slowly getting into the markets (specially in jewellery) but even that has some big drawbacks laser sintering is also coming down in cost.
Much like the engineering trade the new technology will slowly devalue the work of the real craftsmen....when was the last time anybody hand scraped a surface plate
In the firearms world most of the "handmade" stuff now trades on a name rather than on quality (Purdey,Boss, H&H) when in reality their actual mechanical quality is far worse than the mass produced machine made stuff.

On the CAD side, sketchup is ok ish, quite a few of my customers use it but the drawings it produces do need quite a lot of work when they send them in, Rhino is probably the best value of all the 3D packages as many of the plugins are open source, Solidworks is usually what I end up having to use for collision detection and some of the other functions but if I want to "have a look" at a finished item Rhino is probably the quickest to scribble something up with. The paid plugin flamingo is also pretty handy if you don't want to map models and has quite a few available variables to make things look a little more "real world"

best wishes

Dave

[Exsecratio]

Something else I just remembered looking at another post,

Rhino can also calculate weights based on simple atomic mass functions. If you draw a "Ring" for example, then tell it you want to know the weight in say Pure Gold or Pure Silver it will work it out for you to 14 decimal places.

best wishes

Dave

[ps_bond]

Rep-rap stuff is on the whole layered rubbish, sadly so are most of the affordable 3D printers.

The USP seems to be less the quality of the prints and more the amazement that they print at all...

Much like the engineering trade the new technology will slowly devalue the work of the real craftsmen....when was the last time anybody hand scraped a surface plate
In the firearms world most of the "handmade" stuff now trades on a name rather than on quality (Purdey,Boss, H&H) when in reality their actual mechanical quality is far worse than the mass produced machine made stuff.

That's a shame to hear, the decorative workmanship on the Purdeys & H&Hs I've seen looked fantastic - but there's always a niggle that makes me wonder if they're really designed to be used.

On the CAD side, sketchup is ok ish, quite a few of my customers use it but the drawings it produces do need quite a lot of work when they send them in, Rhino is probably the best value of all the 3D packages as many of the plugins are open source, Solidworks is usually what I end up having to use for collision detection and some of the other functions but if I want to "have a look" at a finished item Rhino is probably the quickest to scribble something up with. The paid plugin flamingo is also pretty handy if you don't want to map models and has quite a few available variables to make things look a little more "real world"

I quite like the idea of being able to extend Rhino myself - macros at the least, possibly full plugins. If you've got e.g Rhinogold, does that encompass enough of the functionality of Flamingo to be useful? And when you say "if you don't want to map models" - are you talking about Rhino's built-in (seemingly fairly basic) renderer?

[Exsecratio]

If you've got e.g Rhinogold, does that encompass enough of the functionality of Flamingo to be useful? And when you say "if you don't want to map models" - are you talking about Rhino's built-in (seemingly fairly basic) renderer?

To be honest I haven't checked the version on mine, I recall it being 5.0 ( I tend to just update when I get the notifications from the developers)but will check when I get back into work in the morning. 5.0 does have a lot of open source developer tools available, no special requirements either, the Rhino dev program is probably one of the best to get involved with (AutoDESK don't really like to play much ) I have very little to do with developer work, I'm more the "I need to do this what do I have to buy" type of user

Yup the basic rendering tools in Rhino while good do leave a little to be desired, I will on occasion export and render in Max if I really need something special or use flamingo for mid level work (non photo realistic)

but there's always a niggle that makes me wonder if they're really designed to be used.

Very much so what most gunmakers ( I was never a Gunsmith, just a Gunmaker) would call a "mistake" the big names tend to call a "Feature"

best wishes

Dave

[medusa]

what most gunmakers ( I was never a Gunsmith, just a Gunmaker) would call a "mistake" the big names tend to call a "Feature"

nowt wrong with that! ~coughs~

[fay144]

I find the whole idea of 3D printing very exciting. It seems like every week in New Scientist there is another article about some new problem it is solving, and a lot of hype around it at the moment. I can see it being used more and more over the next decade, and the prices coming down accordingly.

But like everything else, I'm sure in ten years they will still be selling jewellery specific 3D printers that cost a fortune ;-)

[Nick martin]

There's currently a free Beta version of Rhino available for MAC which I use for my designs.

Very easy to use and intuitive too once you get to grips with it. However I don't post my models off to be printed in wax, or cast, but use it primarily as a 2d illustrative tool. Once Im done I export the file in Adobe Illustrator format, resize, and print onto paper before applying to the wax then manually cutting out with a piercing saw etc.

The main benefits for me are that I can create complex designs with perfect measurements, which in turn leads to more accurate wax models. Trying to do certain shapes and curves via hand drawings is pretty hard to do as you'll end up doing all sorts of technical measurements by hand.

Nick