3D print output

[ps_bond]

Yes, but a 60x40x100 build envelope could take a wee while.
The machines to do functional parts like that (direct metal printing) start at around £250k-£500k though.

[Stirring Moose]

Yes, but a 60x40x100 build envelope could take a wee while.
The machines to do functional parts like that (direct metal printing) start at around £250k-£500k though.

Details, mere details!

S.M.

[medusa]

Depends on your POV. You could buy a (very) small car for the same amount? The Dacia Sandero beloved of James May, for example.

Then there's CAD sw, time to learn it, rendering sw and so on. Oh, and a gutsy computer to run it all on.

That'll be a no then!

I've decided to continue with low tech. I think it's the future

[ps_bond]

Sufficiently advanced technology

Thing is, this no more makes everyone a jewellery designer than it is a Star Trek replicator. They're tools, they've been around for decades and if you don't have a grounding in design then quite frankly it makes no difference what tool you use.

What interests me is mixing the tech areas - you can't do everything with casting, you need to know where to switch technologies. An example would be a ballerina ring - lovely fine wires supporting the setting which you can't cast, so you could do most of the work through a casting (with or without CAD), but you still need to add the wires on. I'm determined that there should be a better way than James' description of CAD turning skilled craftsmen into little more than bench techs.

[CJ57]

I've decided to continue with low tech. I think it's the future

I was so low tech for 30 years and then I joined a forum......! There lies the problem now, good job I have no interest in CAD or 3D photocopiers, the Durstons x2 and Swanstrom have been expensive enough, and all the other tools and all the labour saving devices that I wouldn't be without now!

[medusa]

Sufficiently advanced technology

Thing is, this no more makes everyone a jewellery designer than it is a Star Trek replicator. They're tools, they've been around for decades and if you don't have a grounding in design then quite frankly it makes no difference what tool you use.

What interests me is mixing the tech areas - you can't do everything with casting, you need to know where to switch technologies. An example would be a ballerina ring - lovely fine wires supporting the setting which you can't cast, so you could do most of the work through a casting (with or without CAD), but you still need to add the wires on. I'm determined that there should be a better way than James' description of CAD turning skilled craftsmen into little more than bench techs.

I know about how 3D printing can be useful and do stuff you can't make or cast, but I fear there is some truth in what James says. Henry Ford did it with car building, it's only a matter of time now we have the technology to do it with jewellery. [/eeyore]

I was so low tech for 30 years and then I joined a forum......! There lies the problem now, good job I have no interest in CAD or 3D photocopiers, the Durstons x2 and Swanstrom have been expensive enough, and all the other tools and all the labour saving devices that I wouldn't be without now!

The internet is vile for making you want stuff you never knew about before. I keep finding these amazing stones and minerals I never heard of and I want them.

[josef1]

I don't understand the comments about CAD how can it make you less of a craftsperson ?

[ps_bond]

It can supplant the more traditional skills, but using it well is no less skilled.

[medusa]

Well designing a car is incredibly skilled. It's just the manufacture which has been de-skilled

[Dennis]

I don't understand the comments about CAD how can it make you less of a craftsperson ?

You are not less of a crafts person, in fact you exhibit special hi-tech skills, but the final result is different from jewellery made out of sheet and wire. Some people prefer the more hand crafted, studio look. Dennis