How do you make THIS?

[edward soye]

The ring I would hand fabricate it is too much to CAD, mill, cast, clean and ...

Less time and better result with handmade

We have been CAD users since 2005 and the biggest glitch with CAD is the one between the keyboard and the chair. Thankfully my partner is amazing at it and she knows how to get the right thing off the mill. As for 3d printers they are a great toy the tech is not quite there for jewellers. We bought one ten years ago from 3d systems $65000-USD and it was amazing but not functional in moulding nor casting. We went through the different machines earlier this year and they are way better but still not ready. Just My opinion

[Lucie]

As I've been beginning to half-seriously look at these; what machines have you tried and in your opinion, what are their failings?

[ps_bond]

There's 4 main ways of getting your models generated -
Mill from a solid block of wax. Good surface finish, can end up limited by the freedom of movement of the machine, needs more user intervention on toolpaths than a printer. Cheaper materials and you can be sure the result will cast.
Wax printers (e.g. Solidscape) - inkjet printer that grows models in wax, so no casting issues. The ones I've looked at printed support structures in a different wax grade allowing you to wash them away, leaving the model intact.
SLA (stereolithography) - photo-sensitive resins cured by a variety of different technologies, from lasers down to off-the-shelf DLP projectors. Expose each layer of the model in turn, move the soldified result to build the next layer. Can be twitchy, some of the resins need more care and attention than others to get them to behave (usually exposure, but heat can be an issue too). Post curing is important, the castable resins vary somewhat on how well they burn out. Some casters might not be happy sticking to the burnout schedules required; one of the issues there is the rate of expansion of the resin, so mess up the burnout and the investment gets knackered.
SLS - selective laser sintering. Going to be a while before these hit the small jeweller market - the last one I looked at was around £500k. Dust a thin layer of metal powder on, draw on the layer with a high-power laser to melt the metal, repeat. Cooksons offer this one in precious metals, so that's a possible solution.

With all of these, there needs to be an understanding of the tech involved - design for manufacture. It's perfectly possible to design something that couldn't be made any other way, but at the same time there are still issues with finishing...

[josef1]

The ring I would hand fabricate it is too much to CAD, mill, cast, clean and ...Less time and better result with handmade We have been CAD users since 2005 and the biggest glitch with CAD is the one between the keyboard and the chair. Thankfully my partner is amazing at it and she knows how to get the right thing off the mill. As for 3d printers they are a great toy the tech is not quite there for jewellers. We bought one ten years ago from 3d systems $65000-USD and it was amazing but not functional in moulding nor casting. We went through the different machines earlier this year and they are way better but still not ready. Just My opinion

I agree clean ups better on a hand made ring,and some things should be made by hand, but I dont think I personally could make it quicker by hand for me its a 30 min job to make the ring in CAD (the original ring posted) ,I also use a 3dsystems printer, I find its great for making jewellery just press a button and let it get on with it ,clean up would take an hour or so and I think its easier to set a correctly made cad model, just my opinion but as you said each to there own. What mill are you using ?


Printed models ready for casting




models sprued

[edward soye]

Our mill is the Revo 540B it is ten years old and has its quirks but it works for us.

What printer are you using?

We had the HR Invision sold it about two years after we bought it.

Replaced it with Artcam jewelsmith and a modelmaster 1250 just before modelmaster closed up. We very rarely use the modelmaster mill. We cut some metal projects with it. Brass and aluminium and sterling parts.

[edward soye]

I also see your bases are paper and I am guessing you are using pt investment
Extra time
Extra steps and extra clean up
Extra cost

[josef1]

Im using a cpx 3000 wax printer ,yes they are paper bases I'm casting them in PT, golds can be cast in standard investment. I suppose its a volume thing its easy to cast 30 rings as it is one, clean up of the PT investment is done with acid easy enough just need to be careful. Its final polishing that's labour intensive as I'm sure your aware I will sometimes make models in parts to allow polishing, swings and roundabouts I suppose its what works best for you. The Revo B is a nice mill.I have a minitech mill but its not used much, shame really it gives a better surface quality than the printer. Interesting that your milling directly in sterling.