For thousands of years, humans have crafted jewelry with their bare hands, until the technological boom of computerized devices began taking over as of the late 20th century.
Today, modern jewelry designers will opt for 3D jewelry printing to analyze every physical detail on a piece they have originally sketched on paper or modeled using CAD software. 3D-printed jewelry holds the prestige of giving the touch-and-feel aspect of the piece and a great opportunity to foresee how your jewelry model will look before it is sent to casting.
Depending on the complexity of your designs or your actual jewelry manufacturing goals, you may wonder which option between using wax or castable resin to print your jewelry is best for quality results.
We’ll take a closer look at both options by presenting 2 different scenarios to help you better comprehend which would best fit your production needs.
Before you think of printing anything, know that...
Creating a wax pattern using comparable surface and resolution qualities can be successfully achieved with 3D printers versus the old-school wax carving method.
Back in the day, people used to do wax-carving by hand, which made the process much more time-consuming. With 3D printers blessing how jewelry is manufactured, wax or castable resin patterns are formed with a simple click of a mouse!
Before you begin printing any of your designs, there are 3 principal factors to consider:
- How accurate the 3D printer can handle the tiniest and sharpest details
- The chosen material holds the required attributes for lost wax casting
- How many copies of your model do you plan to print
So let’s imagine two people, Josh & Mary with completely different types of CAD files handy, wishing to find out which 3D printing technology would be a wiser choice for them.
3d Jewelry printing Castable Resin
Josh is an independent jewelry retailer who has a simple solitaire ring to print and needs several copies of that same piece. Castable resin in this case would be a better choice because of anything considered standard or classic jewelry, a batch can be printed in that same design using castable resin without the necessity of having to use a mold.
Some of the advantages include faster execution time, the possibility of examining your prototypes before sending them to cast (this is a life-saver for mass production) and overall excellent printing results.
Jeweler Vision uses castable resin with low shrinkage to guarantee that your 3D jewelry models won’t risk deforming once the printing is done. This way, what you see on that computer screen is what you get in physical form.
High-Precision Wax
Mary, on the other hand, an aspiring high jewelry designer, modeled a cuff bangle bracelet that’s shaped like an octopus with intricate details in the design.
For this scenario, wax is the better choice due to the complex level of the model’s texturing and shape. What’s nice about this option is that one can 3D print wax.
And some of the biggest benefits of going with a wax print include achieving an outstanding casting result in both organic and complicated designs that come with sharp edges or delicate patterns.
This option is great for high-end jewelry or for watchmakers who can trust a solid pre-finished product to successfully carry the assembling job.
At Jeweler Vision, we provide services such as fine jewelry design & 3D printing in Montreal, Canada.
We offer top-notch rapid prototyping and casting services for jewelry professionals who wish to excel in this business, so please do not hesitate to contact us with any questions regarding your next project!
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