Ultimaker for casting jewelry

[Moharavand 0]

Hello everybody.

Has anyone any experience with casting jewelry using an Ultimaker printer? What is essential in casting jewelry is that the plastic model is completely removed from the gypsum-plaster mold while being heated in the oven.

Thanks,

Aravand

[Labern 775]

Have a look at THIS Moldlay which is designed this sort of thing. haven't tried it myself.

I have seen others make stuff buy melting out PLA but I would suggest giving Moldlay a try.

[Labern 775]

Do you have a printer yet?

If you have one of the UM2 family then I would suggest you get THIS Olsson Block as you will be able to use a tiny nozzles for detailed jewelries.

[nallath 1,124]

 

http://3dtopo.com/lostPLA/ and ask @PeggyB. She does some amazing stuff with 3D printed jewelery

[peggyb 171]

I use the Ultimaker mostly for making prototypes. When satisfied, the model is send to Shapeways or something similar to be printed in metal or polyamide. It is possible to use the PLA model directly for casting, but I don't do this myself. I have a roll of MoldLay lying around, but didn't have the time to try.

[LePaul 353]

I've read various stories of jewelry being made on the Form 1, which is a more expensive printer and a lot more clean up.

I would be really interested to see if anyone uses the elaborate filaments from ColorFabb to print jewelry (Copper fill, Brass Fill, etc.) using the Ultimaker printers

[Moharavand 0]

Thank you all for your helpful responses. Like Peggy mentions, PLA might be a good option, since as a polymer engineer, I know this as a rather "soft" plastic in contrast with other "difficult" to handle options. As I have not yet the printer, what I'm gonna do is to get some PLA filaments, make something manually and then prepare the corresponding gypsum-plaster mold. A good mold should result in a flawless piece in the end, that's why I will then pour the mold with silver to make sure about the quality of the final product.

Form 1 is also a very good option as far as I can see but I will check Ultimake first. Btw, thank you for all nice recommendations. I will post the results as soon as I do the casting. Cheers- Ali

[nallath 1,124]

If you want to remove the print layers, smoothing it with a solvent (such as chloroform) is also an option.

[peggyb 171]

I still find it difficult to get 'good' jewelry prints from the Ultimaker. Small details are fragile and almost all prints need support.

For example: a ring prints best lying down, printing a continuos circle, but then you have one flat side. Printing it standing up is a pain because the printhead jumps from side to side.

It will take a lot of patience to get things right and keep your limitations in mind to avoid disappointment. (that is why I use it for prototypes..)

Edited September 22, 2015 by Guest

[ivan-lipunov 15]

I still find it difficult to get 'good' jewelry prints from the Ultimaker. Small details are fragile and almost all prints need support.

For example: a ring prints best lying down, printing a continuos circle, but then you have one flat side. Printing it standing up is a pain because the printhead jumps from side to side.

It will take a lot of patience to get things right and keep your limitations in mind to avoid disappointment. (that is why I use it for prototypes..)

 

The best solution would be to use the print and hydrophobic PLA plastic (PWA?) at the same time. But you need to have the ability to print two nozzles. Thus it is available for owners of UMO and @ultiarjan

Update: maybe better is using Moldlay and PWA.

Edited September 22, 2015 by Guest

[peggyb 171]

yeh, it will be trial and error, and be persistent. It is not easy, take the time to learn your printer, it is also a lot of fun and addictive.... Dual extrusion is still a bridge too far for me, but the results look promising..

[Moharavand 0]

If you want to remove the print layers, smoothing it with a solvent (such as chloroform) is also an option.

 

This is very interesting. However, in jewelry parts, we always deal with tiny and delicate shapes such as gem supports, which I think would be very sensitive to the solvent. Therefore we always prefer to get rid of the layers only after the metal product is made. Anyway thank you for the suggestion. I will give it a shot as soon as I purchase the printer.

Edited September 23, 2015 by Guest

[Moharavand 0]

I still find it difficult to get 'good' jewelry prints from the Ultimaker. Small details are fragile and almost all prints need support.

For example: a ring prints best lying down, printing a continuos circle, but then you have one flat side. Printing it standing up is a pain because the printhead jumps from side to side.

It will take a lot of patience to get things right and keep your limitations in mind to avoid disappointment. (that is why I use it for prototypes..)

 

This is very good to know! Thank you. I don't want to have a ring with a flat side. What is the problem with the printhead jumping from side to side?! does it pose any problem?! I think I should send a file to the company for a test print.

[peggyb 171]

yes, try one of your designs to print it with 3dHubs, look on their map if there is someone in the neighborhood.

this is an old picture, before retraction was a setting, but you see that the printhead goes from left to right. Also to let a ring stay on its small footprint was a pain and the end result is never a smooth curved bottom.

Personally I think that delicate details as gem support are too difficult. But try that in a test print. For your needs a sla printer would be better (liquid resin instead of melted wire)

[Labern 775]

Form have released the Form 2 SLA printer, so that could be a good option.

[ivan-lipunov 15]

Form have released the Form 2 SLA printer, so that could be a good option.

 

The price of the Form's printer and the consumables he has somewhere in the region of the stratosphere. Again, the printing with rubber is weak, in my understanding, combined with the casting. How to get rid of the inevitable carbon deposits when heated? It is also important the level of toxicity.

[LePaul 353]

Well true but it can do resolutions higher than FDM printers. It depends on how much the user is willing to spend for it. It's cheaper than Shapeways!

[Moharavand 0]

yes, try one of your designs to print it with 3dHubs, look on their map if there is someone in the neighborhood.

this is an old picture, before retraction was a setting, but you see that the printhead goes from left to right. Also to let a ring stay on its small footprint was a pain and the end result is never a smooth curved bottom.

Personally I think that delicate details as gem support are too difficult. But try that in a test print. For your needs a sla printer would be better (liquid resin instead of melted wire)

 

Thank you for the nice photo. Is this PLA?! If not, do you think you would get the same results with PLA too?! Indeed so far, we used to have our designs printed with 3d printers that use liquid resin, however, in some jewelry tools websites, I frequently see PLA filaments being sold.

Thanks,

[peggyb 171]

this is pla, but like I said, it is an old picture, from 2012, when the retraction setting didn't exist... If I would print this now the strings would be gone. But what would still be there are the irregularities in the lowest curve, close to the bed. And there will always be a flat side underneath, because it would not stay.

But each design needs its specific approach, some easy, some more difficult.

[LePaul 353]

I would really like to see what happens if you try different filaments and tweak some settings the newer Cura offers.

With the ColorFabb bronzefill and others, I wonder what you could do with those?

[peggyb 171]

bronzefill and copperfill print really nice, less layers visible because of the added fillers.

And the extra weight is very nice too! Looks not like 'a plastic' any more but more serious..

Could be suitable for bolder jewelry models.

Edited September 25, 2015 by Guest

[Moharavand 0]

bronzefill and copperfill print really nice, less layers visible because of the added fillers.

And the extra weight is very nice too! Looks not like 'a plastic' any more but more serious..

Could be suitable for bolder jewelry models.

 

Looks really awesome!