| 17;ve been working in the jewelry business for many | | | | inside the gallery of prongs or under the shoulders. The |
| years and one of my passions is the creation of | | | | coordinates may exist in your model but the |
| custom made wedding rings and engagement rings. I | | | | mill’s drill bit can’t reach them. A mill is |
| enjoy the diamond business and selling engagement | | | | especially good for the following custom jewelry |
| rings like Tacori, Verragio and others like them but I | | | | designs: signet rings, sports rings, awards rings, and |
| really like creating jewelry that is one of a kind or | | | | wedding bands. The reason for this is because those |
| hand-made. I get a charge out of allowing a customer | | | | types of jewelry don’t require undercuts but do |
| to design their own ring and then watch the look on | | | | require high resolution to produce lettering and 3d relief |
| their faces when the ring is complete. Recent | | | | work. Most jewelry mills will be capable of doing 50% - |
| advances in rapid prototyping allow jewelry designers | | | | 60% of all the work that you need done. |
| to create one of a kind designs to laser precision and | | | | The growing machines that are available use a |
| also save them time. In the end the customer gets a | | | | process similar to stereo lithography while layering |
| better quality piece of jewelry and you have the | | | | thermal plastic or poly resins. Under cuts are not a |
| satisfaction of knowing it came from you. | | | | problem and any design that you can create can be |
| There are many different types of prototyping | | | | grown. The problem with the growing process is the |
| machines and you should know what the advantages | | | | stepping within the jewelry models. Stepping is the |
| and disadvantages of each are before buying one. In a | | | | movement of parts within a machine and an example |
| basic sense, there are two types of machines that | | | | would be a servo motor. You can find servo motors in |
| you can purchase. The first is a cutting machine that | | | | just about any kind of CNC machine. Growing |
| removes material to create your prototype. The | | | | machines generally produce graining lines on the flat |
| second is a growing machine that layers or prints your | | | | surfaces of your jewelry models. The finishing process |
| model. Each technology offers benefits and each has | | | | requires that you file large amounts of metal in the |
| drawbacks, this article will help you determine which | | | | casting when removing the stepping. |
| machine will be best for you. With a cutting machine or | | | | This can be a huge problem when casting a grown |
| a CNC mill you are going to get smoother and higher | | | | model in platinum because the metal so hard to polish, |
| resolution models. The material used in a mill is jewelry | | | | you have to remove large amounts of platinum to get |
| wax which as you may know is the easiest and best | | | | rid of the stepping lines. White gold isn’t as big a |
| material to cast with. The draw backs on CNC mills is | | | | problem when casting using grown models because |
| efficiency and undercutting, let’s talk about | | | | the metal is easily polished. The benefits to the growing |
| milling efficiency first. The typical engagement ring | | | | machines are efficiency and undercutting. Some of the |
| model will take about 4-8 hours to mill depending on | | | | growing machines on the market are capable of |
| the resolution that you choose. This can be a bit of a | | | | growing 8 models per day while the CNC can do |
| problem if you are trying to re-coup your investment in | | | | maybe 3. A growing machine is especially useful when |
| a jewelry mill. Of course the benefit is that the jewelry | | | | creating custom engagement rings, custom wedding |
| model will be very clean, easy to cast, and higher | | | | rings, and delicate or small pieces with undercuts. |
| resolution. The other issue is that undercuts of | | | | A really well rounded jewelry workshop has both |
| complex jewelry designs can’t be done using a | | | | technologies however, not everyone can afford to |
| CNC mill. | | | | purchase both machines. In the end, it’s |
| CNC technology involves the use of X, Y, Z axis and | | | | important to determine what type of jewelry designs |
| each jewelry model that you create will have | | | | you’ll be creating the most of and then |
| coordinates within those axis. The milling process | | | | purchase the machine that can handle those jobs. |
| doesn’t allow for the tool path to enter areas | | | | |