Accessorize in Your Own Style
The possibilities that have come with the advent of 3D printing are endless and that certainly includes 3D printing your own jewelry. While you can easily print jewelry in plastic, we’re going to look at a more exciting material: metal!
Although most consumer desktop 3D printers are limited to plastics, you can print real metal parts in stainless steel using stainless steel filament, if you’re interested in precious metals you can design and prototype your jewelry on you own, then simply upload the file to a 3D printing service or print out a wax patter for use in traditional jewelry casting.
Whatever jewelry you have your heart set on — a special wedding band or a unique gift — we’ll walk you through all the necessary steps, from design to prototyping to printing, either on your own or with a service.
And now, let’s get started!
Step 1: Designing
There are many ways to getting the coolest, most unique jewelry designs. The first challenge will be to translate the image that you have in your mind into a 3D model. In the followings sections, we’ll go through the various means of realizing your jewelry dreams.
Option A: Creating Original Designs
If you already have a design in mind, then designing from scratch is a good option. Various 3D design software — or computer-aided design (CAD) — options are available to meet your needs. If cost is a concern, check out All3DP’s list of free CAD software for you to choose from.
However, let’s take a look at some CAD programs that have unique tools for jewelry design.
Rhino for the Jeweler
Rhino3D is a popular professional CAD program with a jewelry-specific spin -off. Professional jewelers use this 3D modeling software but it is easy of enough for simple projects. It also generates photorealistic renders to present your vision in 3D. Rhino also serves as a host platform for several industry-leading jewelry design plugins such as CrossGems, Stuller’s MatrixGold, and CounterSketch to make designing even faster and more efficient.
3Design
For those who want CAD software that’s meant just for jewelry design, then try 3Design. Unique features include the “Belts and Claws” tool that adds grips for precious stones on rings, necklaces, or bracelets and the “Twist and Torsades” tool that will give a twisting effect on the body of a jewelry model. As it’s a specialized option meant for professionals or companies.
Jweel
Jweel is another free program that offers specialized jewelry design, but with understandably less functionality available than with 3Design. Currently, the online software platform allows customizations for rings and pendants only; they may add more jewelry types in the future. The best thing is that Jweel allows the export of designs via OBJ for the flexibility of editing on other platforms.
Option B: Finding Existing Designs
If you aren’t interested in designing jewelry from scratch, then editing an existing design may be more palatable. 3D design depositories such as Thingiverse and others are full of amazing designs for you to choose from.
Want something customized but don’t know anything about design or jewelry? There are services that can design and make your jewelry. One start-up called Cloud Factory not only manufactures 3D printed jewelry on demand, it is also a design-service company, distributor, and e-commerce order management platform. Clients do not need to know anything about design, 3D printing, or jewelry. It’s a fully managed service that offers concept building, manufacturing, branded packaging, and drop shipping.
Option C: 3D Scanning
Looked through all the depositories but still couldn’t find the perfect design? If you want to work with an antique family heirloom or a friend’s piece that you like, try 3D scanning.
There are a variety of 3D scanners to choose from, and if price is a concern, you can download 3D scanning apps and use your smartphone as a scanner.
Step 2: Prototyping
Prototyping is what you’ll want to do after you’ve finalized your design. It’s an important way for you to experience the look and feel of your jewelry model before you commit the time and funds to have it printed in metal.
Using a desktop 3D printer is fine, likely either an FDM or an SLA. To make it even closer to the final thing, try using metal filaments.
Step 3: Print It with Craftcloud
And finally, for the most exciting part: printing the finished product. Unless you have deep pockets to splurge on your own metal 3D printer, then most likely, you’ll need to use a metal 3D printing service.
For the purpose of this exercise, we’ll be showing you the process through Craftcloud, although it’s similar to a wide range of 3D printing services, such as Materialise, Protolabs, or Sculpteo. We’ll guide you from the beginning, through submitting your design to placing your final order.
Ordering
- Click the button “Get Instant Quote” to start.
- In the upload page, drag and drop your design into the box. Your design file should appear in a new box on the right, including the filename.
Checking Your Design
- Click on the thumbnail image of your design to view a preview of what you’ve uploaded. Confirm that you’ve uploaded the correct design and that no corrections are needed before proceeding.
Choosing the Material
- Click on the button “See Materials & Prices” to select your desired material for your jewelry piece.
Depending on your budget, you may wish to choose plated brass with a coating of your choice (including gold), silver, or gold. Gold, an expensive raw material, is unsurprisingly usually the priciest option.
Reviewing & Ordering
After you’ve selected your preferred material and options, the price offered for making your masterpiece will be shown.
- Check all options selected are correct and click “Add To Cart” and finally, “Continue to Checkout”.
- Fill in your shipping details, make the payment, and voilà!
Now the hardest part: Waiting for the delivery!
Wearing Your Creation
We hope you’ve enjoyed the process of making your own jewelry. Above is a picture of what our All3DP ring looks like, as simulated using the Jweel platform. It’s a winner in our books!
Lead image source: Custom jewelry made by Cloud Factory
License: The text of "How to 3D Print Metal Jewelry – Easy Guide" by All3DP is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.