Do Advanced Digital 3D Printing And Additive Manufacturing Technologies, Now Widely Available Have A Place In The Jewellery Manufacturing Environment? (3D Printing Europe 2016)

This presentation will examine how the effect of the ending of a number of patents, along with a burgeoning maker/fab movement has seen a huge number of new low cost 'home user' 3D printers arrive in the 3D printing arena. A spin off from this has been the emergence of a number of low cost Digital Light Processing (DLP) systems capable of printing in castable resins ideal for use in the jewellery lost wax casting process. This presentation will compare the quality of the printed outputs from number of these low cost DLP printers and examine their ease of use and operational software. This presentation will also include a case study from the other end of the 3DPrinting for jewellery spectrum about how Additive Manufacturing DMLM technology is being used to print directly into precious metals.

Frank Cooper is a jewellery industry professional and Senior Lecturer in Jewellery Manufacturing Technologies and Manager of the Centre for Digital Design and Manufacturing, at the Birmingham School of Jewellery. He sits on the Goldsmiths' Craft and Design Council and is a globally recognised expert in the application of various Additive Manufacturing and prototyping/3D printing technologies used in the jewellery industry. He is an active participant in a number of Jewellery Industry related research initiatives and has written and presented many technical papers and articles around the world. His research papers and presentations currently specialise in the areas of Additive Manufacturing, CAD and prototyping/3D Printing for the Jewellery and Silversmithing Industries.

In the heart of Birmingham's world famous Jewellery Quarter Birmingham City University School of Jewellery has been teaching up and coming young, and not so young, goldsmiths the art of the jewellery designer and maker for the last 127 years. Besides teaching those more traditional artisan hand skills and design methods you would expect they also offer their students access to the most up-to-date CAD and 3D Printing technologies currently in use in the jewellery industry. As well as various wax and resin based 3D Printing systems the School also operates a Cooksongold Precious M080 Direct Metal Laser Melting/Sintering technology on which they are able to print directly into silver, eighteen carat gold, in red, yellow and white colours and platinum