Desktop Metal offers sterling silver for jewellery and luxury goods sectors
Desktop Metal, Boston, Massachusetts, USA, has qualified 925 sterling silver for use on its Production System, including the P-1 and P-50. The addition of the popular precious metal will enable manufacturers of jewellery and luxury goods to directly additively manufacture high-quality jewellery, watches, and decorative hardware.
The company also announced that it is fast-tracking the development of additional precious metal alloys, including 18K yellow gold, with active research and development also underway on rose gold.
“The qualification of precious metals for direct 3D printing on high-speed Binder Jetting systems is a major milestone for the jewellery and luxury goods industry,” stated Ric Fulop, founder and CEO of Desktop Metal. “All the design freedom and customisation of 3D printing can now be delivered directly at high volumes without all of the labour associated with traditional manufacturing processes. What’s more, this new direct 3D printing innovation builds on the established legacy of our ETEC brand, which has been a leader in 3D printers for lost-wax casting models for more than a decade — making us the unparalleled leader in comprehensive Additive Manufacturing solutions for the jewellery and luxury goods market.”
To advance the technology and materials needed to bring Additive Manufacturing’s quality, productivity and economics to the demanding luxury goods and jewellery market, Desktop Metal is partnering with Formula 3D Corporation (for the US market) and Neoshapes (international). Both of these collaborations aim to enable the luxury goods and jewellery markets to adopt metal Binder Jetting processes to produce end-use parts in precious metals, steels and more.
Formula 3D Corporation, Monrovia, California, USA, offers designers and manufacturers a complete end-to-end solution for additively manufacturing precious metals. A video was released with Formula 3D founder Christian Tse showcasing the use of Desktop Metal’s P-1 to create jewellery.
“Desktop Metal’s Production System adds extraordinary value to our existing jewellery manufacturing processes, increasing efficiency of production, getting new designs to market faster, and offering our customers greater versatility and multiple styling options. We can actually print in precious metals in two hours what we do in two days with casting,” added Christian Tse. “In addition, creating jewellery with Binder Jetting is allowing us to consider new options to circumvent some of the supply chain challenges facing the fine jewellery industry. We can bypass shipping delays and mounting costs, as well as avoid duties, by printing the precious silver directly, as opposed to shipping the physical metal.”
Neoshapes, based in Geneva, Switzerland, founded by experienced executives in the luxury goods industry, is said to offer a unique end-to-end approach, from the production and supply of powder, to the Additive Manufacturing and post-processing of precious metal components, as well as consultancy services to enable industry players to transition production processes to Binder Jetting technology.
“Binder Jetting opens up new perspectives for the luxury industry, even more now with the qualification of precious metal alloys, giving further leverage to develop and produce creative products from a single file, leaping forward into the digital supply chain,” stated Stéphane Vigié, Neoshapes co-founder. “The time to market for new creative products is also reduced considerably, allowing brands to better meet demand while maintaining minimal inventories.”
