Traditional jewelry casting vs. Shapeways

Hi everyone,

I just finished a relatively successful plastic prototype run of some of my earring and pendant models, and I'm pleased with the results...pleased enough to start thinking about printing in stainless steel and silver, and maybe even pleased enough to call myself a real Shapie! But, I have a bit of a prickly question. I, like others, find the price for silver printing through Shapeways at the moment somewhat prohibitive for a successful jewelry business. I suspect that prices will come down as technology improves, i.e. the development of a home version of EOS DMLS or a Mini Metal Maker with better resolution, or even improvements at Shapeways itself so that the prices come down, but for the moment, they're pretty daunting. I've investigated producing my pieces via a tradition jewelry caster...and found one that will take my STL file directly, print the wax model, prepare a silicone mold (re-usable), cast in silver, and even polish the final result if I want....for a price of at least half what Shapeways charges. Let me say, though, that I'm a huge fan of Shapeways...I probably never would have gotten into 3D-printing at all if Shapeways hadn't made it so easy. The website is easy to use, the quality of the prints is excellent, the diversity of materials is fantastic, and the way Shapeways promotes its designers is a huge plus! That said, if I want to sell jewelry on a commission basis (part of my market, I'm hoping, will be museum-goers who are unlikely to know about Shapeways) then I need to bring the price down.

So my question is, has anyone else out there gone through a jewelry caster and used Shapeways primarily as a protoype testing platform? I'm planning on opening a full-blown Shapeways shop regardless, but I'm just wondering how the in-the-know people are doing it? If you're only selling through Shapeways, are you happy with sales/profits?

Thanks in advance for your comments!
Kimberly

Maybe Shapeways can look "expensive" but take in account with Shapeways you sell to the whole globe at last any place where UPS land a shipment.

For a local sale can sound expensive , but for the whole world shipping things does not look the same.

In some states in the world there it is 2 euro pe 1 gram of Gold tax ... on others more ... so Shapeways shipping directly cuts on this part.

You can always make good of both worlds : - make a final cast from Shapeways wax - sell on Shapeways in Brass/Silver.

Steel does not look like traditional clean steel.

If you have a killer design that it is absolutely amazing and gets a lot of positivity and feedback, go for mass producing via jewelry casting. If not and want to enjoy a variety of the materials and the different diversities that shapeways is offering you go with it, you have nothing to lose

I like the way you think Symbolica...thanks for the advice! It's always best to take things one step at a time.

Hi Kimberly,

Welcome to Shapeways! Yep! You're a real Shapie if you've printed some designs and you have your eyes on the future!

Yes, Shapeways is very expensive when it comes to precious metals. However, I don't have to do anything. I just sit here and get money for free! HAHA! I sell on Shapeways and off Shapeways. I'm currently tooling up to do my own printing and casting and I'll be able to sell more and make a lot of money, yet I'm going to be working like a dog too, so I don't know how long I'll do that. Cuz I'm lazy!

I tried a few companies that make molds and do casting and finishing, but I could never find one that did high quality work, so I gave up on that. I have a little pile of rings sitting here from those endeavors, which I'll eventually melt down and make into something else someday. I'm sure if I kept looking around I could find someone that could do it well, but there's another drawback; I found out that I could not be free to design whatever I want due to the limitations of molding. When I design something for 3D printing I don't have to think about how it's going to be removed from the mold. Two other advantages are, every print can be custom so I can do engraving and stuff like that, and for rings it works real well, since each ring can have something like 50 different sizes that can be printed and cast on demand. The hell if I'm going to spend a small fortune on 50 different molds for each ring design I come up with! HAHA!

It would be cool to see what you've created when you've started selling. Let us know!

Thumbs up UniverseBecoming , totally understand your thinking process!

Is it possible to print your model in Shapeway's wax, then make a silicone mold and use it again and again for silver casting?

Have you some photos or videos to show the process?

Hi UniverseBecoming!

Thanks for your welcome and for giving me a little insight into your work. (I love your DNA ring by the way, I might have to indulge and get one for myself!) I'm impressed that you're thinking about doing your own printing and casting. I've looked into it and it seems like a tremendous amount of work and expensive equipment, not to mention the time it will take to learn the casting technique, do the polishing, etc., etc. or the fact that you're probably going to need a big, well-ventilated garage to do all of this! Good luck with it and I hope you'll keep us all updated on your progress.

I can see how the Shapeways approach really works best if you're making rings...much easier to change up sizes that way! Since I'm doing primarily earrings and pendants at this point, it's not so critical that I have that flexibility. It's disappointing to hear that you had so many troubles with casting/finishing companies. I guess you don't know until you try.

I hope to post some "It arrived!" pics soon. I'm definitely going to take advantage of Shapeways 20% off cast metals sale...I'm not a believer in "signs" but wow, that one came at exactly the right time. My designs are very organic; mostly sea animals and other small creatures. I can't wait to see how they'll look in silver.

Hi MayCrown...you could do it yourself, but it's not for the faint of heart. Search on youtube for "lost wax casting" and "silicon mold." Of course it's also possible to have Shapeways print the wax, and then ship that to the jewelry caster but if the caster already has a 3D wax printer, then you avoid the shipping step that could potentially damage the wax model.

Personally, I'd like to reserve my basement space for wine and beer, and leave the full-scale jewelry workshop to the professionals! ;-)

Wine and beer ...oh if that is for free .... damn what a dream!

To follow up on my question about traditional jewelry casting vs. Shapeways production, I present to you two of my Dictyocysta pendants:


The one on the left was produced by Schmidt CAD-Design and Rapid Protoyping in Niederbrombach, Germany. The one on the right is Shapeways, and cost 44.45 Euro. The cost of the piece from Schmidt was 70 Euro for printing the wax model (one time cost), 50 Euro for the silicone mold (re-usable so a one time cost) and then 32.47 Euro for pouring, polishing and the material. So, back-of-the-envelope calculation, if there is a 12 Euro difference between the two prices, (not including the mold production), and there is a one time fee for the mold of 120 Euro, the first 10 models I make via Schmidt will be the same price as Shapeways...then each subsequent piece will cost 12 Euro less. Of course, this all depends on how "re-usable" the mold actually is. If it has to be replaced after 10 pours, then there is no savings whatsoever! If it's good for 100 pours, though, then it might just be worth it. I need to clarify that with the company.

But other than that, the pieces are nearly identical in appearance and quality. There might be a slight color difference...the Schmidt piece looks slightly more yellow to me. And also, the Schmidt piece is stamped on top with some identifying mark that I can't make out. But, in general, I'm very pleased with both of them. Yes, they're expensive, but we're talking solid silver here...not some silver-plated junk.

Kimberly

Hi Kimberly, it seems that the guys from Schmidt use a different alloy for their metal casting, the identifying mark must be the 925 hallmark that must be always presented in silver, gold etc. I wanted to ask you if you have your silicone mold in your hands?

On the topic of hallmarks, some discussion ongoing just now https://www.shapeways.com/forum/index.php?t=msg&th=20990 #msg_98963

Hi Symbolica, I don't have the silicone form. It will stay at the company so that he can pour more, if I decide to go that route.

Thanks for your input, Allan. I agree with you that Shapeways provides a lot of services that I don't necessarily want to do, or can't do, on my own and I do appreciate that Shapeways does a great job of promoting and marketing their designers. I am planning on selling on Shapeways, just not exclusively. I'm also planning that a certain part of my business will be at brick&mortar shops in my community for which I will have to pay a commission to have my pieces sold. For this, my product will be branded with my packaging, logo, product info inserts, etc. So add up the cost of the piece, my packaging, the commission I have to pay...and the price adds up pretty fast to something that will make some customers wince a bit. Add to that the fact that Shapeways doesn't provide a complete piece of jewelry (no earring hooks, no chain or band for the necklaces), nor does it hallmark the precious metals, then there are logical reasons (for me) to use Shapeways primarily as a prototyping service, and delegate the production to someone else.