An off-the-shelf engagement ring just won't make the cut? 3D print a custom engagement ring for the love of your life. As part of our Custom Engagement Ring series, we’ll be posting a story every Thursday for the next three weeks about the journey of designing and 3D printing unique engagement rings on the Form 1+ SLA 3D printer.
With the rise of affordable desktop manufacturing, jewelers and designers are starting to use 3D printing as a way to prototype and model custom jewelry before it’s cast in precious metal.
Formlabs makes it easy to go from 3D printed model to cast part with our Castable Resin. Designed specifically for the investment casting process, users are able to harness the high-resolution capabilities of the Form 1+ 3D printer for stunning jewelry pieces.
How to Create a Custom 3D Printed Ring
First step: dig deep. Inspiration can come from many places, such as a stone or a story. Have an idea of the general shape or form you want the ring to take. Sketch it out, or find examples to help illustrate your ideas.
If you’re not a designer, the next step would be to find a friend or professional to help with the prototype and design process. This is especially helpful if it’s your first time designing a ring. There are design elements that would be easy to miss without the expertise of 3D modeling or jewelry professionals, such as upsizing the ring to compensate for shrinkage during the casting process or making the design of the prongs longer to give the jeweler more to work with when setting the stones.
Once the design is modeled, you can create and try on a 3D printed version in order to get a better feel for how the design looks on a person’s hand. You can also save the 3D file to easily create exact copies of the ring, should you need them.
3D print the ring! With affordable desktop 3D printers such as the Form 1+, you could easily have a look-alike prototype in a matter of hours.
Happy with the design? Find a casting house to bring the ring from 3D printed model to a metal product. Often times the jeweler will then finish up the process by polishing the ring and placing the stones.
Go behind the scenes with Golden Century Casting to see how fine jewelry is created. Watch how this casting house fuses new technology with age-old craftsmanship to create beautiful designs.
Read the story of how Richard Arena 3D printed an engagement ring for his proposal, and learn tips on how to create one yourself.
