I am a small scale jeweller considering getting into CAD / CAM
production. I have no previous experience in 3D output. I am
considering buying one of these units.
MDX15 3D Wax Mill
at JEWELRY CAD CAM - Complete system only $4900.00 from 3D Wax Mill
Does anyone have any experience with one of these? Any
recommendations for a newbie to small volume 3D output?
Thanks everyone for your time and advice.
Cheers,B
Hello Bryan
3D CAD modelling is something you either have to get into 100% or
not at all. There are plenty of good CAD modellers around that charge
a fair price to draw up a piece that can then be cast easily so you
have to have a pretty good reason to get into it yourself. It takes
quite a few pieces to get back your investment and a huge amount of
hours perfecting the whichever CAD program you buy before you’re even
good enough to make good use of your drawings. You only have to spend
about 5 hours on a piece before your own time becomes more costly
than having to pay someone else to do it for you. My advice is buy
either Rhino or JewelCAD and spend at least a year learning to draw
with as much time as you can possibly put into it then look at buying
a wax printer. The CAD CAM mills such as the one you mention are
extremely limited and at least a decade obsolete. I make very good
use of CAD technology & in “my opinion” from “my experience” that
machine is not much more than a toy which if you got into as much as
you’d need to to be profitable you’d soon be upgrading anyway. No
machine is any good until the operator is an expert. If you have no
drawing experience the machine would only sit idle for 6 months until
you were drawing anything worth casting. Pick a program & learn it
forwards backwards and upside-down, then investigate the best
machine.
Good luck
Phil W
Is it the Roland model with protowizard? I have the JWX-10 with
protowizard and machine wizard