Hello all, Can anyone Recommend a good 3-D printer for printing.STL files. I have tried the elegoo brand with no success. I Would like to eventually start printing my own wax models and cast them myself
What kind of reminder did you use. What printer?
Just about all jewelry printers use a kind of resin, not wax, although some of them claim to be “wax-like”. The only exception I can think of is the Solidscape brand, which was one of the first to be used for making jewelry models. It actually prints in wax, dispensing it through heated lines, and shaves off the top of each layer between passes to keep things accurate. https://www.solidscape.com/
The other alternatives, if you really want to cast from wax models, are either to make molds from printed resin prototypes and cast waxes from the molds, or to cut models from wax blocks using a milling machine like the Taig mills we carry: https://computersculpture.com/taig-micro-mill-cnc-equipped/
Andrew, I’m embarrassed to not remember your name and your website. Yours is the site I remembered with the many options for the mills.
The 4th axis caught my eye, possibly allowing some ring and bracelet work?
What post processor configuration would work with that? Vectric does not list any for Taig.
Neil A
Resin was it supposed to be, not reminder.
hi,
milled waxes can be so fine and elegant!…
julie
Hi Neil - I’m sure Vectric has a post that will work with Mach3; which is the default CNC control program for the Taig mills. But its 4-axis abilities are fairly weak, unless they’ve improved lately, limited to a “wrapping” strategy that essentially substitutes A-axis moves for Y axis ones used in a flat 3-axis relief. If you do invest in a 4th axis rotary setup, I’d suggest getting CAM software with better 4-axis strategies, like the multi-axis edition of DeskProto: https://computersculpture.com/deskproto/
Yes, several, the meaning of which… ???
…limited to a “wrapping” strategy…
Yes, wrapping is less than ideal. I tried a rectangular 3D design for a ring with a bezel and embellishments on the shank, but when it was wrapped to make a ring (for 3D printing) the round bezel got distorted. Vectric CAD is up to version 12.0 and is very rich in features, but it can’t do rings or shapes with undercuts.
I’d suggest getting CAM software with better 4-axis strategies, like the multi-axis edition of DeskProto
Thanks for the suggestion. I’ll look into it. I’ve had a lot of trouble getting my head around 3D software (blender specifically) and it would be nice to find something with a more reasonable learning curve.
Neil A