A Revolution for Jewelry Casting: Castable Resin

Each day more 3D printing materials are discovered for different needs and become popular in particular sectors. Castable resin is one of them which is very time and cost saving for jewelry and dental molding works. 3D printed objects look exactly like traditionally casted ones, that´s why 3D printed jewelry is on the verge of becoming mainstream.

Castable Resin was designed to capture precise details and smooth surfaces. It burns out cleanly without any residue, allowing jewelers to go straight from digital design to a 3D print suitable for direct investment casting.

How to use Castable Resin?

Using the traditional method, a model or “pattern” is made in wax, a plaster mold is created surrounding the wax model, and then that mold is fired in a kiln. The wax is burned out or “lost” to allow the metal parts to be cast in the resulting mold. This same technique is now used with complex 3D printed parts.

In case of 3D printers, they use a wax-like resin as printing material. After completion of the pattern assembly, the entire assembly is submerged multiple times in slurry. The slurry coating is then left to dry and solidify forming a ceramic outer layer over the pattern.

it is placed inside an oven and the original resin structure is melted. Then the final casting material is poured into the mold and left to cool and sodify. Finally the outer ceramic mold is removed and the cast parts go through traditional jeweler finishing techniques.

*Source: 3D Hubs

The below video shows jewelry pieces designed with castable resin:

Burnout Cycle for Castable Resins

Do not forget that correct burnout is a critical step to ensuring a good quality cast part in any investment casting procedure. A burnout that is too quick can cause the resin to expand and combust damaging the surface of the investment. Or a burnout that does not reach high enough temperatures can leave resin or ash inside the investment. Information on the recommended burnout procedure for 3D printed pattern materials should be obtained from the supplier to improve the likelihood of a successful cast.

What are the benefits of Castable Resin?

Castable resin is the best and most economical way to create 3D printed jewelry so far. It produces a real, solid piece of jewelry with a smooth surface. The material also lets you to finished manually with post-processing the object.

Here are several advantages to using 3D printing to produce jewelry.

• Able to create complex designs: Historically, jewelry casting patterns were carved from wax using CNC machines. 3D printing is not restricted by the limitations of CNC machining and is able produce parts that have in the past were impossible to make. Designs can also easily be customised. It allows you to make changes easily in your designs. A 3D model can be printed as a plastic prototype first to check if the quality and design are correct. Changes can simply be made in the 3D modeling software, then the final design can then be printed in the desired material.
• Time Saving: With 3D printing, multiple patterns can be made at once and within a very short time frame. This has significantly reduced lead times as well as cost when compared to traditional pattern making techniques.
• Cost Saving: 3D printing also allows multiple designs to be produced in a single print. This means it is very cost competitive pricing for low production volumes (an important issue for jewelry where customers typically want a one-off piece)

BLUECAST High Performance Castable Resin

BlueCast is an Italian brand focused on the production of professional 3D printing consumables and machines. Since 2010, BlueCast is specialized on the production of castable resins for the jewelry industry. All BlueCast products are certified 100% made in Italy and are dedicated to professional users.

Customers from more than 22 countries define BlueCast resins as the Best Castable Resin of Market. The bournout cycle does not require any special tricks, the residue is less than 0.3%, and the expansion is negligible. BlueCast also produces high tech resins for rubber molds or dental models.

BlueCast produces high performance castable resins for the 3D printers and listed technologies:

• Form 1 / 1+ (specific formulation)
• Form 2 (specific formulation)
• Wanaho D7 (specific formulation)
• Asiga
• Solus
• Slash
• B9
• SLA 3D printers – 405nm violet laser
• LCD 3D printers – 405 nm UV LED
• DLP 3D printers – uv projector (tank  with fep or pdms)

​BlueCast Original is fully compatible whith Formlabs printer profiles (form1+, form2), dont requires modification to the printer and to the resin tank.

The main features of the new BlueCast resin are: reduced bornout cycle, absence of residues, high details, smooth surfaces, fewer failed prints, cheaper than original FormLabs resin.

To get more info about BlueCast Resin, click here.