Editor’s Note
This article outlines a strategic partnership between jewelry manufacturer Ambrose and Company and casting machine specialist Yoshida Cast Industry. Their collaboration focuses on developing direct casting technology using 3D printer resin, a significant step that could streamline production and enhance design possibilities in the jewelry manufacturing sector.
Jewelry manufacturer Ambrose and Company Co., Ltd. (Headquarters: Kofu City, Yamanashi Prefecture; Representative Director: Nobuyuki Horiuchi) has agreed to partner with long-established precious metal casting machine manufacturer Yoshida Cast Industry Co., Ltd. (Headquarters: Saitama City, Saitama Prefecture; Representative Director: Minoru Yoshida) in the research and technological development of direct casting technology using castable resin for 3D printers.
Based on the shared recognition that improving the quality of direct casting using resin printed from 3D printers for silver, gold, and platinum is essential to meet the small-lot, multi-variety needs of the precious metal industry, the partnership will advance the research and development of castable resins, investment materials, and verification of firing patterns. The aim is to improve the casting quality of printed items, leading to the maximum effective utilization of 3D printers in the jewelry industry.
Jewelry manufacturer Ambrose and Company Co., Ltd. has decided to launch JC-01R, a castable resin for jewelry under the 【Diffuser3D】 brand, usable with MonoLCD/DLP type 3D printers.
JC-01R will be launched at the 2023 International Jewelry Tokyo (IJT) exhibition held at Tokyo Big Sight from January 11, 2023 (Booth No. 24-43).
Price: 500g for 18,700 yen (tax included).
Diffuser3D: http://diffuser3d.com
In today’s increasingly digitalized Japanese jewelry industry, product creation using 3D printers has become essential. Among these, product creation using direct casting of items printed from 3D printers with castable resin is a technology that will form the core for cost reduction, lead time shortening, and quality improvement in the future. In overseas jewelry manufacturers where digitalization is advancing rapidly, direct casting using castable resin is commonplace, and development and quality improvement are remarkable. However, this has not yet become established in Japanese manufacturing sites. To solve this situation, a jewelry manufacturer with 65 years of history, after two years of development, has developed a castable resin optimally usable in Japanese jewelry manufacturing sites and brought it to market.
Silver and gold, which were previously difficult to cast without using investment materials dedicated to 3D printer resins, can now be directly cast using ordinary investment materials on the same tree as injection wax.
For direct casting of platinum, which was said to be impossible, while it cannot yet perfectly handle all shapes in the current state, it has reached a sufficiently usable condition, leading to this launch.
Not only will we develop resins for direct casting, but we also plan to research and develop casting technology in cooperation with casting machine manufacturers, 3D printer manufacturers, material suppliers, and casting factories, exchanging information. We intend to disseminate and share information to promote the adoption of direct resin casting.
In the future, we aim to establish direct casting technology for stainless steel, titanium, etc., and advance research and development targeting applications in different industries such as industrial products, medical, and dental fields.