3D printing is accredited as the most innovative and versatile manufacturing technology fitting for prototypes, unique pieces small batches or even large-scale production. This attrative tech is now available also for jewelry production, bringing fresh opportunities and new advantages to overcome usual limits and restrictions in a new scenario where unfeasible ideas materialize in a day. In this catalogue we summarized part of our knowledge about direct metal 3D printing for jewelry and dealed with different topics like 3D printers, the process, advantages, printability and supports, printing area and more.

One of the revolutionary features of direct metal 3D printing techniques such as selective laser melting (SLM) is the capability to manufacture jewelry from platinum alloys, which are notoriously difficult to cast because of their high melting temperature and high reactivity with the crucible and investment mold materials. These material attributes of platinum have the consequence of high production costs, the need for specific furnaces and the incidence of frequent defects in the resulting jewelry products, making SLM a practical alternative to casting. In this paper, the revolutionary scope of the SLM technique in platinum jewelry production is compared to traditional production techniques. The technical aspects as well as the economic/financial implications to the production process are considered in order to understand whether and how much the introduction of the SLM technique constitutes an improvement in platinum jewelry manufacturing.

As part of the fourth industrial revolution, the direct 3D printing of jewelry in precious metal deserves a constant state-of-the-art analysis to see if and how the strengths of this technique should be exploited. Why should jewelry makers decide to use this technique for their production? More precisely, the pragmatists would like another answer: When does this technique add more value compared to traditional investment casting? In recent years, our research path included printing strategies, supporting techniques, and examined at different levels of depth the chemical and physical characteristics of the precious metal powders used. This paper will look back at the technological evolution of direct 3D printing of jewelry with a more practical and operational eye, share our experience and give an honest analysis of its strengths and weaknesses. This detailed examination of the whole work done by Progold will be told through the viewpoint of one who exclaimed, "WOW!" when first introduced to 3D printing and will try to answer when and why it is worthwhile to print a piece of jewelry.

Selective laser melting (SLM) is a particularly rapid prototyping, 3D printing, or Additive Manufacturing (AM) technique designed to use a high power-density laser to melt and fuse metallic powders together. Even if SLM is considered by many to be a subcategory of Selective Laser Sintering (SLS),the SLM process, unlike SLS, has the ability to fully melt the metal material into a solid 3D-dimensional part. Since the components are built layer by layer, it is possible to design organic geometries, internal features and challenging passages that could not be cast or otherwise machined. SLM produces strong, durable metal parts that work well as both functional prototypes or end-use production parts. The process starts by slicing the 3D CAD file data into layers, usually from 20 to 100 micrometres thick, creating a 2D image of each layer; this file format is the industry standard .stl file used on most layer-based 3D printing or stereolithography technologies. This file is then loaded into a file preparation software package that assigns parameters, values and physical supports that allow the file to be interpreted and built by different types of additive manufacturing machines. With selective laser melting, thin layers of atomized fine metal powder are evenly distributed using a coating mechanism onto a substrate plate, usually metal, that is fastened to an indexing table that moves in the vertical (Z) axis. This takes place inside a chamber containing a tightly controlled atmosphere of inert gas, either argon or nitrogen at oxygen levels below 500 parts per million. Once each layer has been distributed, each 2D slice of the part geometry is fused by selectively melting the powder. This is accomplished with a high-power laser beam, usually an ytterbium fiber laser with hundreds of watts. The laser beam is directed in the X and Y directions with two high frequency scanning mirrors. The laser energy is intense enough to permit full melting (welding) of the particles to form solid metal. The process is repeated layer after layer until the part is complete

A sustainable, authoritative, accesible way to experience 3D printed 750‰ gold pieces, 950‰ platinum and novel titanium jewellery. In Progol3D® we merge our metallurgical skills, values and experiences to support and supply great and smart product solutions. This through six esay and fast steps: file uploading, file management, precious powder production, direct metal 3D printing, quality control and shipment.