It's been 6 years since I
first featured the first rapid prototyped jewelry. In the last few years, more and more 3D printed jewelry have appeared on the market (see links below). 3D printer costs have declined tremendously with the rise in popularity. The last price I heard was about $1000. The
OLO3D is the first smartphone driven 3D printer and it costs just $99! This ingenious invention by an Italian 3D printing and design firm has been wildly popular and
successfully funded on Kickstarter. It will be manufactured in the US.
This astounding device is indeed a game changer because
"half of its hardware is already in your pocket." The light and portable device coupled with a smartphone is designed to make 3D printing easy enough to use for beginners but just as flexible for experienced designers.
As you can see from their introductory video, jewelry makers are definitely on the list of potential users. What the 3D printer uses are daylight resins - photosensitive resins- for building the models which are then hardened by the light from the smartphone. The OLO3D chamber has a transparent bottom with the rest of it blocking out ambient light.
There are
"4 materials and 5 colors, including a castable resin for creating molds for metals such as silver and gold." Some materials are hard, flexible or elastic. There is even a flexible kind of resin which can result in texture films for stamping and I suspect even for polymer clay textures. As they say, the only thing more you need is creativity.
This resin ring below was printed using an Android One+ in 34 minutes. The device is designed to be almost silent in operation also easy to clean. No lubrication is needed. There is a flexible print bed allowing one to easily remove the completed model.
Experienced users can use their favorite 3D printing software to create their template. Those less comfortable with learning new software can use any 3D scanning app.
Hat Tip to Aims for this find. I also blame her for having $99 + shipping less in my wallet! I backed the OLO3D too!
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