Formlabs Introduces New Castable Wax Resin for 3D Printing Jewelry

Formlabs has built its success not only on its high-quality 3D printers, the SLA Form 2 and the SLS Fuse 1, but its wide variety of materials, to which the company is constantly adding. It introduced two new resins at the beginning of the year, then followed up with a novel ceramic resin just a couple of months ago. Today, Formlabs has announced that its latest resin, Castable Wax Resin, is now shipping.

The jewelry market is a competitive one, and more and more jewelers are turning to 3D printing to cast their pieces rather than crafting them by hand or using older techniques to create their casting molds. 3D printing is much faster than any other jewelry manufacturing method, and while the market is full of attractive options for jewelry 3D printers and jewelry casting resins, Formlabs has always been one of the leaders in this particular market – partially because of the time-tested quality of its printers, and partially because of the many material options it presents.

Castable Wax Resin is a wax-filled material designed for direct investment casting, with zero ash content and clean burnout. It’s capable of 3D printing custom parts that are suitable for both try-ons and final pieces. Castable Wax Resin combines a smooth finish with increased part strength and precise print settings for sharp detail in the finished pieces. The material clearly displays fine features such as raised text, filigree wires and meshes, and detailed pavé with no visible layer lines.

“Before bringing 3D printing in-house, I’ve outsourced waxes to be printed, only to discover I needed thicker or thinner dimensions in the first design,” said Andrew Goldstein, Vice President of Zina Sterling Silver. “I’m super excited about the new Castable Wax Resin, the detail was outstanding in the initial prints and the material was so much easier to invest and cast.”

In terms of retail value, Asia Pacific is the largest global market for jewelry, and Formlabs worked closely with jewelry manufacturing partners in China, Japan and India to make sure that Castable Wax Resin could reliably print complex pavé pieces and filigree bracelets, which are especially popular in this region. Formlabs focused on the most challenging designs during product development to ensure that the resin could 3D print virtually anything.

“3D printing is an essential part of the jewelry making process for my jewelry line, LACE by Jenny Wu, because of the complex architectural forms that would be impossible to create by hand,” said designer Jenny Wu. “I was able to test out Castable Wax early with great results and I look forward to continuing to test out materials for future projects. I am excited to work with Formlabs to continue to push the boundaries of 3D printing materials for jewelry.”

Castable Wax Resin is 20% wax-filled and is suitable for a standard burnout schedule or a short eight-hour burnout schedule using strong investments. The resin does not require post-curing; just a quick isopropyl alcohol wash and the part is ready to go with no residual tackiness. The Standard Burnout Schedule is recommended for overnight cycles and for larger flasks and heavier geometries.

If you’re interested in Castable Wax Resin, you can download Formlabs’ Usage Guide, request a free sample part, or check out the company’s recommended casting houses to find a casting partner validated in casting Formlabs resins. 

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[Images provided by Formlabs]