Innovative Movable Structure Design for Jewelry Application Based on Integrated 3D Printing and Lost-Wax Casting Technology

3D printing technology has brought unprecedent innovation in modern design and production. Governments, research institutions and enterprises in many countries, have put great effort in developing 3D printing technology and its application in various industries. In jewelry industry, the 3D wax printing technology integrated with lost-wax casting method has been applied widely as an innovative production approach, becoming relatively mature method for making complex and novel jewelry. However, the advantages of 3D printing technology such as less molding geometry restriction and high molding geometry accuracy have not fully exploited yet. As 3D printing technology is primarily used for substituting traditional manual molding method, its molding geometry advantage and accuracy is seldom utilized for innovative jewelry design. In this paper, the design concept and principle for jewelry movable structure were proposed based on 3D printing technology and related lost-wax molding technique. 3D printing design and application studies were conducted for ball sleeve movable structure, internal suspension movable structure, multi-spiral movable structure and axial movable structure in jewelry fabrication.