A CUTTING EDGE

Charles P. Bahringer—who received first-place AVA honors for his platinum ring featuring onyx inlay and diamond bezels—considers CAD an extension of his consciousness. “Some people refer to CAD as another tool that you can use to create jewelry,” describes Bahringer, a 15-year veteran jeweler who now designs and manufactures titanium jewelry using CAD/CAM technology. “I look at it as another level or sense to tap into the creative forces within and around you. It becomes a part of you, so intuitive that you think it and it appears. Only the mind’s eye is faster; CAD is just a step behind...for now.”

Bahringer exclusively uses Matrix by Gemvision. “It takes the best of the rest and puts it all together on one palette,” he advocates. “Gemvision is constantly creating new and improved ways for the user to design instinctively. When an artist is in a zone, the last thing he or she wants is to stop the creative flow to figure out how to mechanically achieve something. Matrix has real-time interaction, so you can see the result and change it instantly with sliding bars and buttons.” When designing in CAD, Bahringer goes with the flow. “My first version is done on the fly, just letting things happen without making mechanical or physical corrections,” he explains. “Then I go back through the design several times to correct, adjust, and tweak, playing with ideas to see what works.” Bahringer believes that the only design limitations in CAD are the considerations you must make to ensure the piece can be made. “You may create the most fantastic design, but if there is no way to cast and finish it properly, it’s just not going to work.”

Bahringer commissioned a lapidary artist to cut the onyx in his award-winning ring. The use of CAD enabled him to provide exact measurements to the lapidary, ensuring a perfect fit. He likewise outsourced the model making to a service bureau that offers rapid prototyping (RP) and employs the InVision 3-D printer. Bahringer chose RP because he felt it would best maintain the fine undercut details in the ring, as well as ensure the grooves for the stones were perfectly parallel. He notes that without CAD/CAM, this piece would be too difficult and costly to produce. “Forget about doing this by hand,” he says. “You’d never get the precision needed for the onyx pieces to slide into the grooves of the platinum ring. The beauty of this design was revealed when all the pieces snapped into place.”

Approaching a design in CAD is liberating, says Bahringer. “CAD allows you to step outside the expected box of what jewelry is supposed to look and feel like. It bothers me when designers using CAD do the same things they can do with a chunk of wax and a file, because they’re not respecting the endless possibilities CAD/ CAM unleashes.”

Bahringer says the best thing about CAD is the virtual, interactive inventory it creates, stored on a 1-inch by 5-inch hard drive that can be accessed any time and changed in seconds. “No more rubber molds, and no more redesigning time,” says Bahringer. “I just bring up the design, make any custom changes, and—in seconds—it’s ready to output and be created in wax or resin.”

1. Using Matrix, Bahringer set the finger rail, then drew the overall ring shape and cut-through shapes.

2. He swept (defined) the cut-through section along the two rails.

3. By rotating and quad flipping (mirroring four times) the solid, he achieved the curvilinear yet angular design.

4. He created and placed diamonds.

5. Using the Bezel Builder tool, he created the bezels. He created the lines for the onyx parts that inlay north, south, east, and west on the shank.

6. He then swept the cut-through section along the curve that creates the outer form of the onyx.

7. He fine-tuned any parts that didn’t fit together mechanically, refining the angles and the cut-through section on the top part of the ring shank. He also cut the bezel to a depth that would enable a perfect locking fit with the onyx when it is snapped in.

8. He shaped the onyx pieces accurately, so the ends of the stones cupped the tube-shaped side bezels. Also, he cut grooves into the ring so the onyx could slide in from the side. This would enable the stones to fit perfectly.

9. Before exporting the design as an STL file to be milled or grown, he assigned the solids with the different materials being used. This step allowed him to play with different stone and metal combinations and see how they all worked together.

The winners of the 2006 AVA CAD/CAM honors (sponsored by Gemvision in Davenport, Iowa) will be announced with the other AVA winners during Designer Day, March 11, at the Fashion Institute of Technology. For more information, call Suzanne Mascena at 1-800-444-6572, ext. 3041.