A TIME MACHINE

Vache Minassian—who received honorable mention for an unusual 18k white and yellow gold reversible bracelet with 5.75 carats of blue, pink, and yellow sapphires and 4.32 carats of white diamonds—began his jewelry design career in CAD/CAM. A second-generation jeweler with minimal bench experience and no flare for drawing, Minassian studied computer graphic arts in college and took his skills to the jewelry industry after discovering 3-D design programs.

Minassian describes CAD as a big, blank canvas. “With enough CAD knowledge and experience, you can turn just about anything you can conjure up in your imagination into reality,” he says. “What you create in CAD is almost limitless.” His award-winning design is case in point. The idea for it originated years ago with his father, a manufacturer and retail jeweler who wanted to make an extravagant, wearable appointment keeper. But the precision needed to create this mechanical piece could not be achieved by hand. Minassian was eager to take on the task in CAD/CAM.

“It’s not just bling and gold. This piece has a function,” explains Minassian of the patented bracelet design. There are two sets of hollow links marked one to 12 in Roman numerals, for a total of 24 links. Set north and south on each link is a four-sided gem cube bearing a blue sapphire, yellow sapphire, pink sapphire, and white diamond on each side. A rod mechanism running through each hollow link attaches the top cube to the bottom one, allowing the wearer to turn them, and a spring system locks each cube in place on a desired color. The wearer can match or alternate colors, or create her own color pattern. To use the bracelet as an appointment keeper, the wearer can correspond all colors except for one at the specified time. Moreover, the bracelet is reversible, featuring a decorative grillwork underside. Pavé diamonds are set between each link on the topside. To design the piece, Minassian began by using AutoCAD to draw the outline. “The 2-D program is ideal for plain, straight-line vector work,” he explains. “It was easier for me to draw flat lines and manipulate them the way I wanted in AutoCAD.”

When the vector work was complete, he exported the files into ArtCAM, the program he used to write the tool paths for this elaborate design. Because of the fine details required, Minassian decided to machine metal molds for injection with plastic. He used a Mini Tech mill for this operation because he finds it to be extremely heavy-duty and well-suited to producing metal molds. “I normally use a Model Master CNC 1000, but I felt the Mini Tech would be better for the added stress of cutting into aluminum,” he explains. The only components of this piece that were not created in CAD/CAM are the turning cube-and-rod mechanisms that run through each link. “This element of the piece was hand assembled so that on each turn, the bar clicks into a spring mechanism and locks into place on the desired gemstone,” says Minassian. Still, he says that he could not have made his winning design to perfection without CAD/CAM technology.

“CAD allows you to visualize how a piece will function before it is actually produced,” he says. “If you make a piece with hinges, you can see how [the hinges] work and move and interact with other pieces. In the case of the winning bracelet, it allowed me to see how the links fit together and enabled me to precisely cut molds for every piece—something that I couldn’t have done without CAD/CAM technology.”

1. Minassian used AutoCAD to draw the outline of the piece. He says the 2-D program is ideal for plain, straight-line vector work. The top of link IV is shown here.

2. Since the bracelet is reversible, Minassian wanted the backs of the links to be decorative. He used AutoCAD to create the link backs, two of which are shown here.

3. Pavé diamond bars, which are soldered onto the bracelet hinges between each link, were also created in AutoCAD. The front and back of a bar are shown here.

4. The AutoCAD 2-D line drawings were exported as DXF files and imported into ArtCAM, the program Minassian used to write the tool paths for this complex design. Because of the fine details re-quired in the piece, Minassian decided to machine metal molds.

5. Minassian used metal molds injected with plastic, rather than more traditional rubber or silicone molds injected with wax. He says the plastic-injected aluminum molds hold details better, have no shrinkage, and result in cleaner castings.

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.