Envisiontec Perfactory Mini

Anyone familiar with the intricate jewelry designs manufactured by Tacori in Glendale, California, which include the company’s signature Crescent Silhouette rings with pavé diamond accents, might be interested to know that many of those detailed pieces are cast from models made by the Envisiontec Perfactory Mini RP system. Garo Kour-ounian, head of manufacturing for Tacori, has been using CAD/CAM technology for the past six years. He was one of the early jewelry industry proponents of this technology when he purchased a Model-Maker II from Solidscape back in 2000. Two years ago, he invested in an Envisiontec machine to keep up with production volume.

“The ModelMaker II has served me well, and I continue to use it on a daily basis, but I needed a faster machine to handle the volume, so I chose the Envisiontec,” says Kourounian. A standard run at Tacori on the Envisiontec machine is about 20 to 22 eternity bands, which takes from eight to 10 hours to build at the highest resolution, says Kourounian. Compare that to the three days it would take him to do the same run on the ModelMaker II, he says, and there’s no question about the time savings afforded by the Envisiontec machine.

And Kourounian uses that speed to his advantage on a daily basis. “I’ll put short files like bracelet components on the Envisiontec during the day,” he says. “Each run might take two hours, so I can do four or five runs a day. Before I leave, I’ll set up about 20 bands and let the machine run through the night. When I arrive in the morning, the models are ready.” Users have mixed feelings about the direct casting of Envisiontec’s model material. Kourounian reports no problems casting directly in silver or gold, but he is still molding models and shooting waxes for platinum casting. “You have to modify your burnout process through trial and error to get the right temperatures for a clean burnout,” he says.

Others, such as Zsombor Antal of Best Cast, a service bureau in River Edge, New Jersey, are not completely satisfied with the results from direct casting. “I’ve run several tests—even with custom-made resins—and have even sent my models to Envision-tec for casting, but we haven’t been satisfied with the results,” says Antal. “We are content to continue taking a mold of these resins and casting the resulting waxes because we are dedicated to providing the highest quality pieces to our customers.” Best Cast offers an array of services to the industry, including CAD design, model making, casting, diamond setting, and polishing. Until two years ago, the company outsourced its rapid prototyping to a company that used the Viper si2 SLA system. The decision to invest in RP technology and bring the process in-house was financial, says Antal. “We did some research and found that if we leased the Envisiontec machine it would cost us $1,600 a month for five years with a $1 buyout at the end of the contract,” he explains. “So two years ago, when our monthly prototyping costs were $2,000 and up each month, we knew it was time to invest in the machine.”

Since that time, Best Cast has acquired a Solidscape T66 system as well. According to Antal, the T66 is used for models of one-of-a-kind pieces that don’t require molding, while the Envisontec is used for orders that must be molded, which account for about 80 percent of Antal’s model making business. “Customers often re-quest the same design in 14k yellow, 14k white, and platinum,” says Antal. “These types of orders require molding, so the Envisiontec is a perfect fit.”