My Precious: How Legor has introduced HP Metal Jet 3D printing to the luxury and fashion accessory markets

Oli Johnson speaks to Fabio Di Falco, Marketing and Customer Support Manager at Legor, about the company’s 3D Metal Hub and its development of precious metal powders for HP Metal Jet printing.

by

HP and Legor Group SPA first began working together over five years ago, but announced an offcial partnership to develop precious metals for metal jet 3D printing in 2022. Legor specialises in the science of precious metals for the jewellery, fashion, and electroplating industries.

Legor says it is the first company to introduce HP Metal Jet 3D printing technology to the luxury and fashion accessory markets, to enable “effcient and high-quality production”. How Legor offers this technology to its customers in these markets is through the Legor 3D Metal Hub. The hub is a centre designed to o er the chance to experiment and produce jewellery and fashion accessories from both precious and non-precious metal powders.

Fabio Di Falco, Marketing and Customer Support Manager at Legor told TCT about the development of precious metals for the metal jet technology: “We are already working with stainless steel, but bronze and silver are still under R&D. We are quite close to the final results with these materials.

“We are testing the silver and bronze powders in order to find out the right formulation and get the best results. The most critical part of the process is the last phase, during sintering. When you work with this technology, you have to pay attention to how granular the powder is, so there are a lot of elements to take into consideration."

Di Falco also spoke about how HP and Legor came to work together: “At the very beginning five years ago, HP at the time was looking at di erent industries, in particular jewelry and fashion accessories. Legor is a really important player, 40% of the jewels around the world are made with our alloys. So Legor is really a relevant, important player in our industry."

Ramon Pastor, HP’s Global Head and General Manager, Metal Jet, added: "It is exciting to partner with another company that views sustainability as one of the most important pillars of their business. We’re looking forward to continuing our Metal Jet partnership with Legor to champion the adoption of 3D printing technology in new and exciting industries while encouraging the adoption of this innovative technology for new applications.”