Platinum Ring by Nuovi Gioielli Srl.
Established in northern Italy in 1961, Sisma is a global player in the design and production of high precision manufacturing machinery and also the country’s largest manufacturer of laser systems. More specifically, being located in the historical Italian district of Vicenza, known for its goldsmithing and home to one-fifth of the country’s gold and jewellery industry, Sisma is rooted in the perfect place for making its mark one of its three key areas of focus: jewellery.
Sisma first started developing additive manufacturing systems in 2011. In that time, awareness of direct 3D printing processes with precious metals has grown for both jewellers and customers in the luxury products market, and so too have Sisma’s technologies.
Being active in the jewellery sector for such a long time, Sisma knows what the typical needs of the industry entail and already has a catalogue of complete machines for welding, marking, cutting and diamond tooling for goldsmith and jewellery applications. Sisma has leveraged this history and experience to develop an additive manufacturing technology that is completely dedicated to this type of production and brings increased flexibility and creative freedom to the jeweller’s toolkit.
Sisma’s Laser Metal Fusion (LMF) process uses a high power laser to build metal objects using fine metallic powders. The Sisma mysint series uses LMF to form metal pieces in white and red gold, silver, bronze, steel and cobalt chrome powders. Its jewellery-focussed system, mysint pm, has been designed to deliver the highest level of efficiency in terms of material use with a sealed working chamber and architecture that allows total recovery of unused powders.
Software and hardware solutions are implemented to optimise and reduce the amount of powder needed to manufacture each piece. The software can dynamically determine the optimal quantity of the oversupply needed to ensure the perfect powder deposition for each layer.
The mysint pm working cylinders are removable, interchangeable and available in different diameters to allow users to adjust the setting to suit the material, size and number of pieces being manufactured. When creating a unique piece of custom jewellery or trying out a new material, users can switch from the standard 100 mm platform to the smallest set of 34.5 mm and reduce the amount of material needed. Having open parameters also means users can experiment with new or used powders and Sisma has already achieved impressive results with precious metals such as white and red gold, silver and platinum.
Silver decorative item.
This open system also means that users can fine-tune the technology to their specific application or requirements. For example, a silver decorative item designed by Nuovi Gioielli (pictured) combines different approaches in the same piece to achieve the best quality for polishing in the external part and the most defined details for the thin internal structure.
Rather than marketing itself as a one size fits all, universal technology, Sisma’s mysint system has been developed to meet three specific applications with the highest level of efficiency. Along with jewellery, the mysint 100 can be configured for the manufacture of industrial parts that require handling of reactive materials such as titanium and aluminium and also for the dental industry. Speaking at formnext, the team said they looked at the combination of additive manufacturing and CNC technology to deliver this particular vertical.
When we talk about 3D printing in the jewellery industry, it’s usually in the case of resin-based technologies where a 3D print is used for casting a piece as part of a much more traditional process chain. With this, Sisma has used its know-how to launch a dedicated solution for the jewellery market in January, the myrev 100. This latest machine is an SLA based technology and has been designed to work with Sisma’s high definition castable and direct rubber mouldable resins. The system’s unique patented three revolving platforms at 100 x 100 mm mean that the machine can continue to complete three unattended cycles in one go. This means that production capabilities are increased substantially.
With each of its specific solutions, Sisma is focused on two fundamental aspects when working with precious metals: powder management and quality of the final piece. At formnext, the company hinted at its next project; a bigger second-generation machine featuring a larger build platform with yet more dedicated solutions and the ability to handle more materials.
Sisma myrev 100.
Sisma’s laser expertise has been recognised by fellow players in the industry and back in 2014, the company announced a joint venture with German manufacturing leader, Trumpf, upon their re-entry into the additive manufacturing market. The company’s LMF technology was recently leveraged by the systems’ manufacturer in a joint venture into the R&D and production of a new range of additive manufacturing platforms unveiled in Frankfurt in November. However, the company is keen to point out that the two are very much still independent from one another with Sisma offering its own unique production capabilities for its three key verticals.
With new systems aimed directly at opening up manufacturing opportunities in the jewellery market, Sisma’s dedication and affinity with the jewellery sector positions them perfectly between the origins of an established and traditional industry and the game changing advances that 3D technologies can bring.
