3D WERK
JEWELLER'S GUIDE · LOST-WAX CASTING
LOST-WAX CASTING AND 3D PRINTING
From a file on screen
to metal in your hand.
Lost-wax casting has turned wax models into metal for thousands of years. A wax 3D printer changes one thing: how that wax model is made. Everything after it, from investing to casting, works the way your workshop already knows.
Before you start
This guide is general information to help you get the most from your WaxJet. It does not replace the Flashforge manuals, the safety data sheets for your materials or your own safety checks. Where they differ, follow the manufacturer's instructions and safety data sheets. Isopropyl alcohol (IPA) is highly flammable, and warm IPA gives off more vapour. Flashforge's manual uses a mix of PPG400, ethanol and IPA at 40 °C, never above 43 °C. Ethanol is also highly flammable. Keep it away from heat, sparks and open flames, heat it only with equipment suited to flammable liquids, use it in a well-ventilated area, and wear suitable PPE such as gloves and eye protection. Investment powder contains crystalline silica, and wax burnout and metal melting give off fumes, so use ventilation and the PPE your safety data sheets list. As a business, you are responsible for work health and safety in your workshop, including risk assessment and how you store, use and dispose of chemicals. See our Terms and Conditions.
01
How lost-wax casting works
02
What the printer changes
03
Choosing a wax printer
04
Two waxes in every print
05
Printed wax or resin?
06
What jewellers print
07
In-house or outsourced?
08
Questions we hear
1. How lost-wax casting works
You make an exact model of the piece in wax, surround it with investment (a mould powder that contains crystalline silica, so do not breathe the dust), then heat the mould until the wax melts out. That leaves a hollow in the exact shape of the piece. Molten metal is poured into the hollow, and once it cools the investment is broken away.
The wax is "lost" in the kiln, which is where the process gets its name. It is precise, repeatable and still the backbone of fine jewellery making.
2. What the printer changes
Traditionally the wax model is carved by hand. Today many workshops design the piece in jewellery CAD and print the wax instead. Casting works the way you already know, but test your burnout on the first plate.
Speed
Carving one pattern can take hours at the bench. The printer runs unattended and builds a whole plate of patterns in one run.
Repeatability
The same file gives the same pattern every time. That matters for batch work, and for replacing a lost piece exactly.
Complexity
Micro-pavé seats, filigree and fine settings that are hard to carve consistently can be printed, so check your own detail with sample prints.
THE TRADE-OFF
You design in CAD instead of carving at the bench. For most modern workshops that step is already part of the job. Hand carving is still a real craft, and for one-off sculptural pieces it can be the better choice.
3. Choosing a wax printer
Not all wax printers are equal, and the specifications show up directly in your castings. These are the ones worth comparing.
Resolution and layers
Finer resolution and thinner layers hold more detail and leave less clean-up before casting.
Dimensional accuracy
Quoted as a tolerance over a distance. It helps decide whether a ring comes out at the size it was designed.
Wax utilisation
How much of the model wax ends up in your patterns. Higher means a lower running cost per piece.
Support removal
Dissolvable support comes away in a solvent bath, with no clipping around the fine detail.
Build volume and footprint
How many patterns fit in one run, against how much bench space the machine takes.
Workshop and upkeep
The room conditions it needs, routine print head care, and who supplies wax and service locally.
4. Two waxes in every print
A wax jetting printer builds each job from two materials. The red model wax becomes the casting pattern. The white support wax holds overhangs and fine details in place while printing, then dissolves away before the pattern goes on the tree.
Using two purpose-made materials is what lets delicate prongs and galleries print without being touched. See our consumables range
5. Printed wax or castable resin?
Resin printers loaded with castable resin are the other common way to make patterns. Both work. The real difference shows up in the kiln.
Printed wax
Castable resin
In the burnout
Softens and drains out, like the casting wax your process was built around.
Does not melt like wax, so it turns to gas inside the mould. Investment makers sell high-expansion powders made for resin patterns.
What is left to burn off
Ash under 0.01% of the pattern weight.
Chars before it gasifies. Published figures put that char at 15% or more of the pattern weight, which the burnout has to clear.
After printing
Dissolve the support in warm solvent baths, rinse and dry.
Wash, clip off the supports and clean up the marks, plus a UV cure for many resins.
Handling
Jetted casting wax is generally not classed as hazardous. Check your supplier's safety data sheet.
Many castable resins are labelled as skin sensitisers, so gloves are a must.
To be fair to resin: resin printers cost far less, the patterns stand up to handling better, and they print very fine wire and thin walls. For sizing checks, design proofs and anything that never goes near a kiln, a resin printer is a sensible tool to have on the bench.
6. What jewellers print
Printed wax patterns turn up across nearly every corner of modern jewellery making.
Micro-pavé and filigree
Fine, repeated detail that is hard to carve consistently.
Stone-in-place casting
Heat-tolerant stones set in the wax and cast in. Check each stone type first.
Custom commissions
Design, adjust and reprint quickly before committing to metal.
Batch personalisation
One design in many sizes or names, printed in a single run.
7. In-house or outsourced?
Many workshops start by buying printed patterns from a bureau, and for some that remains the right call. The difference is mostly time and control.
Per-pattern fees add up
Even a modest fee per pattern grows over a year of steady work, especially with frequent one-off commissions.
Waiting has a cost
Every round trip to the bureau, and every revision, slows the path from design to sale.
The printer is an upfront investment
It can pay for itself through the bureau fees you no longer pay, fastest in workshops that print custom pieces week in, week out.
Count the running costs
Model wax, support wax, IPA and servicing are ongoing either way. Compare the total, not just the printer price.
8. Questions we hear
What is a wax 3D printer used for?
Making patterns for lost-wax (investment) casting, most often in jewellery, but also in dental labs and precision casting. It replaces hand carving with a pattern printed straight from a CAD file.
How accurate is printed wax?
The WaxJet 51C is specified at ±0.04 mm per 20 mm with 15 µm layers. That is a tolerance, not a limit on fine detail, so ask us for sample prints of your own pavé seats and filigree.
Is it real wax?
Yes. The printer jets a castable wax, not a wax-filled resin, so the pattern melts out in the kiln the way a carved wax does.
Can I keep my resin printer?
Yes. Many workshops keep one for proofs and sizing checks. For casting resin patterns, follow the resin and investment makers' burnout advice.
Does printed wax cast like carved wax?
It is designed to melt out like casting wax, but Flashforge publishes no burnout schedule for it. Start from your investment maker's wax schedule and run a test plate first. Wax expands as it warms. In a 2024 lab test, a solid sample of one FDM printing wax pushed about twice as hard as an injection wax, though its porous printed parts did better. The WaxJet's wax was not tested, so use a good quality investment, the full bench set and its maker's burnout schedule.
What CAD software works?
Anything that exports a clean STL, including Rhino, MatrixGold, 3Design or Blender with JewelCraft. You can keep designing the way you do now, and our jewellery CAD software guide compares the options.
How long does a print take?
It depends mainly on the height of the job, not how many pieces are on the plate. So a full plate of rings takes little longer than a single ring of the same height.
What does the printer need in the workshop?
A room between 18 and 24 °C (26 °C at most) at 30 to 70% humidity, a sturdy bench for a 115 kg machine, a power outlet your electrician has checked for 2.2 kW, routine print head care, and a solvent bath setup for removing support.
Do I need training?
Anyone comfortable with jewellery CAD picks up the basics quickly. Fine detail work benefits from hands-on training, and 3D Werk includes setup and training with a purchase.
Where do I start?
Ask us for sample prints, then follow the next two guides from the build plate to the flask. To weigh it up first, compare printed wax with castable resin, and work out whether printing in-house pays for your workshop with our jewellery cost calculator.
WHERE TO NEXT
From the build plate to the flask
GUIDE 1 OF 13 · THE BIG PICTURE
THE BIG PICTURE
1 · DESIGN
2 · PATTERNS
3 · CASTING
4 · AFTER CASTING