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I am new to 3D printing. I own jewelry stores and want to 3D print my jewelry packaging for rings, necklaces, and bangles as in the picture below:

Product photo of a jewelry ring box

I have two main problems:

  1. Is 3D printing capable of building this package?

  2. I know I can build boxes for jewelry with the outside being made of plastic. But I want the inside to be like a sponge. Is there a filament or a way to print a filament to make it look like cloth or a sponge?

  3. Are there printers on the market which are able to print several copies without the need to set up each time it finishes a single box?

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2 Answers 2

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With the right materials

With the right material, you can get flexible surfaces and prints. Just two random examples:

  • TPU is a flexible material, which can be used to print something like "Lips" that flex and take the jewelry or even strings that suspend the piece in the center.
  • Foaming TPU is a variant of normal TPU that expands during printing. This makes it somewhat spongey.

However, those have downsides: they don't make good rigid shells, so you will need two different materials: one hard for the shell, and something flexible for the holder.

Luckily, any direct drive filament printer can work with flexible filaments, and there are some flexible filaments that work with a Bowden setup. Due to dissimilar materials though, you need to either assemble the part or buy a somewhat specialized printer: one with two nozzles. These are available but are way out of hobby-grade pricing.

Also, you will never get the "smooth" silky look of a fabric insert cover, but always a clearly industrial printed surface.

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    $\begingroup$ A dual extruder printer isn't necessary here, you can design the inner flexible part slotting in place in the hard shell. That way a you can print each part separately, swapping the filament between prints. $\endgroup$
    – bracco23
    Aug 5, 2022 at 15:19
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I would advise against this, as you will get layer lines which isn't visible in normal form, and the fit wont be as smooth etc, resulting in a cheaper look & feel. You will spend a lot of effort modifiying the parameters to get a foamy look, but still end up with a worse product. Instead the best option is probably to buy EVA foam, and cut it with hot hire, or even a blade/knife.

I understand the jewelry is (probably) expensive, and thus you will want to give it a premium feel. One advice I would give is for the plastic box, consider SLA / Resin printing, and you will get almost injection moulding quality. However the chemicals involved with this are not as user friendly, and you will need to wear PPE and ensure a large amount of ventilation (as resin fumes can be toxic), however the quality will be much better

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