DESIGN AND MANAGEMENT OF INFORMATION SYSTEMS

Design and Management of Information Systems

ABSTRACT

This paper presents the investigation of computer-aided design and rapid prototyping technologies in jewelry design and manufacturing. Computer-aided design (CAD) and Rapid prototyping (RP) technologies play important roles in many industries including the jewelry industry. In this paper, CAD and RP technology is applied to design and build jewelry prototypes, and Rapid Tooling to build molds. The main aim of this paper is to describe the implementation of CAD and RP processes in the jewelry design and manufacturing. The applicability and effectiveness of RP, using Stereolithography Apparatus (SLA), is investigated in the field of jewelry model and mold making, moreover, the methodology is compared to conventional methods in term of time requiring, quality and manufacturing factors.

CAD/CAM Technologies in Jewelry Industry

CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION

INTRODUCTION

The jewelry industry has traditionally been regarded heavily craft-based, with automation generally restricted to machines in the various individual stages of jewelry manufacture. Jewelry design and model making are time-consuming tasks, which require skills in drawing and hand-made manufacturing. CAD and RP technology in jewelry design and manufacture offers a significant breakthrough [1]. Both allow designers to simplify the iterative design or to easily change or adjust details of the sketches, to facilitate sketching of jewelry products in any sizes, and to shorten the time require to make models.

Rapid prototyping technologies are additive processes that fabricate parts layer-by-layer called Layer Manufacturing (LM). They are capable of creating parts with small internal cavities and complex geometries. The process for rapid prototyping and manufacturing (RP&M) basically consist of three step: form the cross sections of the object to be manufactured, lay the cross sections layer by layer, and combine the layers [3].

Therefore, RP&M processes require only cross-sectional data to generate a physical object, and they eliminate the problems often encountered with other manufacturing processes and conventional methods. Moreover, RP&M processes also generate physical objects directly from geometric data without special tools.

StereoLithography Apparatus is a type of RP, which based on the use of a light-sensitive polymer fluid and a computer-driven laser scanning system [1], [4]. SLA process is illustrated in Fig.1.

Fig.1. Stereolithography SLA Process.

JEWELRY DESIGN PROCESS

Jewelry design process generally begins at the concepts of design, which have been derived from the customers or the company. Jewelry design process is illustrated in 3D Modeling Conversion to STL format Preparation

- Validation and Repair

- Orientation

- Design and Generation of Model Supports Slicing Models and Supports Part Building Post Processing Cleaning, Post curing, and Finishing

More details of jewelry deign process are described in [7].

Fig.2. Jewelry design process.

The jewelry company typically creates approximately 50-80 styles of jewelry products per week. Styles or fashion of jewelry products generally are defined referring to trends of new-fashioned clothes, colors, and social value judgment, and from ideas and concepts of the international and famous designers. In any interval, some jewelry styles are very popular and have good sales, then these styles will be imitated and modified in some details for market needs.

JEWELRY MAKING PROCESS

The jewelry making process begins with the ...