Apr. 19, 2015 | By Alec
It’s hardly a secret that 3D printing technology is perfect for manufacturing intricate, beautifuly, original and meaningful pieces of jewelry, and its therefore hardly surprising that Shapeways is full of great examples. But did you know that don’t need a high-quality metal 3D printer to make beautiful and unique pieces of jewelry? That’s exactly what Instructables-user 10DotMatrix has proven when showing us how to turn spoken words into beautiful earrings and necklaces on a regular desktop 3D printer.
As you can see in the photos above, these pieces of jewelry consist of intricate pillars, that actually reflect the sound recording of 10DotMatrix saying ‘earring’ or ‘necklace’. However, the process of turning those recordings into 3D printable files can be applied to just about every sound recording – and its remarkably easy and affordable. So if you’re looking for an original gift for something (for instance a necklace that literally says ‘I love you’) than this is the perfect project for you. ‘Change the volume, speed, pitch, and accent of your voice to make unique shapes!’ its designer explains.
As 10DotMatrix explains, the project was inspired by a set of very original 3D printed chess pieces by Thiago Hersan, that also require a voice recording. Using that same technique (and the script made for that project), its remarkably easy to make these pieces of jewelry. You only need a couple of free programs: Audacity, Processing, GIMP and Fusion 360 . Aside from that, it’s just a matter of 3D printing the results as you would any other project.
Designing the jewelry itself is quite simple. Just download commonly used free and accessible audio editor Audacity and the LAME mp3 encoder. Through Audacity you can say and record the words until you’re happy with the result, and save these as an mp3 file by exporting them to LAME.
Afterwards, use Processing and the script by Thiago Hersan to turn those mp3 files into the cool characteristic wave forms. ‘I added commentary to his script for those wanting to understand it in detail. The script reads any mp3 file in its directory and returns a png. If you do not have Processing, download it here. Then download the folder 'AudioConverter' attached below,’ the designer writes.
Now you’re almost at the 3D printing stage, though you’ll need to convert these images into svg files first using GIMP. These files can then be turned into a 3D printable model using Fusion 360 or a similar piece of modeling software. This also means rescaling the jewelry to printable size and giving it a solid 360 degrees shape using the ‘Revolving’ option with a 360 Angle. If you’ve never worked with software like this before, just be sure to follow 10DotMatrix’s steps and it should all be fairly straightforward. Finally, export the file as STL and you’re ready to 3D print!
3D printing itself is fairly straightforward and depends on your own preferences and 3D printer. These particular examples were 3D printed in ABS (for a smoother surface) rather than PLA, but that depends on your own preferences. If you do choose ABS, 10DotMatrix advises preheating the build platform, using a 0.15 mm resolution and covering it in blue tape to avoid sticking. And if you’re working on earrings, be sure to 3D print two copies!
Is the software portion of the project a bit too complicated or time consuming? Fortunately 10DotMatrix has also shared her designs that you can download as STL files here. However, this project is a very cool and endlessly variable concept that definitely gives ‘original and unique jewelry’ a completely different meaning and well worth giving a go. What words will you give shape?
Posted in 3D Printing Applications
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