2015 Volume 59 Issue 212 Pages 27-35
Industrial products have a production-related problem that it is not easy to accurately reproduce designs which product designers aimed. In watchcases, designs which have complicated patterns or undercuts' shapes correspond to that problem. When those designs are reproduced in products, a conventional machining method will not be satisfied at cost-effective processing time. Moreover, by a conventional press-forging method, it is not able to form a forging-die to reproduce shapes such as undercuts. In this study, we applied a 3D printer that has less limitation of molding shapes than a machining method or a forging method. Specifically, using Lost-wax casting process that used the "Master" molded by a 3D printer, we attempted to form the watchcase including complicated designs and undercut shapes which were not able to reproduce easily by conventional manufacturing processes. By this process, it was verified that the formation of the watchcase which reproduced the original design faithfully was possible.
