Jewelry, Shoe Molds, 3C: BJ Metal Printing Scales Up-3DPTimes

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Jewelry, Shoe Molds, 3C: BJ Metal Printing Scales Up

September 24, 2026 News 9591

At the Formnext show in Shenzhen, China, Yizhi Technology launched a new binder jetting (BJ) metal 3D printer, targeting batch production for jewelry, shoe molds, and 3C.

The core upgrade is consistency. Mr. Cai said density deviation has been brought down to 0.5%, and the dimensional deviation of a 50 mm part is controlled within 0.1 mm. “For batch production of 100,000 or 200,000 parts, they have to be identical.”

Jewelry is the hottest application. Printed parts show almost no visible surface lines to the naked eye, and customers can hardly find them even with a magnifying glass. Sintering requires no supports, with very little manual involvement. For shoe molds, textures are printed directly, eliminating chemical etching. This is more environmentally friendly and lowers costs, with speed and cost now close to traditional precision casting. One customer estimated that even if the parts were sold at SLM prices, gross margin would still be 50%–70%, and the technology is already being used in batch production. In high-polish applications, 3C and jewelry parts can be used directly as mirror-like surfaces with almost no defects. Heat-dissipation pillars are 0.1–0.2 mm in diameter, and the fine structures meet requirements. BJ has advantages in speed, efficiency, and precision, but large-scale production is still at an early stage.

On the process side, BJ needs no supports. After printing, the powder cures, and about 90% falls back into the build chamber. The parts on the platform are then ultrasonically washed and become clean in about 10 seconds, with a uniform surface. Automation is high, and one operator can oversee five machines.

Mr. Cai has worked on BJ for 14 years. He believes batch applications depend on five points: high automation, low manual involvement, high consistency, costs that are not too high, and speed that is not too slow. He noted that the industry still has many misconceptions about BJ. Shoe molds and polished parts are often doubted as “impossible to make.” The best way to understand it is to experience it firsthand.

Observation: 0.5% density consistency is a key threshold for BJ to move from prototyping to batch manufacturing. Once it crosses that threshold, fields such as jewelry and shoe molds—where surface quality and dimensional stability are critical—will truly be ready to replace traditional processes.