I had call this week from a jeweler looking at CAD/CAM for her store. Gloria already has the CAD software and has been thinking about buying a CNC Wax Mill to make some of her designs in house. Gloria is a long time customer so I was happy to help
Over the past few years CNC Wax Milling has become very affordable and tailored specifically for the jewelry industry. I have tested many of these machines and most of them are appropriate and very affordable now. There are some companies who focus their efforts in the jewelry industry like.
.
These firms market complete systems with jewelry design software along with all the training she would need to get started. These companies also have web forums for jewelers to share ideas and expand their abilities. ( I like this approach when someone creates a community )
My friend Gloria is the kind of independent woman who likes to change her own oil and rides motorcross.
There might be some other options for her to consider. There are several mainstream companies that
manufacture CNC Wax Mills like.
Roland
, Minitech, and 
MaxNC. 
These firms, along with many others, market the CNC Mill hardware With this option, Gloria would then have to buy jewelry specific software to run the machine from Proto-Wizard and pretty much go at it alone for her training. I recently spoke with a young jeweler in Michigan, Matthew Gross who took this choice several years ago. He struggled and in the process found a niche for training other jewelers about CNC. Matthew created a DVD with all the bells and whistles on his website for training.
For Gloria, and for most jewelers I think, the technology choice is about how much value to place on a user community. After all it is not just buying a CNC Wax Mill, it’s how you learn the art of milling. If anyone has some advice for Gloria….send me your comments…I am always looking for a good technology tip to pass along
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