3D printing with wax


Discover the 3D Wax Printing Process

Additive manufacturing offers the possibility to 3D print using a wide range of materials from plastic to resin and metal. But what about wax 3D printing? There are actually different ways to print wax.

We are going to tell you about 3D printed wax processes and applications. Here is everything you need to know about wax 3D printing!

Wax 3D Printed Concept Models

How can wax be used for 3D printing?

There are actually different techniques to 3D print wax. 

3D printing with wax is used to create a precise 3D mold out of a 3D file thanks to the 3D lost wax casting technique. 3D Lost wax casting (or investment casting) is a production process. The casting process mainly allows to produce customizable jewelry of very high quality and 3D design complexity in various printing materials, such as metals.

3D printing with wax is used to create a precise 3D mold out of a 3D file thanks to the 3D lost wax casting technique.

3D Lost wax casting (or investment casting) is a production process. The cast process mainly allows to produce customizable jewelry of very high quality and 3D design complexity in various printer materials, such as metals.

The idea is to create concept models with 3D modeling and then 3D Print wax patterns of the desired object thanks to a wax 3D printer. Then, by adding a refractory material around this model we obtain a mold. Melting the wax filament inside the mold creates an empty space that is filled with the 3D printers material, molten metal. The only remaining step is to break the mold to obtain the final object. Variable finishing options for this 3D printing technology are then available

Lost wax casting technique (or investment casting) framework with 3d printed casting patterns 3D printed jewelry produced with Sterling silver thanks to the a 3d printed model with wax

In addition to the lost-wax casting process, it is possible to actually 3D print wax. The material often used to print wax is not real natural wax, but it is a wax-like material, the mechanical properties of this material are then similar to wax.


Wax 3D printing is made possible with technologies such as Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM) technology. Using an FDM 3D printer, the 3D printing filament material will allow you to get great wax molds.

What is the 3D Printing Process for Last Wax casting?

In the Additive Manufacturing industry, wax 3D printing is made with multi jet printers like the Projet 3500 CPX HD printer that is used at Sculpteo. Unlike filament printing technique, multi jet modeling process (MJM) looks a lot like ink jet technology. Molten wax filament is deposited by nozzles on an aluminum build platform that moves down, layer by layer. 3D Printers are able to simultaneously 3D print with two wax types: