The Mardon Way – Technology
May 30th, 2017 by James L. Sweaney, CGA, FGA. GGMardon has built its reputation as the best jeweler in the Inland Empire by creating its own way of doing business. The Mardon Way is to offer superior expert services along with distinctive merchandise in an information-rich atmosphere. In the old days, Mardon would have been known as a manufacturing jeweler. Today, we’ve added extra dimensions by using advanced technology to enhance our products and services. Our technology means we can offer unique jewelry and custom design services at very competitive prices.
Computer aided design (CAD) and modeling (CAM) gives us an efficient and flexible way to create original jewelry. We listen to your dreams, ideas and concepts and craft them into beautiful wearable jewelry using these highly efficient methods. Some stores that offer “custom” designs start from standardized design templates which are then tweaked just enough to be called custom. At Mardon, we design custom pieces from scratch. With few exceptions, our casting, setting and finishing is all done locally by the best craftsmen in town.
Pieces like wedding bands, medallions, pendants, and earrings that require precise detail or that have relatively simple forms are made on our ModelMaster 1000 CNC Mill. This is a high precision lathe controlled numerically by computer instructions (CNC) that are generated by a computer aided design program (CAD).
Other pieces that have more complex three dimensional forms are best made using our DigitalWax Rapid Protoype Machine, essentially a 3D printer. It uses a BluEdge laser to build a castable model out of plastic resins– the laser light moves back and forth to build the model in 5 micron layers. Wonderfully intricate and complex designs are now possible.
The newest addition to our arsenal of high tech is the Ortery 3D PhotoBench 60. This state-of-the-art imaging system is designed to take full advantage of the superb digital technology found in today’s cameras, including video and 3D imagery.We work diligently to illustrate the subjects of the Mardon blog faithfully– all part of our mission of honest representation and consumer education. We’re still learning, but in the coming months our new pieces will be shown in a new light!
We invest in these new technologies so that we can bring you the best product at the best prices. These tools are not cheap– the Model Master Milling system cost over $30,000 — but we’ve found that in the long run, they keep Mardon in the forefront as the Best Jeweler in the Inland Empire.
Voting for the Press Enterprise Reader’s Choice Survey ends Friday, June 2. Help us keep the streak going by voting Mardon — we’ve been voted Best Jeweler 9 years in a row. Go back to our home page for easy access to the survey– one click and you’ll be ready to vote. It’s so easy and you don’t have to complete all the pages or categories. Best of all, you can vote more than once.
Thank you for your vote~ we promise to continue to strive to be the best!
Tags: DigitalWax 008 Rapid Protoype Machine, ModelMaster 1000 CNC Mill, Ortery 3D PhotoBench 60