Flashforge enters wax 3D printing with WJ51C material jetting system

Flashforge has launched the WJ51C, a wax 3D printer using material jetting (MultiJet Printing) technology, targeting the jewelry and investment casting market. The machine offers a 235×138×100mm build volume, 15-micron minimum layer thickness, and dimensional accuracy of ±0.04mm. It uses proprietary wax build and support blocks, with the support dissolved by solvent. Pricing is not officially disclosed, but a US distributor lists it at $768 per month for 60 months, implying a total cost around $35,000. The printer weighs 115 kg and is designed for continuous operation, consuming up to 4 kg of wax monthly at a material cost of roughly $0.46 per gram for build wax and $0.18 per gram for support.

This release reopens a segment that lost its dominant incumbent when Stratasys shuttered Solidscape in 2024. Solidscape's wax jetting process was the established standard for direct wax patterns in lost-wax casting, used by jewelry manufacturers and dental labs. Since then, the gap has been filled by castable resins on vat photopolymerization systems from Formlabs, Phrozen, and Elegoo, as well as FDM/FFF wax filaments. Flashforge's WJ51C competes directly on workflow simplicity — no resin washing or curing, no filament spool management — and on surface finish, which reduces post-processing for jewelry applications. At roughly $35,000, it sits above entry-level DLP/SLA systems (under $5,000) but below industrial wax jetting machines that historically cost $100,000+. The key question is whether Flashforge can build a reliable materials ecosystem and service channel for jewelry professionals, a vertical that values uptime and repeatability over raw specs.

For jewelry studios producing custom pieces in volume, the WJ51C offers a dedicated wax-printing workflow that eliminates the burnout variability of castable resins. Flashforge's execution risk lies in material consistency and jetting head reliability over sustained production runs. Buyers should verify support availability and test wax compatibility with their existing casting houses before committing to the financing plan. This is a pragmatic product extension for Flashforge, not a category invention — the real test is whether it can match the ease-of-use that Solidscape users lost.