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 Author  Topic: shapeways price changes
HOLDEN8702

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Post a Reply To This Topic    Reply With Quotes     Edit Message     View Profile of HOLDEN8702  Posted on: May 8, 2017 - 10:37pm
THIS IS IMPORTANT: I was informed that after May 22nd 2017, shapeways will change the price for frosted detail material.

One of the changes is that they will charge 1 $ for each loose part in the model set.

This means that figure sets and multiparts sets will increase his price about a 250 %.

Probably small figure sets (form 1/64 and under) will be unafordable or even directly deleted from my catalog.

If you are interested on some of these and wants to order in a near future, this may be the last chance to do it.

Hope this helps.

Best regards

Luis


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Capt Speirs

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Post a Reply To This Topic    Reply With Quotes     Edit Message     View Profile of Capt Speirs  Posted on: May 9, 2017 - 9:13am
Thanks for the heads up. This may kill a significant part of their and your business. Unless frosted detail is a small part of their business, only people like you will suffer. This may also hamper future kits for us modelers.


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HOLDEN8702

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Post a Reply To This Topic    Reply With Quotes     Edit Message     View Profile of HOLDEN8702  Posted on: May 9, 2017 - 1:25pm
BOMBS AWAY!

https://www.shapeways.com/forum/t/roadmap-to-major-fud-improvements-starts-with-repricing.80212/


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Drew Cook

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Post a Reply To This Topic    Reply With Quotes     Edit Message     View Profile of Drew Cook  Posted on: May 9, 2017 - 2:27pm
Not very encouraging news...


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billpr

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Post a Reply To This Topic    Reply With Quotes     Edit Message     View Profile of billpr   Send Email To billpr Posted on: May 9, 2017 - 4:24pm
Well there goes the old wrench in the machinery! I have ordered many items from Holden, and he has helped me in the scales I needed. With no question asked! I like shapeways designers and only had three items damaged or lost parts.

The detail can't be beat. And the prices were a little high on some items, but worth it.

I may not be able to buy anymore because of the price change. I haven't read anything from shapeways yet. But I guest it coming.

Thanks for the heads up.




Bill P Reese

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Jeff D

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Post a Reply To This Topic    Reply With Quotes     Edit Message     View Profile of Jeff D   Send Email To Jeff D Posted on: May 10, 2017 - 1:14am
According to SW:

Beginning the week of May 22, 70% of products printed in FUD will become cheaper! Another 10% will remain the at current price, and for 20%, the price will increase.

But I'll believe that when I see it.

Although they added a charge for support wax used, they did come down on the actual plastic cost quite a bit. So taller parts with overhangs needing an equally tall wax support buildup will likely be the ones to suffer.

To "help" with this, their plans are:

At upload, our 3D model processing will automatically calculate the cheapest orientation for your model.

But surfaces facing up come out the best followed by sides and roughest at the bottom. So I try to orient my models to print accordingly. And although the following quote from that article sounds good:

This pricing structure also lays the groundwork for you to control the 3D printing orientation (more about this in near future).

I think it's also laying the groundwork for the answer to "why did my model jump up in price so much when I changed the print orientation for best quality?".

Up until a few years ago, the cost was purely plastic cc's used. Lots of sticker shock when they added the "machine space" charge.

I understand that they need to make money. Let's hope for the best.

Luis, one possibility would be to put many small parts in a mesh cage or "sintershell" as they call it.



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HOLDEN8702

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Post a Reply To This Topic    Reply With Quotes     Edit Message     View Profile of HOLDEN8702  Posted on: May 10, 2017 - 6:38am
Thanks, Jeff.

Yes, yesterday my main thoughts were about a cage with the figures or small ship parts into it...
but this morning I wake up thinking that a base mesh could also work with figures without increasing max height and material, sprueing only the figure shoe base.

Well, till I can test diferent solutions with a real final price, I'm absolutely blind.

Best regards

Luis


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Lew Zee

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Post a Reply To This Topic    Reply With Quotes     Edit Message     View Profile of Lew Zee   Send Email To Lew Zee Posted on: May 10, 2017 - 9:40am
Thanks for the update. I started using Shapeways at the beginning of this year. Think they are expensive, try someone else that has equal machines and quality. I found Shapeways to be 25-150% cheaper. I just wish they had a tough water resistant plastic.

Tips...

When I create my models that have multiple parts I add sprues. Sure that adds material, but it avoids the loose parts charge. Don't overdo it with the sprues in making them too thick. A slight undercut at where they join the part helps is making a cleaner cut. Also, try to attach the sprue in an inconspicuous surface such as the bottom of a shoe on a figure or between joints that are to be glued together.

Machine space - try to compact your parts close together to keep machine space at a minimum. Watch surfaces so that if you have one that is aat a slight angle (i.e. a wedge) orient it so the surface with the most importance is vertical or horizontal to avoid stairs-steps caused by the layering process, otherwise you will need sandpaper or files to correct this.

Lew
Lew's Model Boats (Shapeways store)
https://www.shapeways.com/shops/gunboat-61

Lew Zee

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Jeff D

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Post a Reply To This Topic    Reply With Quotes     Edit Message     View Profile of Jeff D   Send Email To Jeff D Posted on: May 10, 2017 - 12:00pm
I either use the mounting pins to sprue or even better make a sprue cage so no trimming is needed. Just cut the cage to free the part. Like on these 35th scale .50's I've been working on:



I made this cage with the changes in mind, minimal horizontal sprue up high that would need a tower of support wax. I hope it will be at least a 10 percenter with the new pricing...



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Jeff D

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Post a Reply To This Topic    Reply With Quotes     Edit Message     View Profile of Jeff D   Send Email To Jeff D Posted on: May 11, 2017 - 3:13am
Finished with more weird spruage. The flash hiders are on studs that don't go all the way up to the top horizontal bar to eliminate sprue trimming. The barrels are designed to be attached like the cool brass ones from Master Model as an option:



One thing you have to be careful of Lew is SW gremlins on models with joined pieces. They showed up on this model by disappearing one of the plates for the cocking mechanism. Luckily it came back when I added the barrels and hiders. Always closely inspect the upload to make sure everything is there.

I wonder if SW's model business is doing well enough to have them consider custom PE. There's so much that's just too thin to do right in plastic. I'd love to see Bridge's set become available.



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