MUDHEN336 wrote:Wow! This stuff looks great! How does shapeways work? Do they actually produce the item and mail it to you or are you buying the CAD file and have to print it on your own 3D printer?
@ MUDHEN336,
To have an idea on how 3D printed parts are made, how Shapeways laboratory operates and how the final 3D printed parts look like, feel free to have a look
HERE (on my
1/18 Flettner 282 Kolibri build) where I explain in a very detailed way all the things you would like to know about. If you need more info, you are mostly welcome to ask.
Keep in mind that Shapeways do the 3D printing - not me. For example, (regarding the previously mention 1/18 scale Flettner 282 kit, the parts are produced by Shapeways under a special agreement with Anyuta 3D (check my signature and click for products catalog) since Shapeways uses the CAD digital file which is property of Anyuta 3D. For people who are not familiar with 3D printing, let me say that Shapeways is NOT a scale model company. It is a Dutch founded, New York based 3D printing marketplace and service company.
They do the selling, the kit production, the packaging and shipping. Due to increased 3D printed items manufacturing demand and workload in factory, a complete kit (for example the Flettner 282 model kit you see in above pics) takes about 5 to 7 days to get produced after order. Depending customer’s location, the 3D printed parts are produced at one of two Shapeways production lines based at NYC Long Island, USA or Eindhoven, Netherlands and shipped Worldwide, right at modeler's doorstep by USPS, UPS and DHL (24hrs to 48hrs delivery time) with most reasonable prices (if I am not mistaken, the shipping charges for EU are about €8 to €10 for the 24 hrs delivery which I think is a super price).
As a special digital fabrication lab, they are equipped with a high-precision & high-cost "ProJet HD 3000" machine for creating custom made-to-order products. The printing layers can be as thin as 16 microns. Matterial used (for producing this Flettner 282 model kit you see on pictures and all the 3D printed Flettner kits sold untill now), is the best available (and most expensive too) in market for such scale modeling use: It is called "FUD" (Frosted Ultra Detail) or VisiJet SR 200. It is a UV light cured acrylic polymer plastic material with ± 0.025 mm accuracy for every 25.40 mm. It's actually an organic mixture, consists of 55% triethylene glycol dimethacrylate ester and 45% urethane acrylate polymer.
The 3D printed items produced with this "FUD" matterial can be as thin as 0.3mm (for example the above pictured oil drums or fuel canisters) and the machine is able to accurately replicate embossed or engraved details (for example rivets, panel lines etc) as high or deep as 0.1mm (one-tenth-of-milimeter). There is also another matterial called "FXD" (Frosted Xtreme detail) which is very similar to the "FUD" material, using the same base resin and printer, but with much better resolution settings and highest detail. The only problem is that since "FXD" matterial cannot be used for items bigger than 5cm. Therefore it can be used for small miniatures, figurines and tiny details only.
Both "FUD" and "FXD" materials are printed using the “MJM” (Multi Jet Modeling) process. During this MJM process, cartridges of acrylate and/or wax material are heated and the plastic material is fired in ballistic micro droplets from a multi-chambered print head containing hundreds of Piezo jets. Molten plastic is deposited onto an aluminum build platform in layers using several nozzles, essentially like a large print that sweeps across the build layer. As the heated material jets onto the build plate, it solidifies instantly. After each layer is deposited, it is cured & polymerized by a wide area UV lamp. The next layer then applied, and through this repeated process layers of thermoplastic build up into a model. This method can print durable plastic parts with a high level of detail and accuracy as well as burnout materials and real wax parts for casting. Both materials utilize a waxy support material that is dissolved after printing is completed. Because the support material slightly changes the texture of the product and isn’t applied to the entire product, you will see slight variability in texture over the surface of the model.
Have a look on some example pictrures of a project I am currently working with. I shot a picture showing two parts with curvy cylilndrical shape. I chose a cylindrical shape like this, because it is ideal to represent how smooth (or not) the final 3D printed item looks like and if the printing process layers are visible or not. Both of them are produced with "FUD". The translucent part is pictured without any cleaning after received from factory. The white cylinder is washed (to remove oil & wax residues from MJM process during production) and later airbrushed with Ammo Mig Jimenez AMIG2004 “White waterborne polymer primer”. As a size comparison, there is a EUR cent coin (16 mm Ø) next to them.
I hope the above (long) answer, gives you the info you asked about the 3D printed parts resolution. If all the above were not enough about matterial quality and machine resolution, I am sure that following picture will be.
Although “Anyuta 3D” founded back on 2012 originally operated solely on digital projects for use in industrial construction, later expanded into the scale modeling hobby too by designing & manufacturing complete scale models, after market kits and accessories for the modeller who seeks something different. Nowdays, “Anyuta 3D” apart from it’s own retail scale modeling related products, also creates complete 3D printed model kits or partial 3D digital designs on behalf of international scale model companies or custom work for individual customers such as museums & collectors. For example, have a look on the following PZL P.11c pictures, a project CAD designed by “Anyuta 3D” as a commision work for an international scale model company, in order to be mass produced as an injection molded kit, available for sale into your local hobby shop.