3D Printing & Model Making Resources

[Blindhorizon]

Yes please, i am very interested too. I have a project i am planning on using it with, that you are familure with fleafa but you have me worried now.

Blind-

[mangozac]

Don't stress guys: I've seen his results and they are promising enough that I'm planning to get some test prints of my own done. I'm sure Fleafa will be along soon enough to share his results

[Fleafa]

Shapeways wax prints:

Very soft. I dropped one prior to casting and it was smushed up beyond use. The gorget broke off all four masters when I cut the mould.
The quality is beautiful, with a nice, though slightly grainy, surface finish and decent detail. I prefer Sculpteo's hard wax for longevity, but they have quality issues (the bottom of prints lose detail)


Sculpteo wax prints:


Wax is being taken off the Sculpteo webstore but you can still email for quotes.

[Malika]

Hmm, so it's not yet a real alternative to the already existing high-end services?

[Blindhorizon]

That looks very nice, how hard was it to mould up? I go about it the classic way of attaching a piece to a sprue/overflow. Will it even adhere with glue?

[mangozac]

To make life easier it would be best to print the sprue attachment with the part.

[Blindhorizon]

Thats what i was thinking, I wonder how much more that will increase the cost of the print. I do feel that their pricing is very cheap compared to others out there, so the risk may be worth the reward?

[mangozac]

It's $8 per cubic centimetre, so surely no more than a few dollars?

[Malika]

Hmm, but how grainy is it? Especially after a layer of paint?

[Fleafa]

Superglue does work, but moulding the sprue would be easier, if a little more expensive.
I don't think the graininess is a problem.

[Malika]

Does anybody have any experience with Prodos Games' printing services?

http://www.gamewire.belloflostsouls.net ... g-service/

[tiikki]

I run a 3D printing service in Finland.
It is called Protopaja Kalliokoski, web page is practically only in Finnish (at the moment.
Main business is prototype production with 3D printing, but at the moment I'm trying to get mold making and resin casting going. (Those are not yet offered publicly to customers as I'm not yet satisfied with results.)
I've got multiple machines and the line up is at the moment: Stratasys Dimension 1200 SST, ProJet 3510 SD, ZPrinters Z510 and Z450. So I have professional quality machines for FDM, UV hardened resin and full color sandstone. When compared to Shapeways the UV is same as Frosted Detail Plastic (not ultra nor extreme detail) and sandstone in my case is CMY and not CMYK and the accuracy on Z510 is officially same as in their newer model (Z450 is little bit less accurate.)

[Malika]

Shapeways are at it again, but is it worth it?

https://www.shapeways.com/materials/hig ... n-acrylate

[mangozac]

Interesting. The detail on their examples looks a bit soft in places, but it's hard to tell if that's just due to a design not particularly suitable for printing. Layer thickness is 50 microns - my understanding is that really you want to be under half that.

[Malika]

I'm tempted to do a test print to see what it's actually like. But the layer thing does sound a bit...problematic. Let's see.