-andrew- Posted December 8, 2015 Share Posted December 8, 2015 Hi all- I'd like to begin printing some 3D stuff online including a few jewelry pieces (pendants)... I like what I see on Shapeways, but am wondering if anyone here has any experience with them or other online printing services. thanks, Andrew Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
etroxel Posted December 8, 2015 Share Posted December 8, 2015 Shapeways is great. They are fast, affordable, and typically have the best tech because they're always investing in the latest machines. Their SLS printers do great work. I like them because the final output is very strong. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
setz Posted December 8, 2015 Share Posted December 8, 2015 I had some rings I had modeled, I ordered them made in silver at Shapeways and was very pleased with the results. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
-andrew- Posted December 8, 2015 Author Share Posted December 8, 2015 Thanks!! That's great news. Can anyone recommend a guide / reference for preparing files from fZ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
setz Posted December 8, 2015 Share Posted December 8, 2015 Use Object Doctor to spot any issues and make sure that your object(s) is watertight - a closed solid. Shapeways has online interactive software that evaluates problem areas and shows those areas clearly with a red color. The problem areas are different for different for different types of materials so upload your model, choose the material you want and then see what if anything needs to be modified. My ring models had areas that showed as marginally too thin for the lost wax process. I didn't want to make those areas thicker so I left them as they were and they actually came out fine. Export as .stl and verify the size of the bounding box in their software to ensure scale is accurate. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
-andrew- Posted December 10, 2015 Author Share Posted December 10, 2015 Thanks setz! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bartjuan Posted December 10, 2015 Share Posted December 10, 2015 I have had great success with Shapeways as well. In addition, Redeye On Demand now called Stratasys Direct Manufacturing makes incredible parts. https://www.stratasysdirect.com/ The are operated by Stratasys, the manufacturer of many high end 3D printers including Objet UV resin printers/ I like working with them because each file is reviewed y staff to ensure the best print outcome. They are not cheap but, you get what you pay for. Bart Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tech Posted December 14, 2015 Share Posted December 14, 2015 Hi Andrew, Yes, formZ is great for making models for prototyping via CAM or 3d Printing. Just make sure that you have constructed your models as solids, and that they have clean geometry. As suggested above, the Object Doctor can help you analyze and often fix issues. One important distinction with the Object Doctor is that the Fix option will ONLY display results that have been fixed, and you will want to run it with the Add to Selection option to see what issues truly exist in the object(s). STL printing only prints Solid, Facetted, Triangulated objects, so if you have a Smooth object, it should automatically be converted to that (based on the current Display Resolution settings for the object(s) or Export Options), but we have seen a few "fairly rare" cases where this could potentially introduce an issue with the Facetted version. If you ever encounter that, using the Polygon Mesh tool with the Advanced Options -- set it to All Triangles, and uncheck everything except for the Normal Angle Tolerance field (and perhaps a 5 or 10 degree angle) and use those options to Convert the Smooth geometry, then that will typically fix the issue. Does that help? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.