Shapeways new Fine Detail Plastics

[Dirk Jan Blikkendaal]

Gentleman......

I ordered some items from Shapeways in the new Gray Fine Detail Plastic version.... and I am happy with them.
First if all no fuzzy white stuff anywhere anymore on the backside and certainly crisper.
This means cleaning is a lot easier.. I just left them overnight in a diluted degreaser called Dasty here in Europe which is more or less the equivalent of Goo Gone, but prints were quite clean already and certainly not sticky like the previous Smooth or Smoothest.
And getting them was very quick...... parts were ordered last Friday under the promo they are offering right now, and delivery was Tuesday already (under the cheapest delivery option available, so no extra shipping cost).
That could be because not too many orders right now for this new product, but I have always received my orders within 10 days max.
Its not all sunshine...... thinner walls tend to warp a bit...... something I never experienced with the previous materials.
But that is easily and quickly corrected by heating the models a bit with my wife's hairdryer and bending the sides straight before cooling. Probably all this could be avoided by adding some extra crossbraces.
Also the top surface of the models still shows some stairstepping despite the 28 micron printing claim..... I assume thats mainly because the top surfaces are very slick in the new material and the curvature of the roof is minimal. Priming them with diluted Mister Surfacer Primer 1000 solved this a bit and brought out the details.
See the pictures below... the first 2 are as delivered on Tuesday..... the third is a comparison (Gray as delivered, primed in the middle and the older Smooth)..... the fourth is another comparison..... and the last 2 show how it looks after lightly priming them. The 3rd picture showed a great improvement over the older Smooth.....
All in all I think this new material is a nice improvement certainly given the fact pricing is just slightly higher than Smooth but a lot cheaper than Smoothest. Orientation is important and printing all sides flat could be considered.
I know there are some good resin printers around these days that produce very good/cheaper prints but reading/following different forums I see that doing everything yourself is not always failure proof........ and no nasty support spots...... plus I simply do not have the extra time available to get fully involved into the 3D printing process........ and if I consider the investment of a nice 8K resin printer and everything else involved plus the number of prints I will be making the Shapeways new material is not so bad and worth its money.......   
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[Lemosteam]

I just ordered some parts in the gray and clear.  And I agree, I think not to many orders for this machine yet, as mine went straight to print overnight.

Hopefully I will get mine quickly as well!

All of the design requirements are the same as FUD/FXD and the resoluti0n is the same, but the material page is not clear if gray and clear are equal to FUD or FXD.

[Dirk Jan Blikkendaal]

John,

The specifications are certainly the same - I agree/no need to adjust the STL files - but the new GRAY might be just a little touchy for small protruding details....
If you look at the picture with the 2 doodlebug noses (GRAY and  SMOOTH) you will notice the running board along the radiator is a styrene replacement/repair.
Also both forward silencers just behind the radiators I had to replace. Both these details are just on the edge of the specs and are prone to damage (I had one of these silencers missing in previous SMOOTH prints as well).
I guess they were lost in the cleaning process. All other very thin details (window sunshades, forward roof edge, were printed a lot sharper/better than the previous SMOOTH.
Looking forward to read your observations shortly!

DIrk

[bbussey]

There are a couple of body shells I have in my personal SW account that I tried to test with the new gray plastic, but it wasn’t an available option. In the ESM account, I ordered the three White Tower buildings in gray to see how they render. If better than FXD, I’ll adjust the public purchasing options.

[robert3985]

Man, if I have layer lines like that throughout any print I make with my new AnyCubic Photon M3 Premium 8k 28.5micron printer, I am just going to take my .45 to it.

Printing with my old 2k Photon yielded much better results...with a 2k RGB screen.

I am expecting smooth sides, and smooth curved surfaces with the appropriate anti-aliasing and blur factored into the new machine.

I would never ever be happy with a print like what I'm seeing in what @Dirk Jan Blikkendaal is posting he's getting from Shapeways.

Still waiting on my resin to arrive.  One week for the printer to show up...so far two weeks +3 days for the resin.

Cheerio!
Bob Gilmore

[Lemosteam]

Ok, received my first prints in the new material.

Before cleaning:

Low cost gray:










Clear ultra.







After a Bestine bath:

Gray:










Clear:







Worthington heater kit assembled:



Overall, I am impressed. Much less wax to clean, but still some fuzzies. I did not try to use the air eraser on the materials to remove it.

Both materials rendered my hex heads well, as you can see.

Here is one of the concrete bumpers painted:

[robert3985]

Ok, received my first prints in the new material.

Before cleaning:

Low cost gray:










Clear ultra.







After a Bestine bath:

Gray:










Clear:







Worthington heater kit assembled:



Overall, I am impressed. Much less wax to clean, but still some fuzzies. I did not try to use the air eraser on the materials to remove it.

Both materials rendered my hex heads well, as you can see.

Here is one of the concrete bumpers painted:

Please, include something like a dime or paperclip or ruler to show relative sizes of these prints.

Cheerio!
Bob Gilmore

[nickelplate759]

Clearly (no pun indented) better than FUD or FXD. 
I would very much like to see how these parts look after being primed.

I'm wondering if I should junk an FUD H10-44 shell (by South Boulder Modelworks) I am struggling to make look good and reprint it in the new material.

[Lemosteam]

Hi Robert, everything is n scale.

If you can see the fibers in the construction paper, the parts are pretty small. The cast ribs all around the edges of the Worthington heaters is 0.15mm wide by 0.15mm high. The bumper is about 3.5mm wide. The bolt heads are 0.2mm across flats and 0.2mm high.

The heater itself is about 5.5mm tall, and 2.5mm thick. The pipe is 1.125mm diameter, and the bolt heads around the flanges are 0.15mm across flats and 0.15mm high.

The knuckle bumper on the concrete bumper is to scale for a proto coupler.

Maybe this will help.

[samusi01]

Picked up some 89' flatcars from Shapeways on Monday. I have not cleaned these at all - straight out of the box. Overall fairly impressed, the only issue is both pairs are slightly warped, an issue I had with the single one I sent to them late last year. When I get back home in a couple of weeks, I'll try cleaning and some sort of straightening exercise, although I am not optimistic about how the flats will react when I separate the. Details including the tiedown rings seem to have printed well.

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[Lemosteam]

Picked up some 89' flatcars from Shapeways on Monday. I have not cleaned these at all - straight out of the box. Overall fairly impressed, the only issue is both pairs are slightly warped, an issue I had with the single one I sent to them late last year. When I get back home in a couple of weeks, I'll try cleaning and some sort of straightening exercise, although I am not optimistic about how the flats will react when I separate the. Details including the tiedown rings seem to have printed well.

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Looks good- what was/is the printing orientation that you set, if any, or did you buy these from someone's shop?

[samusi01]

@Lemosteam

I didn't think of setting an orientation, although I should have. The one I've printed at home on my Saturn 2 have also exhibited various degrees of warp, getting worse as the car draws closer to horizontal. These are one of my own designs.

[samusi01]

Tried straightening the gray models with hot water... plus side is, the vertical warp is gone. The down side...

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