Is Shapeways Dying?

[crrcoal]

Luckily I received my, probably last, order from Shapeways yesterday. A set of cab signal boxes. Soaking in Bestine now.

Hopefully someone else steps up and offers services or somehow files can be made available.

[John]

Well I should have known I'd be late to the party. 

Here's to hoping no one got "stuck" by this event.

It happens -- we usually merge the duplicates - on the bright side, you are one post closer to the magic

[John]

Luckily I received my, probably last, order from Shapeways yesterday. A set of cab signal boxes. Soaking in Bestine now.

Hopefully someone else steps up and offers services or somehow files can be made available.

Check out CMR Products - he makes a lot of thos detail boxes

[up1950s]

https://www.tctmagazine.com/additive-manufacturing-3d-printing-news/latest-additive-manufacturing-3d-printing-news/shapeways-ceases-operations-and-files-for-bankruptcy/

[dougnelson]

Sorry, but it is BS to say this is no big loss. Yes their marketplace was expensive, and yes the quality/technology was not up to the latest standards, but the value of SW was the massive crowd-sourced library of designs available. Even if you have a 3D printer, do you have time to reinvent the wheels (millions of hours) already invested in the designs?  Maybe their search engine was not ideal, but I had no problem finding unique designs from James Norris (PRR Baldwin transfer loco shells), Michael B’s PRR passenger cars, John’s PRR Parts, Jan’s massive library of vehicles, and numerous other offerings. I hope someone creates a platform that makes the SW design library available for downloading so the many designers can get some return for their work. If there is no reward, there is no incentive to create and share designs.

[ridinshotgun]

Sorry, but it is BS to say this is no big loss. Yes their marketplace was expensive, and yes the quality/technology was not up to the latest standards, but the value of SW was the massive crowd-sourced library of designs available. Even if you have a 3D printer, do you have time to reinvent the wheels (millions of hours) already invested in the designs?  Maybe their search engine was not ideal, but I had no problem finding unique designs from James Norris (PRR Baldwin transfer loco shells), Michael B’s PRR passenger cars, John’s PRR Parts, Jan’s massive library of vehicles, and numerous other offerings. I hope someone creates a platform that makes the SW design library available for downloading so the many designers can get some return for their work. If there is no reward, there is no incentive to create and share designs.

What you are asking for already exists.  It is either Thingiverse or Cults.  Both allow designers to upload their STL files to those websites and users can download the files to print on their own.  Some designers provide their files for free but many charge a modest fee for downloading the file.  A very few are ridiculously priced too.

The search function for both sites absolutely stinks so maybe with the demise of Shapeways a bunch of designers that make model railroad stuff can get them to create a new category to make things easier to find.

[Pizzaparty]

I find it a loss. I don’t have time to mess with 3d printing. Nor do I want to invest 3-400 into a printer to have another “hobby” on top of what little time I can devote to trains.

[chessie system fan]

A significant difference between Shapeways and Thingverse or Cults is that with Shapeways the buyer doesn't have access to the STL files, so the designer keeps their intellectual property intact.  Though since I never uploaded a design to Shapeways or read the fine print, if I upload a file to them, who actually owns the file? The designer, or Shapeways?

[robert3985]

I find it a loss. I don’t have time to mess with 3d printing. Nor do I want to invest 3-400 into a printer to have another “hobby” on top of what little time I can devote to trains.

I find it a loss also, but...model railroading is a collection of hobbies (1) Electronics (2) Carpentry (3) Historical Research (4) Photography (5) Videography (6) Model Building (7) Painting ( 8 ) Kit Assembly (9) Machining (10) CAD (11) 3D Modeling (12) Artistic Scenery Painting (13) Electrical (14) Soldering and many more.

Sure, we all have to choose which "hobbies" that comprise the hobby of model railroading we wish to learn and become proficient at...but truthfully, for less than the cost of a lashup of DCC/Sound locomotives, you can be making your own parts, body shells, etc. with a few days without having to wait forever for your parts to arrive, nor having to pay an exorbitant price for a few poorly finished detail parts.

One of the very nice things about having your own quality 3D printer is that all you do is either create or download an appropriate file, scale, support and slice it, give that information to your printer...and the printer builds the model(s) while you do something else.  Then, when it's finished printing, you wash & cure your parts and you're done with it.  After you invest a bit of time to learn how to do it, it isn't difficult...and the vast majority of the time to make the things you need for your N-scale model railroad is mostly done by the printer...not you.

3D printing is just another tool in the toolbox, and we gotta learn to use each and every one we choose to use in our modeling efforts...unless you only want to buy your RTR models, snap together your sectional track, and run on a tabletop or the family room carpet. Nothing wrong with obviously, but it severely limits the "model" part of model railroading...which involves construction of either a low or high level...usually somewhere in-between.

I'm always sorry to see a model railroad source go belly-up or decide to close down due to the advancing age of the original owners, and although I haven't bought anything from Shapeways in several years, I know several modelers who are gonna be hit hard with the loss of this resource.

Cheerio!
Bob Gilmore

[sirenwerks]

Did anyone else receive a letter in the mail recently from the attorneys of Shapeways regarding its bankruptcy. I did, and thought it was kinda weird since I did not have a shop, hadn't actually ordered from the company in years, and only had a shopping cart full of stuff I wanted to order. I guess that's a good way to CYA, and piss away what little money they had.


Ultimately, this is good and bad for me. It kicks me in the a$$ to actually buy a 3D printer and forces me to learn the required design skills. Unfortunately the need for the latter will put my modelling way behind since I don't have time to commit to that. But worse, the products that designers on Shapeways had that I wanted, and they had already designed, may be lost. I am especially concerned about Madaboutcars' inventory being lost... so much goodness I wanted there. There are others that will disappear or be dispersed to the wind to try to find again too.


It just kinda feels like a waste though. I can't for the life of me think why the company owners tinkered with the system rather than trying to stay ahead of the market in terms of features and quality that would have made them desirable, even to folks who had their own printers. Like metal printing, or adding fret etching services, etc. It's like watching a horror movie and seeing the mass murder around the corner from where the next victim is about to round - yet another proven example of corporate life-cycle models and their multiple points of failure.

[Chris333]

No letter, no e-mail, no nothing from them.

[sirenwerks]

No letter, no e-mail, no nothing from them.

Letter was from the US Bankruptcy Court. It was a notice of chapter 7 bankruptcy. That's why I thought it odd, a lowly customer receiving it.

[C855B]

No letter, no e-mail, no nothing from them.

Not yet for me, at least. I spent $100s on loco shells plus detail parts, so it's not like I didn't have a relationship with 'em.

[peteski]

It just kinda feels like a waste though. I can't for the life of me think why the company owners tinkered with the system rather than trying to stay ahead of the market in terms of features and quality that would have made them desirable, even to folks who had their own printers. Like metal printing, or adding fret etching services, etc. It's like watching a horror movie and seeing the mass murder around the corner from where the next victim is about to round - yet another proven example of corporate life-cycle models and their multiple points of failure.

It wasn't just poor management.  According to Mike  in reply #10:
A little research answered my question - they were bought-out by "Galileo Acquisition Corp". Apparently the market didn't take this well and it was a steep downhill slide from there.

As to @Chris333 's comments about never making a profit, according to SEC registration statements they were making a healthy profit... until that merger with Galileo. Edu-guess was that Galileo is/was a predatory holding company that acquires then sucks smaller profitable firms dry until they bankrupt them.

Typical mergers/acquisitions. Capitalism at its best/worst.

[Chris333]

I just assumed it was profit. They were a start up with around $10 million from investors to get going. Back around 2018 when they jacked everything up I read it was because the start up money was running out and they needed to turn around and start making a profit for the investors.

Also saw somewhere that someone had made $30k in profit from selling (MRR) prints over the years. If I guessed high, I'd say I've made about $200 bucks total from them. But again most of my stuff has no mark up and most of my stuff was just for me so I offered it. Meaning it might not be stuff people even want.

Got 4 printers sitting on the table...