Is Shapeways Dying?

[garethashenden]

Galileo was a SPAC, a Special Purpose Acquisition Company. Basically you list an empty company on the stock exchange and that company then acquires a privately held company. This is one of the ways a company can go public. They completed the merger and became a publicly traded company in 2021.

[Specter3]

Well, i have to imagine the original owners of shapeways were paid by the acquisition company and sailed happily off into the sunset. After that you are dealing with corporate structure who may or may not have any idea about how to run such an organization.

[Lemosteam]

This is the article that convinced me to shutter Keystone Details:

https://3dprintingindustry.com/news/shapeways-bankrupt-5m-rescue-bid-rejected-231387/

[dougnelson]

Final project using Shapeways products. Very nicely designed PRR GR gondolas. I wish I had ordered a dozen more.



A few other projects made possible with Shapeways products:

Auto frame load.


Baldwin Tranfer unit from James Norris:


P70fr coach from Michael B.:


Not to mention all of John’s great Keystone Details products.

[chessie system fan]

I just noticed that David Cutting is selling all of his N scale STL files now in one big lot.

https://cults3d.com/en/3d-model/game/n-scale-1-160-wasatch-scale-models-all-files

[3rdboxcar]

Well it is pretty definite Shapeways is dead, I just got my creditors notice from a firm of solicitors in Wilmington DE this morning handling the bankruptcy with passcodes for a zoom meeting being held in early August.

[brill27mcb]

Alexander, do you have any plans for possibly continuing to make your many N scale Chicago, North Shore and Milwaukee interurban models available in some way? They were among the best-designed interurban / trolley shells, being largely to-scale while fitting Tomytec motorized chassis, and being designed with a stepped inside wall to stop chassis insertion at the right height. Plus, decals are available for them - not true of most  3D-printed or resin N scale trolley shells being offered. Having them disappear because of the demise of Shapeways has been a real blow.

Rich K.

[Chris333]

Wonder why they are paying to keep the website up?

[3rdboxcar]

Rich - thanks for the kind comments, I am still thinking the options, I have just ordered a resin printer, if that works ok it may then be having to set up my own shop, whilst shapeways had their faults they were a platform to get models out the door at a relatively good quality and without the designer spending hours producing and on running a shop and all that entails. So watch this space at the moment.

Chris - from what I gather the web site is just running along on it's own, it is decidedly flaky at times and may just fall over completely which I am surprised it has not.

We will have to wait and see.

[C855B]

...
Chris - from what I gather the web site is just running along on it's own, it is decidedly flaky at times and may just fall over completely which I am surprised it has not.
...

You're right. Like I said earlier, a Chapter 7 means nobody is to touch anything until the trustee says so. Anything setup to run autonomously and especially anything offsite is going to tick along, probably until the third monthly past due invoice goes unpaid and the server farm provider shuts it down. Or never shuts it down. Storage is so cheap these days to consider it free, so the main consideration for a web hosting company is bandwidth. If a site goes fallow because the business that built it has vanished, there is little or no bandwidth consumed and therefore it likely doesn't get flagged until somebody or something decides to purge inactive accounts. Zombie websites are everywhere.

[sd45elect2000]

Rich - thanks for the kind comments, I am still thinking the options, I have just ordered a resin printer, if that works ok it may then be having to set up my own shop, whilst shapeways had their faults they were a platform to get models out the door at a relatively good quality and without the designer spending hours producing and on running a shop and all that entails. So watch this space at the moment.

Chris - from what I gather the web site is just running along on it's own, it is decidedly flaky at times and may just fall over completely which I am surprised it has not.

We will have to wait and see.

 I’m glad I got my CNS&M cars when I did. I have the entire fleet!

Randy

[Dirk Jan Blikkendaal]

It still is a pity Shapeways is gone... .served a purpose when it started ..... lately not so good unfortunately...
I - www.atsfnscalemodels.com - bought a UNIFORMATIO GK2 (using Sunlu ABS like gray or black resin, tough, not brittle, a bit flexible) beginning this year and I am very happy with it...... perfect prints and everything in my own hands and not that messy to operate,
Gave my also the opportunity to print in other scales besides N scale......
 

[JMaurer1]

It IS a pity that Shapeways is gone, but they kind of did it to themselves. It started as a great idea, but then they started raising the prices...and the shipping, and they also ignored the signs of what was coming. Think Tower Records (or Licorice Pizza or fill in the blank record shop) and Blockbuster Video. Heck, cable TV and streaming services are having the same thing happen to them now. I liked and used Shapeways in the beginning, then they priced me out of the market and were surprised when they were in that downward spiral that only ends when you hit the ground. I'm sure that they could have done things differently (and in hindsight wished they would have), but it's always easier to see looking back than looking forward...

Still, I will miss them.

[brill27mcb]

I’m glad I got my CNS&M cars when I did. I have the entire fleet!

Randy

Be sure to preserve them well, Randy! The Smithsonian will be reaching out to you someday...   

Rich K.

[brill27mcb]

For those that want to see the impact of the Shapeways shutdown in the N scale / N-gauge trolley and tram world, I have created and added a page to my N-Trolleys website:  http://www.trainweb.org/n-trolleys/available.htm

This page lists what is available worldwide in ready-to-run (or drop-in power chassis) and in resin-printed shells, plus a list of most of the N trolley products that were on Shapeways. In short, the Shapeways-impacted list seems to be longer than the list of what is still available. Dozens of American style carbody shells have vanished off the market, in what was already a very small market of offerings.

I'm glad we have heard here from 3rdboxcar (Alexander) and Dirk on their post-Shapeways plans and actions. I can also report that Volkmar Meier (Interurban Models) has told me he is planning to port his Shapeways designs over to the self-printed resin models that he started to produce and sell directly some time ago. Of course, with Alexander in Britain and Volkmar in France, international shipping and other costs now become added factors.

Rich K.