A Couple of New Shapeways Materials

[niart17]

Hey guys, just wanted to share a little information about some new materials that it seems Shapeways is undergoing test with. One is HP Strong and Flexible and the other is Hi Def Acrylate.

 

 

They currently are both on maker materials and only avaiable to designers but I suspect if tests go well they will be openly available soon. I ordered a part in both and I can see advantages (and disadvantages) to both of these materials.

First the Acrylate.

 

I really like this material on first observation. I haven't painted it or tried to clean up the support "stubs" yet, but my first impression is that the print lines are much less noticable than other materials. You can see the little nips where the support material was removed. I'll have to carefully go in with a file and see how hard to remove it is. Here are a few pics of my Hummer Bumper. (sorry the pics suck, I will try to get better ones soon.

 

 

 

Then the HP Strong and Flex. This is a grainy material but I don't think it's as grainy as the regular Strong and Flex. I will do some priming and sanding on this to see how well it takes handling. But it seems like it's going to be easier to get smoother results with this material. Again, bad pics. sorry,

 

 

I just wanted to let you guys know to be on the look out for designers being able to offer these materials soon. I don't know yet if they will necessarily be game changers, but they do seem to be heading the way of cheaper and better model prints. I'll post up more information if anyone is interested.

 

Thanks,

Bill

 

 

 

 

Edited June 12, 2017 by niart17

[MoFo]

How is the geometry on the acrylate?  There were a lot of complaints that the parts looked deformed when it was rolled out last year.

 

And how did you order the HP Fusion print?  Do you still have to apply to have prints made?  It's not listed as an option in any of my model pages.  And how do the layer lines compare with the regular S&F done on the EOS printers?

[niart17]

Hi MoFo. there is a slight size difference between the HP Sf and the Acylate but I haven't pulled out anything to measure which one is off from the 3D model. Shape-wise they are both the same but with a very very small difference in size. 

 

As for printing in the HP stuff, I was sent an e-mail asking if I wanted to apply for the trial period testing. I figured what the heck, might as well see what it can do. About 3 weeks later I was informed that I was approved and could start printing my models in the new material and they just asked that I push it to the limits. This bumper was just the first model I tried. I am thinking about doing a flat-ish part that is the minimum thickness and then a spherical part with some hard undercut details. As of now the cost is about $1 more than the WSF so hopefully that will change. It may turn out to be a bust of a material but I can see potential.

 

Bill