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Afternoon all,

Ben from 3D Hubs here. I am currently working on Knowledge Base content and have been floating the idea of an article that includes a materials specifications table as a quick reference for those new to designing for 3D printing. I have a link to the table here:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1MUmof71k1bBzHhmevocjqgjVcag0GQyxEFLM\_wYfrVU/edit#gid=0

As some of you may already know, the Knowledge Base is a set of technical documents targeted at engineers, architects and product designers who are new to 3D printing.

My questions that I was hoping to get community feedback on are:

1. Do you see value in an article like this from a design perspective?

2. Do you agree with the values I currently have in the table?

3. How do you think content like this is best presented?

Any feedback or advice you could offer would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers

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Hi Ben,

I think the table would be much more easy to read and to understand (in the context of 3d printing) when you color code the different printing materials to match a certain manufacturing process (FDM, SLS, SLM, …)

Also for many engineering purposes it’s important to know the mechanical properties of the listed example materials, adding the most important or outstanding mechanical properties will help those possible customers. (at least a rough estimate should be given)

Aside from engineering projects there are of course also artistic designers or people that look to print “just good looking” parts. Setting some scales for layer-to-layer smoothness, typical surface roughness or similar with 0 to 5 star ratings will be very helpful, maybe even upload a library of high res pictures of different 3d printed features (bottom surface, top surface, vertical surface, overhangs (especially for FDM), holes, round surfaces, …) so people can get a better understanding of how their 3d print will look once ordered.

This would also take quite a bit of stress from the hubs away as I find myself explaining the very basic details of the 3d printing process as well as looking up detailed specifications just for a single print.

As you might be able to tell right now I do in fact like the idea of a table that lists and properly compares the different 3d printing processes and/or materials.

As for the values I sadly have little to no experience with printing processes other then FDM so I wont be able to judge on those.

-Marius

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Hi Marius, thanks for your detailed reply. This is exactly the type of thing we are aiming for with the knowledge base, taking the stress away from the Hubs by giving you the option to redirect questions straight there. I also like your idea of colour coding! Cheers, Ben

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I love the idea of color coding! I think that would make searching for the right material significantly easier for the customer/Hubs.

I think breaking down hard number values into a simple 0-5 star rating would be a great idea as well; to most people numbers of hardness values and tensile strength don’t mean much, but if you rank say a material’s hardness from 0-5 and x-material has a rating of 3 while y-material has a rating of 5, it makes it immediately clear which one to choose if hardness is all you care about. Obviously, hard values also need to be available for those with a more technical background, but a system like what @MB3D proposes very nicely bridges the gap between different customer bases.

I do, however, think the current table needs to be much more specific. Within the category of high detail resins, you have casting resins, flexible resins, resins for engineering and resins for general use, which all have drastically different material properties and even different print properties (varying layer height). FDM has vastly more variety, with PLA, ABS, PTE, TPU, PC, etc. For something like this to be truly useful, it will need to go into the nitty gritty details of materials available; not as far as by brand of course, but I do think it’s very important to differentiate by more than just general plastics, resins, etc.

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Good point Enza3D and thanks for your input. Assuming that the majority of users who land on the knowledge base will have some form of technical background in materials (which is what we are aiming for) a 5 star system that links to more detailed information also does no neglect those who are completely new. I really like that idea. Cheers, Ben

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In my experience on here, it is definitely the users who are new to 3D printing that need something like this the most. More experienced and technical users know exactly what they want and will generally pick a material that’s close to ideal for their application. But new users struggle more with the details of selection, and it would be helpful to have something that’s “Hubs Endorsed” material to back up what I tell them; this is especially true when achieving what the customer wants requires a more expensive material, so the customer is assured they are not being price gouged.

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Presentation wise, if you want to make something easy to understand I would recommend checking out shapeway’s material guide for reference: Shapeways: Materials

It is a very simple presentation. Just select what you are considering to print (jewlery, prototype, functional, etc) and then it shows you the best recommend materials. Click on a material and it gives the user design recommendations, material info and example print photos. It is a simple but effective presentation and helps newbies find a material that may work best for their project.

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Thanks @twiesner. We already have something very similar to this on our website (Online 3D Printing Service | Instant 3D Printing Quotes | Hubs - if you click on a material and then click learn more). I think what we are aiming to do with the knowledge base is consolidate this information into one easy location with more of a technical feel (for engineers etc). I can certainly see the benefit of the Shapeways page for new 3D printing customers though. Thanks for your feedback! Cheers, Ben

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