Hi there all I’m new to this site but already have placed an order and impressed by how much it undercuts shapeways etc.
Anyway the other night I came into possession of about 25kg of ABS plastic pellets. (long story involving a strange man in the pub) If anyone out there extrudes their own filament and could make use, I’m willing to send it out cheap. Even if you just want to try 1kg or whatever, by all means send me a message.
Shapeways does not have ABS or cheap plastics. It’s quite a good price mostly but with some volumes it’s unexpected expensive because of their complicated non transparent price formule. For example you can upload the same model twice with very few differences or only the orientation and locations and the price will be 20% different
Congrats on your first 3D Hubs order @Azzdog! What are you printing?
We have recently opened the first 3 recycling Hubs 1 on our platform and one of them happens to be in London, operated by our awesome London Mayor @ @Charlotty. If you want and don’t find anyone in your area, you can get in touch with them about the pellets. Hope this helps
You’re comparing two completely different things, FDM and SLS are two completely different 3D printing processes. Shapeways offer mostly SLS which is a much more expensive process (and uses very expensive 3D printers). FDM is a much cheaper 3D printing method and lends itself nicely to desktop 3D printers (entry level printers). Both have their pro’s and con’s and it is always important to consider these for what you are looking to achieve with your print. It’s important to know the difference between SLA, FDM and SLS as with any production method as it should impact the way you design the part (to optomise the part for the production method you intend to use)
Yeah I do appreciate that. I suppose for my personal endeavours I’ve been looking to create cheap and cheerful prototypes as opposed to finished articles. So 3d hubs is ideal for what I need it for.
It has also been an education reading talking to some of the people on here. It really isn’t just a case of click print. But it’s all good to know when designing.
I’m printing a series of pipe connectors, which allow you to build complicated structures very easily. These would be temporary structures though, not houses or anything, more stylish greenhouses or pop up tents.
But from geodesic domes to dodecahedrons etc. They can all interconnect to so it’s like a big lego set in short that’s cheap and easy to use. The pipes are just plumbing pipe that you’d get from B&Q and that you can cut to length depending on what it is you want to build really.
oh totally, FDM is the way forward for getting prototypes to a point where you’re happy with them. It gives you the freedom to iterate, which is the most important part of product design in my opinion… and to be able to do that quickly has completely changed the industry.
And yes, 3D hubs does seem to have a good community of open people, which is a really great way of us all learning without feeling like a noob.
Good luck with you prototypes, hope they work out for you
Sounds like a very interesting project, @Azzdog. Feel free to share it with us here on Talk, once you have some examples aligned, it’s always nice to see the many uses of 3D printing
