Sorry, I had an attack of Friday afternoon mischief 
As it happens I’m doing an order now where the customer needs very accurate dimensions. One print had an X of 117mm and it came out (in ABS) as 116.68mm. Pretty happy with that but an going to reprint at 100.4% to see if I can get closer.
I did not know remember that in the FAQ, and sure enough, you therefore have every right to expect it. It really is a bad term to use for complaint resolution. Wow, that needs to be a different phrase.
As for your price point, that is exactly the key. Realistic expectations for the technology, and thus realistic expectations for the price.
There are more perfect ways to 3d print, and less perfect ways to 3d print, but there are probably no perfect ways to 3d print.
But sometimes the customer is looking for that perfect price point, in which it is likely FDM will be more perfect!
also that is on an ultimaker… but maybe 3dhubs does not care what printer is in use?
I do want to add that guaranteeing dimensional accuracy is a bit of a point of concern for me. I am not concerned by my ability to meet it, I am concerned by customers potentially misinterpreting what that means. Guaranteeing dimensional accuracy does not make any difference if the part is poorly designed; i.e. the design of the part does not take into account tolerancing for mating parts and such. This is the classic example of making a 2 mm hole for a 2 mm rod; even if the hole is perfect, the rod will never fit into that hole, because the hole does not take into account dimensional variations that will occur in the rod. It will need to be made explicitly clear to customers that this guaranteed dimensional accuracy is based off of the model they provide, not what they intend it for. If a part is provided that is 2"x2"x2", then it is only the Hubs responsibility to make sure that the print is within your set dimensional variation.
My other concern with this is that it’s a royal pain in the butt to get dimensions from STL files as that is not really their intention; STL files just contain information about the geometry of the surface but contain no data about dimensions. If 3D Hubs is going to implement dimensional accuracy requirements, either the customer needs to provide the dimensions (such as via a drawing or by filling out a form), or Hubs needs to require uploads of parametric models instead of/along with STLs. I do not want to be held responsible for a dimension being wrong because I more or less need to guess as to what the dimension should be. Just my 2 cents on it.
This raises a good point, a customer may ask for money back on a part that is according to them dimensionally inaccurate as it doesn’t fit into other parts, when in reality the issue may be the part design itself. This would be very hard for 3D hubs to gauge when siding with disputes. Almost impossible I would think in fact.
Hi @Boelle,
That’s correct, the FDM Quality Guidelines will be the same for all FDM printers. We can’t expect every customer to know what kind of quality they can expect from a specific printer model/brand so that’s why these guidelines will set a standard for all FDM printers.
Best,
Robin - 3D Hubs
@Enza3D you are so smart.
Yes, there is no way, outside of the dimensions of the final X,Y,Z part, that a tolerance can be checked, in any realistic way, without donating hours to each model.
I would assume we are not being asked to load some software, put the model in, check the size of all the various features, check the tolerances on each, etc., and make sure they are all within spec.
SO, this dimensional accuracy should always be on the final XYZ measurement, as the tolerance “guarantee” if you will. The size that is displayed on the 3dhub page, or in the slicer software as bounding box size, if you will.
@Enza3D, @Joerg_4, @PepCo_Parker, @Perry_1
Hey guys!
Thank you all for expressing your concerns and giving me your feedback. I really appreciate it. The reason that we have to set guidelines on dimensional accuracy is because we have to draw the line somewhere and we thought setting a 1 mm tolerance would be a reasonable first step.
I completely agree with the fact that you, as Hubs, cannot know the application of your customer if they do not communicate it. Ofcourse in some cases you will have an idea by looking at the design that it’s part of an assembly and in this case you can double check with your customer if a 1 mm tolerance is sufficient.
But in most cases this is not the case and also, not your responsibility. If you receive a model from a customer and you print it within the guidelines that we as 3D Hubs set, you will be paid out for the job no matter what.
When a customer is not happy because the print does not exactly fit, we will ask them to take a photograph of the print next to a measuring device such as a digital caliper to show the exact size of the print. Of course we do want to keep our customers happy but this is not always the responsibility of the Hubs.
Feel free to reach out to the 3D Hubs admins (such as myself) at any point if you have a situation where the customer is not happy with the result but you printed the part according to the guidelines, we’ll definitely be able to help you resolve such a situation.
Best,
Robin - 3D Hubs
Hello again Robin, So to me this means hubs will have to start watching our backs by taking photos our selves of parts with calipers next to them, it wouldn’t be hard to fake photos to make it seem like parts aren’t the right sizes when they really are. This would be the only way to insure people aren’t cheating us out of good parts, but even then now we have to charge for our time photographing and setting all that up
My costs are definitely going to go up because of this; even if the verification is for my own insurance, it’s now another step I have to do for every print and that will be reflected in my prices. Because you’re right, there’s no way to prove it is correct unless I have already verified it myself and have pictures of it.
The problem is, how do I know if a dimension is right or not? Unless I have a parametric model file, or the customer explicitly specifies the dimension of a feature, I have no way of knowing (other than guessing from the STL) if it is correct.
My issue with these guidelines is quite simply the policing of them. Are you going to ask the customer to send you the 3D print so you can verify the dimensions yourself and make a ruling on it? Not every customer will have a set of calipers and even if they do, use them correctly to get an accurate reading.
Also this requires that I record how each model has been orientated in the slicer as your tolerances are in the X,Y and Z axis however that’s not to say that I printed a model along these axis. What if it’s a curved model that was printed at 45 degrees so that while the length of the curve is beyond the 1mm tolerance, the actual readings in the X,Y and Z axis weren’t?
And lets get something else right here, these guidelines aren’t designed to make my life as a hub easier, they are designed to make 3Dhubs job easier. I am now going to have to record, document and photograph more details of a print before sending it out.
That’s exactly my point. How could someone say what the customer shows tolerance wise is correct? It could very easily be wrong or misleading. In reality, 3D Hubs up until this point has in my opinion been running a great part just on mutual trust. If a customer requires a specific tolerance, as far as my experience goes they would specifically address this before I accepted the order, and I could respond accordingly. Same procedure as asking about infill, layerheight, material, and colour. Has tolerances become such an issue suddenly or is this merely a non existent problem being fixed. ‘Don’t fix it if it ain’t broken’. All I have to say is this is definitely going to impact customers who may have preferred just a cheap part and didn’t need tolerances greatly. It will certainly force us hubs to constantly watch our back now as an unruly customer can backlash quite easily and request an unfair refund. And I don’t mean to be Curt, but don’t respond saying all disputes are handled fairly. I have had situations before where I should not have lost money on jobs, but had to accept as 3D hubs heavily pushes for the side of the consumers. As well a fight in that situation would most likely have lead to a poor review and hurt my hub greatly. We are already at the will of the consumer, this is just giving them even more un necessary power. If a customer specifically needs a certain tolerance then I don’t see why they can’t just request this, why does 3D hubs specifically have to get involved?
To keep it even somewhat fair, Hubs would have to physically measure the part themselves. A customer could easily take the pictures at a skewed angle to warp how the print looks or improperly calibrate calipers so that the device measures incorrectly. If a Hub hadn’t measured the part themselves, they have no defense in the dispute and I don’t think this thinking is being paranoid either. It’d be a quick way for a customer to get prints completed for free, and for larger jobs, I can see this happening quite a bit. It’s very easy to edit photos, and I will not accept that as the only way 3D Hubs decides if a print order was completed correctly or not.
If Hubs wants to implement dimensional accuracy requirements, then that’s fine but you have to be able to implement it/police it fairly and provide your Hubs with the tools they need as well. I feel like a broken record here, but getting dimensions from an STL file is inaccurate and inefficient; if I need to verify dimensions are correct (which now I do), then I need to know what they are in the first place. I can only do that if the customer tells me what they are in a drawing, or if I have the parametric model. I can ask a customer for the file, but if they don’t have it and can’t clearly communicate what dimensions are required, these new guidelines will force me to turn them away. The risk is too high otherwise.
I don’t like the idea of standard support removal, as I like to leave on as it helps protect the print while shipping.
Hi Robin3D,
I think it would also be helpful if you could clearly mark on the photos what is wrong by placing an arrow or circle on it.
Not all that is on the photo will be not acceptable I guess.
Thanks! Keep up the good work!
Best regards,
Sandra
Anyone else getting the vibe that regardless of the communities concerns 3D hubs went into this conversation with the mindset they were going to do it, and rather than maybe delaying the launch to address these issues and concerns they just ignored them and launched anyway?
Unfortunately yes. The managerial speak trying to make it sound like it will benefit me as a hub and big warning across the top of my dashboard saying it’s happening tells you all you need to know.
It’s getting towards the point where I’m considering if I want to be associated with 3Dhubs as the requirements are starting to pile up for the little cash you get back from the job.
Well, as far as dimensions are concerned, any decent slicing program will report the printing dimensions of the sliced model, so there’s no need to guess. In terms of getting the prints right (accurate to those dimensions) why shouldn’t they be? I know all my prints come out well within the tolerances suggested by 3DHubs so I don’t see the concern. I always check with a customer what the purpose of their print is anyway, and if I now have to remember to also specifically ask about tolerances, that’s really no big deal - heck, we could all easily put together a stock “first question” to cut and paste for any print order that covers things like this.
To be honest, I’m not seeing a problem here. If I were a customer, not a Hub, I’d expect there to be controls like this and I’d expect the printer to deliver me high quality prints that match the model I’ve uploaded. If my model is unprintable, or I want a dimensional accuracy that’s unrealistic, then that’s another matter, but the tolerances being suggested here seem very reasonable and totally what I’d expect from a paid service.
Sorry if this isn’t a popular view, but I can’t see the problem with wanting to produce high quality prints that match the customers’ requirements. Have I missed something here? Do the majority of Hubs often print models with inaccurate dimensions? Does no one else discuss the print with their customer to get an understanding of the job and any specific challenges?
@cobnut The issue with using STL models for dimensioning is that they are dimensionless; what we get in a slicer is just the software’s representation of hundreds or thousands of triangles. Because of this curves become faceted, so if a customer has a small hole and they did not export it properly, they could easily end up with a hexagon instead of a circular hole. It’s just infinitely easier and more accurate to work from a parametric model than an STL file. It’s just poor practice in industry to dimension from STL files. To be clear, I do not have an issue with the set dimensional accuracy range or my ability to meet it. I have an issue with the complete lack of discussion as to how it’s going to be policed (sorry, but a picture won’t cut it) and the space for misinterpretation on the customers side as to what that means. I have already had to deal with customers giving me the wrong file and wanting a refund because it was “printed wrong” but the model was fundamentally wrong to begin with.
My concern isn’t hitting the targets, it’s people manipulating the system in their favour to receive free parts. Stl files Do Not show dimensions. Only overall. This will not show dimensions of inner details and walls. These new standards make it easy for someone to set a pair of calipers improperly and fight for a refund. Meeting the requirements is not at all the issue and I urge you to please read what we have discussed in the past.
Maybe instead of enforcing these rules the way they are, they should have provided tools to educate hubs on better ways to quote and accept an order, such as good questions to ask and topics to touch on when explaining. If people not getting the tolerances was an issue, this was not the way to go about it. Unfortunately it doesn’t seem 3D hubs really cares for our opinions on that, the distinct lack of response from any of their employees is only even more evident of that.
Unfortunately with the amount of Grant money 3D hubs has received recently, our opinions really don’t mean anything. I’ve seen this time and time again where as soon as big figured come into play management goes to shit. Very disappointing. This whole thing is really pushing to go off 3D hubs for business, which was not something I wanted to do. A year ago, all I did was promote 3D hubs as I liked what it was about, and how their aim was to educate people on additive manufacturing. I can’t help but think they’ve lost their ways since then.
To further this point, 95% of hubs and 99% of customers do not have sufficient metrology to measure the things that are being printed. Bounding box dimensions are a great tool to get the relative size of a part in a digital space but are useless in the real world. Most prints are not rectilinear and are impossible to measure short of scanning them back into the digital space and comparing them to their source file. Taking a photograph of a print next to a ruler or with a caliper are both useless verification methods unless focal length of camera and a bunch of other easily manipulated factors are taken into account. To validate a dimension the measuring technique has to be objective.
How about instead of holding hubs to a ridiculous standard of quality which are unenforceable and will undoubtedly increase the cost of every FDM print and reduce overall ease of use for this whole system we add a step to the verification process where the hubs have to verify the dimensional consistency of their machine. Hubs could print several calibration cubes and either send them direct to 3D Hubs headquarters or measure them, similar to the initial marvin. This could even be a periodic check. This would be like a drivers license, you need to prove you can do it once or twice and then you’re left alone. Asking for every single print to be measured increases the cost and significantly reduces the appeal of 3d hubs in general for both the customers and the hubs. I truly understand the spirit of what it is you guys are trying to do but implementing blanket rules that cant be enforced without tons of effort not the way to do it.
I think its mainly because they dont have enough feedback internally on the practicality and implementation of things they propose. This very much feels like a marketing driven company with very little engineering or maker feedback, which quickly turns into a circle jerk of corporate values and quarterly earnings oriented business moves. The customers needs will slowly get belittled until they are forgotten, all the customers will feel alienated. A new startup will pop up and cater aggressively to the core user needs and 3D hubs will fail as a business. Unless they start listening and discussing the issues at hand with us.
Hi Chris,
I understand your concerns as a final user, however wouldn’t be more easy for you and the hubs that print your cabinets to have a list with the specifications that you want your cabinets to be printed (i.e. I want them with so much infill and so much thick walls)?
That way both you and the hub will know what you want? To blame each hub that they haven’t print your part the way that you want when you didn’t gave them any specifications is a little unfair. And no 3DHUBS they should not make standard the specifications that you want your part to be printed because it is not standard for millions of other parts. So my suggestion is to submit your specifications when you place the order.
Hi all, newbie here, been lurking as I’ve got a cheap CTC machine I’ve had for a week and been playing with/upgrading, anyway, couldn’t resist weighing in on this one - I used to run a CNC mill for prototyping parts, and there’s no way in hell I’d agree to a 1% tolerance on most small plastic parts, especially ones made hot on the machine, even though I could hold far closer tolerances than that on the machine, why?
Well not only do you have shrinkage to deal with, but if the part relaxes over a few days whilst in shipping, absorbs some moisture whilst it’s sat in their workshop for a week, or you live in a place much colder/hotter than the customer, the plastic parts could have moved out of tolerance just through natural growth/reshaping. You could have a 1% change in dimensions just through normal room temperature water absorption rates alone on such as Nylon going from dry printed back to it’s more normal 2-6%
If you’re going to specify a 1% tolerance you really need to spec out whether that is relative or absolute, and at what temperature and humidity, and explain to the customers that their parts are going need to sit in a room with a controlled temperature and moisture level for a couple of days to stabilise so you can measure them accurately. Otherwise you’re going to have some real issues guaranteeing those tolerances on FF production parts which have all manner of internal stresses just from the way they’re formed, not to mention varying crystallinity not just from surface to interior but also on the filament skin to core. That’s not even taking into account any creep that might occur on the part later on depending on how and where it’s stored.
Thank you for articulating this so clearly, much better than I could have!
Agreed. This brings up great points I hadn’t even thought about. It’s a shame it seems like it will just be ignored by the developers, I hope I’m not the only one who was even more upset to see that email rolled out completely ignoring our questions and concerns. Still a real lack of response on 3D hubs part.
It is really bad form to request feedback on a guidelines, then release the guidelines while still in discussion. It certainly sends a signal that 3dhubs is not listening. Especially when there are really a shortage of replies from 3dhubs for the things being discussed. It implies you asked for feedback to make the hubs FEEL like they have some input, but don’t really have input. With so many of your customers discussing it, and 3dhubs just implementing it during that discussion, it surely seems like you are not listening to your customers. I would like to remind 3dhubs that their customers are the 3d printers, NOT the folks that order the prints. Those are OUR customers. Many that we bring to 3dhubs on our own. Many of OUR customers ask us to work around 3dhubs, but I always push them TO 3dhubs, because the interface, software, and my payment protections are all worth the fee. But make no mistake, I am the 3dhubs customer, not MY customer, who ultimately gets the print.
Serious mistake here in handling your customers, asking for input while implementing the guidelines during the input phase.
I asked what the purpose of the new guideline are, and what problem they are trying to solve. This is key to me liking or not liking the guidelines.
I think the wording is still bad.
Several folks have asked for specific responses from 3dhubs in this discussion, and have not received it.
Folks are interested in how they handle ABS and Nylon prints, that can easily change size by over 1% due to shrinkage or humidity.
Several people asked how the guidelines might be enforced, and how the measuring could be verified.
Some folks stated they felt that they were not being listened to, and this was reinforced by a lack of response by 3dhubs to them.
All in all, I am for the new policy, but this is truly bad form, and a serious mishandling of the situation here by 3dhubs and their customers, in my humble opinion. I am all about increasing the quality of the 3d printing that is going on out there. I have customers who have brought me prints from other hubs, and I am shocked at some of the quality of the prints. So I am all for some better rules. That is not what I am talking about in this post.
It is hard for me to understand how during an ongoing discussion, 3dhubs could just go ahead and implement.
I think you and @Vienna3DPrint have hit the nail on the head. 3D Hubs has forgotten it’s role in all of this. The reality is my customers will come and go with me, especially if I discount 12.5% from my prices if they place orders outside of Hubs. Like you, I try to keep all my orders through 3D Hubs, with the very small exception of those who need to pay by other means (which is common with younger students). Hubs is supposed to be what Etsy is to their shops; Etsy just provides a site and a gateway, the shops do all the rest. Etsy does not own the customers, the shops do, and if the shops leave, so do the customers. It is very much the same here, but 3D Hubs seems to have forgotten that, or doesn’t care anymore because they got their funding.
Either way, the entire handling of this situation has left a very bad taste in my mouth, and I am very displeased to say the least.
From what I’m reading here, it only strengthens my opinion on this as I see I’m not the only one operating this way. I too have requested to do deals outside 3D hubs but I push people to use it for its interface and organization. The way you guys put it is exact. The hubs are 3D hub’s customers, not the people buying parts! Unless they want to hire their own massive sales department to replace all us hubs I suggest they start listening. Until now I’ve not had reason to look into other platforms, and I’ve promoted 3D hubs a lot. This may incline me to look elsewhere to do business.
Hi
Well, that´s all a good intention, but poor execution. Why ? Because since now I was on the lower end of the price range. I could do that, because I have a full time job (that provides me and my family) and offer my 3D print services in my spare time. Therefore I asked my customers if they want to remove the support material themselves (to get the prints faster) or if I should do it (and they would have to wait a little longer). Often I didn´t even charge the support material for smaller prints. Only for bigger objects with a lot of support and time taken to remove it, I charged a small additional amount. You could say, the time spent for it was for free. Because average EU/US hourly rates for labour would be like twice to five times of the value of the print (guessed…)
It was good that the people could choose, because often they wanted (or had) to improve the print by sanding, painting or other methods. Now this choice is gone. And due to the nature of the producing machine (desktop home use) and method (FDM is the least accurate!) it will cause only disputes printing with non-dissolve-able support material. That makes it about impossible to use a single print head machine.
On the one hand it would be the logical next step for me to upgrade to a dual head machine. On the other hand it will make 3D prints MUCH more expensive for 3D hubs customers. Water dissolve-able support material costs 3-4 times of PLA filament. The dissolving takes about 12-24 hours (if I am correct). Higher and high priced hubs may print already that way and will keep their high price. But the possibility for cheap and fast prints (with customer removing the support) is gone with the change of guide lines.
That is NOT supporting the spread of 3D printing.
I don´t even want to speak about tolerances. It´s quite the same as with 2D prints. What kind of quality can you expect from a €/$ 50,- Printer ? People are then disappointed. Prints are not seamless, have wrong colors, are washed-out, a.s.o. You still have to invest at least 10-20 times more for a decent quality.
So, how can you expect extraordinary results from a €/$ 800,- 3D Printer ? (This average price is a guess. You might have better statistics).
A really awesome FDM print needs a CAD model that considers the abilities of the used 3D printer. It has to consider physical laws. The 3D printer has to be set up in terms of even and balanced print bed, correct space between needle and bed for the chosen resolution, prepared (sticky) print bed, correct temperature for the used filament. The slicer have to be tuned for optimal feed, speed, calculation of the g-code. The filament have to be of good quality. Maybe stored in costly ways (vacuumed). The print environment can have a big impact on the printed results (temperature control, humidity). And maybe more I haven´t considered here and now.
It makes the impression that DIY tools should reach top-professional high end industrial standards.
I don´t want to say that the aim doesn´t impress me, but now the vision has to meet reality.
It is not possible, for a reasonable price, to fulfill the announced standards. If you want the requirements to be met (seriously), then the hub must charge hours of pre processing with a lot of information transfer. Maybe some information is not even available because the customer has also only the stl file. Very often the stl is not water tight. So you need additional tools to repair it. Then, to finally meet the tolerance, a couple of prints (which blocks the machine naturally) to maybe recognise that the tolerance CAN NOT be met. And you can only tell after the support material is removed.
All that costs the hub time and money.
A small 10x10x10cm object could cost likely more then €/$ 250,- if requirements must be met.
This results in three bad things: High prices for FDM 3D prints. Less orders and revenue for hubs. Less profit for 3D hubs.
I would strongly suggest to not activate the guidelines for FDM by Jan. 5th, 2017. Rethink the role of 3D Hubs as a broker between clients and maker.
Refine the platform to be able to choose between instances of print quality. Collect and present possible print outcomes for customers. Not for hubs; they know them just too well.
Thank you and happy new year.
lol no worries I was just adding to your post
I’ve actually got an interesting example of the dimension problem right now. The part has a shaft running through the middle and the part itself needs to fit tightly inside a tube, so both the inner and outer dimensions of the cylinder need to be spot on. The client has provided dimensions, but I’ve included what happened on printing (see attached).
Some of the dimensions are OK - the flange at 0.07mm too high is irrelevant for this model for example. The major issue is with the internal diameter that should be 15mm and prints at 14.4mm. I’ve corrected this in the model and it now looks OK, but what’s important here is that all of these dimensions of the printed part are within the 1%/1mm guidelines, even though as printed first time the print was effectively useless. (note, I know some of the dims don’t add up, I’ll put that down to variations in printing thickness and/or lack of coffee).
@Robin3D how should we deal with prints like this? Should we charge more for dimensional accuracy beyond the guidelines, how do we charge for modelling, measuring, testing, etc.?
Please just place somewhere in the guidelines: All services are based on best effort by the printing hubs.
That will not put an end to complains, but release the pressure from hubs and puts everybody on the safe side.
Thank you
There should be an option for the customer to select removal of support material or not and have it priced upfront. Also, support material needs to be factored in the price at the start as often times I have parts that have more support material than part material! Finally, customers who choose to print at 200 microns for cost reasons seem to expect 100 micron resolution and may complain.
Maybe there should be two tiers here. Professional hubs with$10K plus printers who can produce professional results and charge for it and Hobby Hubs with Hobby level machines that produce good quality but not at the level of the Pro hubs and charge appropriate prices.
Unfortunately the price of a printer rarely gives an indication of the quality of the print. I have seen prints come off 100k machines that are good for nothing but the bin and incredible prints come off a well tuned £300 printer.
Unrealistic customer expectations is another wonderful discussion point. Unfortunately with the perception of 3D printing in the wider world that it can do anything and is instantaneous it’s a real issue to bring home the reality to a customer.
I understand that its important to provide a consistent expectation, and maybe the solution is to agree deviations from the spec in advance, but I feel this adds unncessary cost to some parts.
I recently printed a structural part (to hold a lens) which has a 5cm long un-supported beam. With a support grid at 5mm intervals, this printed fine using PLA on a cheap FDM printer (as evidenced by a repeat order). I don’t think I’m able to print flat overhangs to the specified quality, even if I used 100% support - and there is a risk that aiming for a directionally consistent print will lead to poor orientation choices.
@PlastiPrint3D @rkelly @John3d @PepCo_Parker @Enza3D @cobnut @Perry_1
Hey guys,
First of all, Happy New Years! I hope you all had a great holiday period. My apologies for the delay in my response, I also had some time away from 3D Hubs and 3D printing because I was spending time with my loved ones.
I can tell this topic is quickly going into the direction which we feared already when we started this entire project. I can completely understand that these guidelines can come across as intimidating but please understand that they are not meant as such. The reason why we started this project to begin with is because me and my fellow admins came across orders where the quality of prints that were delivered to customers were far below what the average Hub prints creating a terrible experience for customer and giving FDM printing a bad name. The FDM guidelines have been created to set reasonable expectations for both Hubs and customers.
From the very start of this project we set out to create guidelines in co-operation with our Hubs. That’s why I created this thread 2 months ago before any guidelines were created: Talk Manufacturing | Hubs.
Afterwards, we created a first draft that we send out to a first selection of Hubs and asked them to give their feedback/suggestions directly on the Google Document we created. Once we took all their feedback we created the version that you see now in this thread. After a week I saw almost nothing but positive responses and we went ahead with the implementation of the guidelines which will go live in a couple of days.
Now, the main issue that I see is the topic of the dimensional accuracy. I am still completely open to suggestion on how we can formulate this differently. The guidelines are not set in stone and if we see something is not working as intended, we can change it.
Please know that I am reading everything you guys have to say and I really appreciate all your input. I hope that I’m correct when I say that your concerns show me that you care about 3D Hubs and what happens to this platform.
If you have any additional concerns about 3D Hubs as a whole, you can always reach me through robin@3dhubs.com
Best,
Robin - 3D Hubs
@Perry_1 I hear you, what exactly feel uncomfortable to you? And do you perhaps have an idea how we can tackle this for you?
Here’s a simple idea, make the guidelines optional. Rather than forcing hubs to abide by them, allow hubs to opt in or out similar to the student discount option. Have another badge or make it a searchable option for customers.
My issue with this and some other things that 3D hubs does is that there is no way to opt out. It’s forced upon us which instantly puts me on the defensive.
One reason that ther may have been a delay in feedback is that people might have read the guidelines, and felt they had an interpretation which made sense - then later came here to read the detail (or made a print for a specific purpose) and realise that the context can have a big impact on exactly how the guidelines are interpreted.
Sure, use these guidelines as a benchmark, and require a hub to agree to deviate. Under the guidelines, this part Dial Gauge holder for Anet A8 by tsh2 - Thingiverse is impossible for me to make. See the surface where support was removed on the square at the bottom, all untidy, but quite functional. It didn’t occur to me on first reading of the guidelines that you intended to block me from offering parts like this.
Hi Robin
Do not reduce it to the accuracy. The mandatory removal of the support is another unsolved issue.
Until now I charged either nothing for it, because the object was small and easy to remove, or for support material as it was like 50% of the print, or both: support and removal. Sometimes the customer wanted to remove the support himself.
What now, if the customer wants to remove the support himself ? (To safe money)
It´s quite unfair to raise the overall price, because that affects support free prints also.
Should the hubs, regardless from the wishes of the customer, charge the removal of support (and remove the support anyway) ?
I also just removed the support. I did not tweak the print. Some objects are just crazy ! On big objects it really took several hours just to basically remove the support. With sanding and what so ever finishing this process may take days.
Which customer is willing to pay for it mandatory ?! Well, some want the support removed, but others not.
And as mentioned before: This guideline will make it very hard for single head printer hubs to continue to print with support.
3D hubs may improve the overall quality, but also raises the overall price for 3D prints.
bye, Tibor
I have no issue with setting standards for surface finish and supports and such. What does concern me however is how tolerances are set so high that even ABS plastic shrinkage could potentially put my part out of tolerance.
+1 on optional dimensional tolerances with a searchable badge
+1 on setting standards for surface finish and removal of support structures.
Hi @Vienna3DPrint,
I understand what you’re saying, but please understand, these guidelines are the default for what both parties should expect to deliver and receive. A lot of customers will not think about supports when sending in an order and will definitely not expect to receive a print with supports.
If you have the exception of a customer that does not want the support removed, feel free to deliver the print with supports. As long as it’s clearly discussed and agreed upon on the order page, anything goes basically.
I can’t repeat this enough, the guidelines are meant as a tool to align expectations between customer and Hub.
If you have a huge print that requires a lot of support, discuss it with your customer through the order comments. Perhaps they want to do it themselves, or you can charge them an hourly fee for the amount of time it will take you to remove the supports. Or perhaps the order should be printed on an SLS machine instead which doesn’t require any supports.
I hope this communicates well that you have the option to deviate from the guidelines as long as your customer is aware and agrees with you.
Best,
Robin - 3D Hubs
Hi @Sean_Houlihane,
Thank you for your response. Please understand that we don’t want to block you from anything. If you receive a model like the one in the Thingiverse link and you can only deliver it “untidy”, simply discuss this with your customer in the order comments. If he/she agrees, this completely fine.
We just don’t want the situation to arise that for you, it is very obvious that you can’t print this part very cleanly but the customer is not aware of this and is in for an unpleasant surprise if they were never informed of this.
" EXCEPTIONS
These guidelines apply to all FDM orders on 3D Hubs and can only be deviated from when specifically discussed and agreed upon between Hub and customer in the comments section on the order page."
I hope this makes sense.
Best,
Robin - 3D Hubs
Hi @PlastiPrint3D,
It is indeed a simple idea to make the guidelines optional but the problem is that it would prevent us from solving the problem we are trying to tackle. We’re trying to align expectations of both you as a Hub, and your customer, who often will be completely new to 3D printing and is only used to seeing injection moulded parts.
If you cannot meet the guidelines for whatever reason, please discuss this with your customer and align his/her expectations. Communication is really the main message here, we are not trying to make the lives of our Hubs more difficult. We want to make sure that all customers are aware of what they can expect from the 3D print that they order.
You can deviate from any part of the guidelines as long as you clearly communicate this to your customer and they agree with the change.
I hope this makes sense,
Best,
Robin - 3D Hubs
Is this really that big a problem? Honest question how often does this come up?
I think you want to hit on wording that both requires good prints from the hubs, and educates the consumer, while encouraging communications between the two.
Here is an example:
Dimensional accuracy. approximately +/- 1mm or 1%, depending on which is greater. Tolerances and spacing for parts that fit together should be built into the model. Please discuess tolerances for such items with your chosen Hub.
Surface quality: consistent, no delamination. Discernable details above .8mm. Please discuss with your chosen Hub if you have details below .8mm that are pertinent to the print.
Post processing: supports removed. As supports require additional time and material, there may be an additional fee for supports and support removal that is not reflected in the original quote from your chosen Hub. Surfaces that require support will have distinctive marring and will be less consitent.
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The key might be to try to get the customer to add some communications. I get a ton of prints that include no comment from the customer, it is just a model. So I am usually the person to start the communications, which is fine, but it would be great if we could encourage customers to add comments from the start!
See Robin, I disagree with this. I think the communications should be in the opposing direction. We as hubs should not have to talk almost poorly of ourselves to explain that there are guidelines that this platform has put in place that are unreasonable. This right off the bat makes us hubs look suspicious. In my opinion, this is the wrong way to go about it. You guys should be educating hubs on proper communication with their customers, asking them if tolerances are needed to begin with, not forcing it upon them. This gives us hubs more control, and gives the customer a better experience. I know that last part for a fact as any time someone is new to 3D printing, I go through a little spew about it all and what to expect, what it’s good for, best materials for certain situations etc. Forcing these guidelines seem unnecessary and in my honest opinion will only create frustration for both hubs and consumers.
And that was exactly my point oh so long ago. This seems like a solution for which they are creating a problem to fit. I can’t stress this enough, if this was a problem then it was due to lack of communication not lack of rules. I really don’t think this is the way to go about this.
No offense Robin, but you’ve spat in our faces with this one. Basically what you have stated here, is that you took selected people’s criticism and acknowledged it, then based on those few views which you guys selected, you already had enough mindset to implement it, but them put up a forum post to again only portray the illusion that we had a say. And you may try to argue against that, but pushing the update through right before the holiday season, despite the discussion on here, only proves that. I dislike that a handful sampling made the decision for all of us hubs. It affects all of us, why shouldn’t we all have had a say?
Maybe its me but I dont understand the big issue with a 1% or 1mm accuracy whichever is greater. Thats a quite large tolerance. If you cant print within that you need to work on your printing skills. I typically get under 0.2mm tolerance on parts I print. Looking at a part I did a while ago its off by .08 to .1mm
No offense but if you don’t understand it, you haven’t read this thread. There have been numerous points as to why it’s not feasible, and I have even stated that hitting the targets isn’t even my personal concern, it’s people manipulating those rules to get free prints. I suggest you start at the top and read your way down to get a full understanding of the points raised.
Well the same customer that is going to manipulate these rules to get free prints would most likely still complain and get a free print without these rules. This is also why you should price your prints to accommodate for the once in a while customer that causes issues. Same with any business you need to weigh the risks and prepare for them or close up and find something else to do
This is true, but tolerances as you’ve stated, have never been an issue for me. These rules seem to only be giving the customer more power over the hubs, when it’s unnecessary. If the hub communicates properly with the customer prior to the order being accepted then there should never be an issue in the first place. These guidelines make it easy for someone to improperly set up a pair of calipers, take a few photos and bam, there’s a 200$ order down the drain when the hub did nothing wrong. There have been other issues raised by the community on this forum, but I would be a broken record if I repeated them again. Also please don’t feel I’m attacking you. You’re raising different opinions and challenging what we thing which is good, and encouraging! So long as both sides of this argument are open and understanding to one another.
If you have a dispute you can call 3D hubs in and they can act as moderator… thing is at the end of the day you gotta play the role of a customer… if you get a part in that you specified as needing to be precise and someone send you a WILDLY out of tolerance part… you would not be very happy would you?
I feel like if you have a potential issue with an order its your job to communicate that with the client BEFORE you guys go agree on a print… That said I do understand your concerns but having a guideline you AND client can refer to would be a good thing in the long run.
One of my points though is that until now I’ve just done this personally, why is there suddenly a need for 3D hubs to intervene? And a customer doesn’t need to give ‘wildly’ out of tolerance parts, only 1% off. As some have brought up, unless we as hubs are to now measure every part we make and document it, there is no way to prove otherwise.
Quoting the list above: “FDM parts need to be produced within an accuracy of +/- 1mm or 1% depending on which is greater.” +/- 1MM is BIG… That means that your 20MM calibration cube could be 19 - 21 MM and STILL be a-ok. That is a huge tolerance. Their not asking you to hold .0005" tolerance on a 3" deep hole…