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!
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.
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.
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.
