Hello 3D Hubs team,
I got an order today that I had to decline because a customer changed his mind. This was due to one of the many that was the result of price fluctuation from when they ordered something, to what the actual cost was in regards to SLA machines vs the quote that was provided.
A lot of customers don’t realize that when they choose a wet machine such as the Form 1, regardless of shape or size it needs supports. It’s mandatory. Supports are an added cost, and are factored/incorporated into the price of the model. After adjustments are made for the correct pricing, they tend to be in shock that the price was 1/3-1/2+ more than they expected because the material used was more after adding those additional costs.
Is there a way for 3D Hubs to have specific tags for parts used on Wet machines and “Guestimate” the cost of supports? This way its not as much of a sticker shock to customers and I can decline less orders.
I understand its hard to put an algorithm as every model is different, but 1/3 to 1/2 the size of the material used would be fair… just as a starting point. Then we can raise or lower an adjustment. It would be nice for a UI element to show as well for “This part requires supports, it’s a wet machine!” of some sorts to compliment it.
This is an ongoing issue.
Thanks for the consideration.
Cotterpin
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Heya @Cotterpin!
Thank you for bringing this up, we’ve also seen the need for support calculations on SLA machines and I can tell you, we’re working on it. We’re currently trialling support calculations on Objet machines and once we’re happy with those we’ll move to SLA.
Because support calculation does differ a bit from printer to printer on SLA machines it’ll take a bit more time before we have accurate support predictions for the machines.
Basically it’s on our very long ‘to-do’ list and every week our product team has to make decisions on what to implement next (besides the projects that are already on the roadmap).
I hope we’ll be able to launch this feature later this year.
Best,
Robin - 3D Hubs
1 Like
@robin3D thx for the response, great news to hear its in the works
