The next step for our Co-Creator platform is here. We call it a Generated Creator.

It allows you to modify a shape with pre-defined modifiers and generate a preview of the customized shape. If you like what you have made you can save and order it right away or you keep on modifying it until you are happy.

The first Materials Sample Kits are (being) shipped!!

Because of the overwhelming success we had to produce multiple batches so if yours is not yet underway (if you haven't gotten a e-mail notification yet) this will be fixed as soon as we get the new batches in the coming weeks. We are doing our best to get them all out as soon as possible.

Somethings for your info:

• The sample kits will not be shipped via UPS so you will not receive a track and trace number. We are sending via priority mail.
• You will receive a e-mail notification as soon as it is being shipped

Once you have your sample kit, feel free to let us know what you think of it. 

We hope it helps you with your design projects.

Hi all,

To proceed with our effort to make our packaging more beautiful every time, as of today, we have introduced a new packaging for all Gold Plated products (Glossy and Matt).

It's a nice black velvet bag you can also save the product in if your are not using it.

Gold was already one of our high end materials and we wanted to support that with this new packaging.

We hope you like it so please feel free to let us know once you have received your first package.

As of today we have introduced 3 new finishes for our Stainless Steel material.

To complete our gold range finishes we have added Gold Plated Glossy to our already available Gold Plated Matt ... and based on popular demand we have added Antique Bronze Glossy and Antique Bronze Matt

From left to right:

1. Gold Plated Glossy
2. Gold Plated Matt
3. Antique Bronze Glossy
4. Antique Bronze Matt

Hi all,

It is being discussed on the forum many times, during last times live cast is was a big topic also after Bart had signed of.....

Very high detail printing

(Check out the text on the side of the test strip below This model is from Daddy Mack)

To keep you guys updated on what we at Shapeways have done and were we are here is a short update.

Hi Guys,

Look what I have received.

The left bunny is the finishing we have right now. Do you see the difference....?

Do you like the difference?

What would you use it for?

Beginning next month we will enable Shop owners to offer complete and final products to their customers. This will be done as a test for 2 months or as long as supplies last. We will offer silver plated earring hooks to the produced earrings and a rubber necklace of 60 cm long with a nice bayonet lock to any hanger (see picture below).

The bayonet lock:

To ensure your earrings and necklace hanger will include these additional free add-ons every time they are ordered you will have to take the following action: 

1) send a mail to service@shapeways.com with the model's name & ID, please put either earring or necklace in the subject line.
2) Shapeways will tag your model accordingly to ensure it will get the right treatment once ordered
3) Once we start offering this service as a test run you will need to clarify to your customers that they will receive a beautiful end product.

note: You will receive no notification once your model is tagged. Sending the mail will suffice. This service will start by July.

Design guidelines:

Earrings: - The inside diameter of the hole were the hooks will be attached to must be at least 1,3mm -
The hook will be attached to the hanger using a "o" split ring. This should be taken into account for the orientation of the hanger. 

The orientation of the ring will determine how the earring hangers will show in someones ears. I have tried to explain in below. Blue is your design. We will always attach the earring in this manner so please be aware of that.

Necklace: - The inside diameter of the hole were the necklace will be put trough must be at least 3.5mm.

As you can imagine we (here at Shapeways) meet many very interesting people, visit fun and inspiring events, view lots of different websites…..and in doing so gain a lot of market insight.

Many of them we use us to improve our product and services but many of them are more relevant for you as product designers.

As you help us by offering many great designers in you shops we want to help you by sharing these insights and ideas for you to use in your advantage.

I’ll be doing this more frequently if you guys like it…..

The first insight is this:

We get many requests from customers that they would love to be able to order our Ringpoem as a ring or bracelet.

We will leave our Ringpoem Creator for the napkins so if you are interested, design a beautiful ring and / or bracelet and offer it on the Co-Creator Platform.

Once we have some good designs we will feature them from our homepage.

 

Some tips:

- Might be good to offer them in the different materials …. Summer colors

- Keep the wall thickness in mind especially for the metals and Alumide

-Offer it via the Co-Creator Platform  so people have ordered the model before you start doing the customization work

Something I must share with you all....

Last Friday I have visited Roland DG  (Digital Group)

I wanted to see how their CNC machines work...and I must say I got very happy seeing how it works, the end results and the potential this has.

I got a demo of one of their bigger machines with an automatic tool changer and a rotary axis unit.

Not sure who of you have any experience with CNC and designing for CNC production but in general you can state that the level of details in a product is defined by the layer height and smallest tool used. Smallest tool defines the smallest inside radius.

Here are some pictures of some of the samples they made for me.

What do you guys think of this? Do you like it? Why ....? How...??

Peter Paul

What you can do with the Photoshaper.

It’s been a few weeks now since we have launched our latest Creator: the Photoshaper.

A lot of people have tried it out and ordered their very own Lightsculpture (= the print coming from the Photoshaper). I also had contact with some of you to get feedback on your experience with the Photoshaper. I was happy to hear that in general the feedback was positive and most of you are happy with the end result. Nevertheless there is always room for improvement and obviously that’s the challenge we take on daily.

One of the improvements I am currently working on is a way to use and display your Lightsculpture in your house… office… etc. Below you can see what came out of my tests. They are quite easy to make and it makes the Lightsculpture come out beautifully… if I may say so myself.

If you have any ideas or suggestions feel free to post them here or simply send me (peterpaul[at}Shapeways[dot]com) a mail.

Frame your Lightsculpture

Get a picture frame of 13cm – 9cm (5,1in – 3,5in). The bigger the frame the better the result. A bigger frame size will give you the best light/dark contrast since the frame will block the light coming from the back and the Lightsculpture will allow it to go through.

Take out the glass and the back plate. Place your light sculpture in the frame and fix it.

Tadaaaaa….

Backlight your Lightsculpture

The result above will work really well. However you could also take it 1 step future by mounting a backlight on the frame. You will need to buy a fitting with mounting bracket and a power cord.

Attach the power cord to the fitting, mount the fitting on the frame, put a lamp in it (not to strong for the best effect but also for the heat to keep the Lightsculpture from melting!!) and ….

Tadaaaaa…

If you have any other suggestions, applications, examples, feedback, etc …. Let me know

Peter Paul

I have been playing around with the possibility of printing in “rubber”. This is a flexible material (not actual rubber) that can be printed with the same machines that print our current Black-, White- and Transparent detail. I have generated a height map based on a picture (jpg or GIF) saved it and printed it….
Obviously this image can be made in any piece of software or just by taking picture of something you like t o make a stamp of... flowers, faces, structures,...

It takes some additional work after you have received the package at home but this opens up much more possibilities that go far beyond standard stamps.

I still need to optimize the process to get the best stamp possible. I just wanted to share this with you guys because it makes me really enthusiastic when I think about all new possibilities. For all clarity we currently do not yet offer this material but if you are interested in making your own stamp feel free to let me know
I’ll keep you guys posted. 

My Stainless steel printed Ringpoems also have arrived. I ordered two for my kids. I know it’s a bit cliché but heee it’s combining something very classical like a napkin ring with something completely advanced like 3D metal printing. I am obviously very happy with the result.

As you can see I have ordered mine with the bronze finishing. Becasue I polished the very first one that was shown on the site some weeks ago and I loved the contrast of the shiny polished finishing on the outside and the rough, dark finishing on the inside/between the characters, I did the same with the one I just now received and this is the result.

 

The method:
First I  used rough sand paper to remove the bronze finishing and make it nice and flat. I have a small (hobby) machine for that but manually this is also quite “do-able”. You can start with a nr.200 sandpaper and work your way up to nr.600.  After this I worked my way up to nr.1200 sandpaper. This can easily be done in 2 or 3 steps (nr.600, nr.1000, nr.1200). It’s best to sand it wet. After the 1200 I started with the polishing paste. I used my drill for that (picture will follow later) but this also is quite easy to do by hand with any polishing paste. Car polish will do the trick. And tradaaaa (the other one is also done by now ):

 

I have been playing around a bit with some Transparent details models to find a good way to polish them and make them shine.
It will take some time (appr 4 hours for this model) but the result really rocks… if I may say so myself.

Bellow I’ll describe the steps I took to get to this result. These steps will be applicable for almost all models printed in Transparent detail
 

Hi there… wouldn’t you love to come and work with us for about 12 to 16 hours a week?

Right now we are looking for people who can help us out with various things; creating 3d models, trouble shooting error messages we are getting in, supporting the development of our website, etc..

Interested?  Let me know   

peterpaul(at)shapeways(dot)com