How practical would it be to print a cage around each order for 3D printing processes that use a powdered support structure? The mesh size would correspond to the smallest part in the order. Doing this would provide many benefits for Shapeways, such as:
You could also add a bar code to the cage that could be scanned; so no more trying to figure out what parts correspond to each individual order.
No more manually cleaning of parts. The whole powder block would be placed into a machine similar to a clothes dryer and then it would be gently tumbled to remove the bulk of the powder while jets of air would take care of removing the powder from the finer details, thus increasing the speed of production.
Each cage serves as a container for transporting throughout the facility and ultimately to shipping.
The cages could be designed with a built in henge and latch mechanism so that it could be easily opened.
No more concerns about multiple part orders. Customers could order their multiple part designs without concern of rejection or lost parts. Over time Shapeways receives more orders cuz there are less restrictions or mishaps and customers are happier.
The cages could either be opened and emptied into their respective shipping containers and then thrown into a grinding machine for recycling or they could simply be part of the protective packing and shipped as is.
Overall cost could be lowered being that manual processing would be drastically reduced.
I should patent this!