Questions regarding Full colour sandstone

Hello Shapeways community!

Back again with what I'm sure are basic questions. My next model is almost ready, but I did have questions regarding full colour sandstone as I've never printed in this material before.

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[*] Colour accuracy - How accurate is the colour between the texture file and the final output. Does it tend to be a bit darker/lighter (just so I know whether I need to correct this before placing an order)? If anyone is willing to post a picture of a FCS print along with a texture file sample used on the model so I can compare the two, that would be fantastic!

[*]Drilling - I know FCS is 'fragile', but do you think you can drill a hole through it without it shattering (drilling by hand carefully, as opposed to using a power tool)?

[*] Superglue - My understanding is that after the FCS has been printed it's covered in a special kind of glue to help increase it's strenght (and deepen the colours?). Has anyone tried then attaching something to it with regular superglue? I imagine this would be fine, but I wanted to just double check

[*] Transparency - In your experience, if you held the FCS up to a light, is it semi transparent or pretty solid?

[*] Ink running - I know this isn't a dishwasher safe product, but if you did get it a bit wet by accident (let's say you spill some water on it), does the ink run?

[*] Multiple shells - If you have multiple shells that 'clip' into one another, will they print as one piece like they do for white strong and flexible prints?
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Thanks as always!

This model was created specifically to answer this question: http://shpws.me/lUx1
As you can see, the colors tend to be a bit darker than you would expect. This model is downloadable, and one of the images in the gallery specifies the (web) colors for the individual segments. You can even order one of them for yourself to see the colors in person <grin>. Please understand.. the photograph is of a print made 18 months ago - the process may have improved since then.

It's slightly transparent. It is NOT light-safe, probably even to a depth of a centimeter.

I personally have one item that I have used as a coaster for two years with no issues - your results may vary.

Be very careful with this. If you don't properly define the edge between the two shells/textures, then the computer won't necessarily make the choice the way you would prefer. It's best to get your item down to a single shell with a boolean union and then check the application of textures so that you can ensure they are what you desire. I think that I have seen some auto-rejections when I submit such models. It would make some sense that the validation software (MeshMedic) would accept multiple shells for single-color materials, and reject it for FCS.

The inks are water-soluble. I had the experience that, painting them with water-based varnish, the paint will diffuse into the model , so the colors will become paler. This does not seem to happen with other varnishes.

Greetings
Dragoman

I think even with the improvements since the model stonysmith linked you, it still comes out a bit dark sometimes. But, with my models, it's actually been fairly accurate. I would recommend you do a test piece for yourself though.

How big is the piece you're drilling? I wouldn't dare drill in this material though; I've put my own models through some stress and I know they they do snap rather cleanly when broken. For instance, a leg of the model can snap off (when dropped from a height, by accident), but the break is so clean it can be glued back together easily, with barely any sign it's been broken. Again, something to test maybe.

Regular superglue, as mentioned previously, has worked fine for me connecting broken pieces back together. I'd imagine it would react just fine when attaching something of a different material as well, so long as that material worked well with superglue too.

I've seen an example in the last few months of a rather thin FCS print that was fairly semi-transparent (can't seem to find it at the moment, but it was a shell fossil I think). Again, this is something you'd have to test with different colourings and thicknesses of the piece in question.

I've tried not to get my models wet, but I'm sure if you take the proper precautions to let it dry, it should be ok. Should probably test this myself at some point.

I can personally vouch for this, they will print, so long as the model is combined into one. For instance, you can have a model with interconnecting meshes so long as they are actually interconnecting and not just near each other, but you would need to combine it.

If any of this helps, fantastic. If you want to know anymore, ask. And can I just say, I've seen your work around, and it's really quite inspiring on how you've made some of them.

Wow, thanks for the replies everyone. Extremely informative and you've all pretty much covered everything I needed to know. I'm a total newbie when it comes to FCS, so hopefully my questions wern't too silly and haven't been asked 1000 times already. I really appreciate all your input on this and taking the time to respond.

This will in theory be the first actual model I'll put up for public sale (pretty basic, so not sure how many people it will interest, hopefully people will like it though), so I'll definitely get test prints done before I make it publically available for purchase and share anyting I learn from those (I'll probably try doing things like clear coating the piece to try and make it water resistant etc ...). However, as I'm sure is the case with everyone, I want to try and limit the number of test prints as it all costs money at the end of the day

Thanks again everyone!