Wow - sorry guys, I'm not that rich

I made something that is about the size of a soda can, and it has 1mm walls. How the heck can it be priced at $182.64 ? That's just ridiculous! Kinda fed up...

Are the inner walls connected to the outer walls?
If there is no "hole" between the inside and outside, then the Shapeways software removes the inner void, making the item solid.

at 4.8" x 2.5", a soda can should cost around $50 in WSF
http://stonysmith.com/wired/VolumeEstimator.asp?L=60&W=6 0&H=120&T=1

Yeah - I understand what you are saying. The models inner and outer walls are connected though. I even put three little holes on the bottom in case the inside needed to be washed out or something. I have come to the conclusion that this whole 3d printing thing is only feasible for very small things like jewelry and such. Even if the whole thing was solid - my thought are "It's plastic, man! It shouldn't be that expensive!".

Remember that common plastic parts are cheap only because they are injection molded by the million.
Getting a mold made for just a single copy of your soda can-lookalike would easily cost you more than
getting it printed. (And the "printing" is a process that takes hours, stacking little grains of plastic on top of
each other - when you see a house, do you think "hey man, it is only gravel, how can it be that expensive"?)

Can you make your model public, or attach it to this thread ? This would allow people to find out why it
(apparently) does not turn out hollow. Or try to find out with (free) netfabb studio basic - maybe the orientation
of (part of) the inner surface (the surface normals) is wrong, or the holes do not go all the way through to
the inside.

I tried Netfab, and it is nice software and it did find two flipped triangle, which I fixed. I re-uploaded the model, and it is still $182 in WSF, which is ludicrous. If anyone would like to download the file to look at, here is the link: https://www.shapeways.com/model/1101705/car-mod-holder.html?l i=my-models&key=411e0dd5627c2081e6f8fc709a3769b1

I would much appreciate any input, as I am new at this whole modeling for print thing (not modeling in general - pretty much a vet).

Your idea of a soda can is pretty different from my (and seemingly StonySmith's) idea - your basic can is BIG, and in addition you effectively have three more cans inside it so your are really printing 4 soda cans.

Your model seems well constructed, the problem is the volume of material. The Shapeways price structure in all cases except ceramic relates to volume of material used, and your model has 129 cm3 of material (there is also a handling charge for each model dependant on the material).

Perhaps you are right and 3d printing is not correct for this application - it's a realisation most of us come to at one point or another. But, if you want to proceed you need to get rid of all unnecessary material:
1. If the outer shell is just to enable it to fit in a cupholder, say, what is the minimum structure required to fit/be held snugly?
2. Ditto the internal shapes? I don't know what they are for but is all that structure really necessary?
3. WSF is not water tight in any case - if you want to print in this can you punch some (many) holes (decorative or otherwise) in your model. 3d printing is a way of creating new things but I well understand the temptation/trap of designing for existing manufacturing techniques. These holes can be used imaginatively to both remove volume and make the end result truly interesting/attractive/different etc.

In short I would say you have designed something that fulfils your requirements - now see what you can strip away or re-imagine so that teh end result is better.

Good luck!

@ AmLachDesigns:
While I did say is was about the size of a soda can, I did not say it was a soda can. the three holes through the top, are for holding "mods" Mods are what we vapers call our vaporizers, as the are modded e-cigs, tubular in shape.

BUT, you are correct - your idea about taking material away by making holes through it is a great one. I will try this and see if it brings the price down. I will try patterned round holes to help keep structural integrity. If I can get this down in price, vapers will buy these like hotcakes.

I am glad if I helped.

Nonetheless, I have never seen a soda can 5 inches in diameter...

As AmLachDesigns wrote, some "soda can".
At 5in diameter and 6.5in height it looks more like a motor oil can to me, and the three "fingers"
inside all add to the volume. Do the walls have to be solid, or would a mesh-like structure do ?
In the latter case, you could use anything from a trivial square wire mesh to Voronoi or arabesque
patterns. mercedes stars,hearts,flowers or whatever to save cost and add character.

EDIT: hopped in a bit late, didn't I ? :blush:

Correct on the size - way to big. Don't know how my measurements got off so much - fixing now.

[EDIT]
Got the size correct and cut circular holes all over outside the body - still game out to $66 in WFS, which is not the material I want. Stainless was $300+. This method of getting it made is just not feasible, as a similar item is being sold in high end hardwood for $40. Oh well. I understand that most on the money pays for the process rather than the materials.