Hi Shapeways Community, I'm new to Shapeways and 3D printing, and I'm fascinated with the prospect of making some of my ideas a possibility. My first one is a custom token container for Small World. My first model's walls were way too thin and found that my file setup was incorrect because Shapeways reported a much smaller size. I did much better on my second attempt, the walls are good except around the hole for the hinge. Also I'm getting a loose shells warning. The hinge I made has the recommended clearance of .5 mm for interlocking parts. Do you have any suggestions on modeling interlocking parts? You can see my model here: https://www.shapeways.com/model/3dtools/4101220/0/6?key=9472 eba07ddf48ab040254598a00f85b Also do you have any recommendations that might help lower the cost? Would reducing the 1-2mm wall thickness be worth the effort? For such a small container should I concern myself with machine space?
The thin wall and shell errors appear to be erroneous and you can most likely ignore them. Shapeways will take a look at it before printing and will tell you if they find any errors. When a human takes a look they at times find that the flags found by the automated checks were unfounded. What I see though is there is no way to easily disengage the snap lock. I'd add a tiny lip to the latch so that one can get a fingertip under there to unlock it.
Oh and, yes it can be worth it to go with minimal walls. Another way to reduce cost is to make the solid walls into a lattice.
Does Shapeways staff only look at models when a print order is made? I've seen various lattice work in the shop and some make me wonder does a lattice lessen the durability of a print? I did take into account the latch needing a lip, but after a second look it might need to be bigger. A small 1-2mm lip seems a bit small when thinking about a finger. With the SFP would the latch bend enough to release given the 2mm thickness and the short length? I saw a video of a SFP finger catapult in the shop which was quite flexible but it is quite a bit bigger.
Yes only when an order is made. Yes, it reduces the durability, but for this design I think would be fine. If the overall size of your design is the correct size I have in mind then the latch will work, although, I would need to take a look at the actual model to be sure.
Thanks for the info, although I don't think my idea is going to be very economical. I will definitely be trying out some of the others though. I made a 3rd model with the thinner walls and lattice which did take a 1/5 of the price off, which is significant. Even with adding more lattice I doubt it will get at a reasonable price, for storing game tokens. Here's the update: https://www.shapeways.com/model/3dtools/4105629/0/6?key=a97f 5a607f9328e86a5f998c6785e195
Try uploading to Shapeways in the open position. This should save on machine space cost. The machine space is calculated by a 40 mm rolling ball that forms the convex hull of the objects.