White Detail: Layer problem?

I received several prints of models I ordered and at first thought they looked good. Upon opening the bags I discovered what is for me a Big problem: I can not only See the individual layers on the model, I can Feel them.

There were 3 parts on one print: one doesn't matter because of the design. The other two have many flat edges on them and this is where the edges are most visible.

One was at an angle to the print direction and has a slight fuzzy look to it. The edges on it are rather smooth instead of sharp.

The second was printed parallel to the print direction. Each flat side surface shows visible stepping on the model which you can feel with your finger.

The above two cubes are 0.75" each.

I received another item in White Detail that is 3 inches long (printed in the "width" or x/z direction) and it has lines running horizontally on the long slightly curved side but these do not exist in the areas where there's more shaped details.


Is this normal for White Detail?

Hi WildRoo,

can you post some pictures? If you're unhappy with the result you can also talk to our support team at service@shapeways.com.

Bart

Sorry, forgot about this post. I've e-mailed them to ask this question as well, though my camera can't get that close to the object to be able to see the ridges.

I'm sending them the pics, but I was wanting others opinions to know if this is what I should expect from White Detail. I got transparent detail before on a character model and didn't have this, so I was wondering if its just the white detail material that does it.

I had a similar problem with some models.
I think the orientation of the part during the manufacturing process has a great effect in the quality of the surfaces for WSF material. I had the same model printed in different times and the results were very different from each other. Some would have a nice surface while others would have very apparent ridges in some areas.
I wonder if there is anyway we can recommend a prefered orientation to the operator so we minimize these ridges?

Regards,
Luis

Right now no. But it has been discussed, and hopefully is in the works.

Yes, it's normal. No, you aren't alone wondering about it. The orientation for detail materials can be tricky, as the shape can dictate how to place it in the build table (less support wasted, less errors). In WSF and sandstone it could be less problematic to be selected as it's all "dust", but it isn't so far. With luck staff will do the right thing for mechanical parts.

The detail machine can give better resolution, but it was only a test and you still get texture, just easier to fix. Minimaker has a good photo of the normal settings issues. Yeah, 7mm is really tiny... so is the world of miniatures. People paint iris and reflections in eyes of humanoids that are ~30mm, by hand (in the snow, uphill both ways, without boots...) so they want the surfaces to be smooth. -_o

glehn:
I ordered White Detail, not WSF. I also agree it would be better if we could determine the Z Value (height), as that tends to have a higher detail available then in XY.

stannum
I honestly find that surprising; I previously ordered a character model in Transparent Detail and the surface was smooth to the the touch, but the detail was visibly hard to make out.

After seeing their miniature model they used as an example for "too many polygons" submission method I chose to go with White Detail for this run. When they came in I was, and still am, surprised that I can run my fingertip across what was supposed to be a smooth edge and it gives the feel of a stack of papers, with many surprisingly thick feeling "layers" in it.

What I'm printing I plan on casting to make reproductions of and, for an object thats supposed to have flat walls, layers you can feel simply will not work.

As is I'm in contact with a rep now and hopefully everything will work out.