Now taking questions for Shapeways Live

Hey guys!

As I mention in this blog post, this month I'm experimenting with a slightly new format for Shapeways Live. Shapeways live is always lot of fun, but sometimes its hard on camera to balance the flow of questions and conversations going on the chat room.

This time, I'm taking questions via this forum thread beforehand.

Have you been wondering about shops? Lead times? How this weekend's Intro to 3D Design workshop went? Ask here, and I'll pick a bunch of the questions to answer during the livecast. After answering your questions, I'll hang out in the chat room, so I'll still be able to catch up with you guys real-time. Sound good?

So, what can I answer for you?

Hi Ana;

What's the latest news on adding a feature to specify print orientation for models? This may only be a necessary feature for items printed in WSF due to the way the machine works.

If a customer has something printed in WSF and gets a dud because it wasn't printed in the orientation chosen by the designer will Shapeways reprint it correctly for the customer at no charge every time?

For reference:
https://www.shapeways.com/forum/index.php?t=msg&th=5136&a mp;start=0&

Fud - We assume it's staying after the end of it's trial period, but what is the news on that? Any thoughts on how you are going to be able to process the amount us lot want in a timely manner ?

I'm also curious to know just how much less WSF (and * Detail) is being ordered because people have moved to FD/FUD - My orders for it certainly seem to be arriving much quicker.

Will you replace Transparent Detail by Frosted Detail (it is already the same price if I am not wrong)?

Will you proposed Polished White Strong and Flexible at the same price as White Strong and Flexible (and thus replace it)? The other consequence would be the availability of Polished Dyed Strong and Flexible which is really wanted I guess.

PWSF & WSF have different maximum sizes, minimum bounding box or shipping time. Plus polishing can destroy things. So a better question is if a WSF, that requires no polishing, is in the cards?

Thanks guys. Keep it comin'!

I have a question about taxes. Since Shapeways is based in Netherlands, are we required to list this as taxable income on our federal return?

Just to clarify, I'm in the USA.

I'm looking for more information on lead times, specifically for silver. I have a lot of unreleased silver designs that I would like to sell from stock rather than on-demand, because they must be combined with other goods before shipping. Having unpredictable lead times can cause a lot of problems because I will not be able to fulfill my obligations to my clients if I work with the stated lead time.

I already know Shapeways is working hard to remove the bottleneck limiting capacity. What I need to know is the specific date that the backlog will be totally resolved (not the date that you begin to address it by adding capacity) and what the actual lead time will be from that point on.

Also,I did not know there was a design workshop, and I'm wondering how it went.

I'm looking forward to a productive chat!

I'll ditto on a smoother WSF that doesn't wreak the damage that polishing does. I am waiting for my first PWSF model in a day or two, though I learn from the customer department that it has been damaged by the polishing process. That is to be expected on an intricate and highly detailed model. But the standard WSF is just short of being ideal for purpose, something smoother would be great.

On the other hand, FUD is looking like an even better material, and again, I await my first deliveries today or tomorrow. However, at the scale I am working in, I find FUD just too expensive other than for very small items. My customers will not pay the cost. Would there be any prospect that given it's apparent popularity, that the cost of FUD might come down?

Many thanks...