Second order - second failure...

Today I got my second order - it contains a smaller version of the "Orion VII" from my first order. Well, unfortunately it has major problems, too... :cry:

It has been printed in FUD, but it looks like being made out of two different materials. A part of the model is transparent, the rest more or less white opaque (still a BIT transparent, much much less compared to the rest), a huge stripe of the outer ring. The middle is strangely "clouded" inside, as you can see in the pictures, too, and completely white. You can feel a step where the opaque stuff begins of approx 0.2 top 0.3 mm:





The opaque areas are MUCH more rough than the complete transparent ones. The model is useless for me that way, at least the outer ring should be looking the same all around. It would not matter if it would be completely look more frosted (like the rough stripe), or if it would look completely transparent, but with two different looks I can do nothing with it because this area will not be painted (it is transparent in the "original", a spaceship from the old german TV-series "Raumpatrouille").

Is this the famous "two layer problem" mentioned in the forum? But your Shapeway-employee Nancy wrote that this was solved at August 5th - the day I ordered my items. And this does NOT explain the strange cloudy appearance of the middle of the model.

I already send an email to Shapeways - I really hope they are able to solve the problem.

Was the middle hollow? If so it could be left over wax (the support material) and yes you appear to be correct that this is the issue everyone has been reporting. Have you emailed support about it yet?

No, the middle is solid, as in the larger models I got. Yes, I already send them an email about it, including the pictures.

Ok, let us know what they say. I still haven't got to play with fud

Got my reply from Shapeways:

There is nothing they can do about the problem because it is the (in)famous "two layer problem" and they don't have a solution for it now. All models printed in FUD will look that way. I got a coupon for it so that I can re-order it in another material.

That's truly sad, I really hoped there would be a solution. And I still think that Shapeways should mention that problem in BIG LETTERS when something is ordere in FUD, like "Beware: You will get two different textures!".

I'm sorry to hear that. Hopefully some sort of resolution is close at hand.

In this message Nancy said "..... that's because the two layer problem has been solved!!! Well.. almost. We still need to run a few more test batches to be sure, but it looks good so far!"

So are we now to assume this was a false alarm and the further tests proved it was not fixed ?

The Shapeways service told me that they only fixed the "yellow material" problem, but NOT the two layer problem - and that it will appear with FD also, NOT just with FUD.