Because of the scale I work in and that I'm trying to do high-detail models, FUD is the way to go for me. Some 75% of my shop is FUD-only. The thicker wall requirement of FD means that I can NOT interchange designs. Yes, FD is attractive for the lower cost, but to use it I would have to re-design every model for the thicker wall requirement, and that defeats the purpose of using FD as a 'draft' print.

The disctinction is very clear: which of these would YOU buy?

• Attachment: FDFUD.jpg
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I've experimented with both; I prefer FUD for its finer detail and smoother flat surfaces.

FD has a much larger build volume and is quite flexible when printed in thin sheets - it feels and acts kinda like Tupperware does. Details are very sharp and precise (I've successfully printed slot and tab parts with 0.06mm clearance around the tab) but there's much more 'fuzz' (maybe 0.3mm worth) left on the piece after the print nozzle shuts off; you have to scrape this away (it easily comes off), especially if you're joining parts together.

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Another problem/feature of FD is that there's a visible grain structure on flat faces. This could be a feature if you want to simulate wood grain and you can control the print orientation so the grain runs in the direction you want it to, but it's not so great if you're simulating a smooth surface like steel in 1:87 scale


The texture is not deep - it's only about 0.1mm - but it cannot be filled in with paint unless you want to lose a lot of fine detail on the model. I found the best solution is to paint the part then sand it EVERYWHERE you want to be smooth with a medium grade sanding stick. It doesn't take much sanding to smooth things out - the paint acts like a filler in the lowest spots. The hard part is working around surface details (like a 100s of rivets) without knocking them off; take your time and you'll succeed.

You'll need to paint the part again when you're finished sanding.

My wish would be to have the same size bounding box for FUD as FD; the largest piece you can print in FUD is 50 feet long at 1:87 scale which is too small for a lot of the stuff I'd like to do.

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I've used the frosted details for some time now, choosing the ultra and plain detail depending on the resolution, size or price of the finished models. While it is a good all round material for many of the items I make, there are two problem areas. The first is that it is brittle in small sections, and also it can have a surface texture that is dependent on the build orientation. This means that they is not a consistent look to models from different builds. For these reasons I have decided that it is problematic selling this material direct to the general public. However it is a very good material for pattern making for various downstream processes.

Recently I have bought some models made in the same material from a different supplier. This company finishes the pieces by bead blasting rather than using ultrasonic baths. I have been impressed with surface finish on these pieces to the extent of acquiring my own small bead blaster.




If Shapeways were to offer bead blasting as either an alternative to ultrasonic cleaning, or as an add-on service, I feel that both FUD and FD would become more popular, especially among those of us who would like to be confident that we could sell it direct to the public.

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[Updated on: Thu, 15 November 2012 16:56 UTC]

Hey Bill,

Attached is a picture of one of my trains that did go through the normal process like always, but after that i used the glass fiber stuff which we use to clean WSF on the FUD model, this is the result:


normally it would look like this:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/57124849@N07/6702808571/in/phot ostream

please do note, this will be really hard to achieve with all those tiny little parts people order, that will either blow them away or break them

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[Updated on: Fri, 16 November 2012 22:02 UTC]

There are no problems with 'nasty yellow gunk' anymore on FD and FUD prints; the new support material cleans up easy and doesn't leach out of the part later on.

The photo shows parts printed with the new support material on the left and the original 'yellow gunk' support material on the right. The part on the left was printed about eight months ago and was immediately immersed in acetone for cleaning. It hasn't changed since it was cleaned; the bumps on the left side of the parts are dribbles of material deposited after the print nozzle shut off

The part on the right is about 12 months old and was also immersed in acetone when it arrived and at first was very close in appearance to the part on the left, just a bit yellow. Over time it really yellowed and white salt crystals appeared on the surface. Other parts from this 'yellow' batch which were assembled and painted also have white salt crystals on top of the paint at this time.

• Attachment: CN switchstand HO old-new FUD.jpg
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