http://www.shapeways.com/forum/index.php Shapeways: Bring your creativity to life in 3D http://www.shapeways.com/forum/index.php?t=rview&goto=25470&th=4882#msg_25470
A moderate to large order of parts that i ordered in stainless steel were delivered but they were made of a crusty, ridged "gold like" material instead of stainless steel. After further investigation it looks as though this is the "gold matte" option that Shapeways offers which i didn't order.

Ive ordered from shapeways prior to this order and following with no problems but its was the largest and most important order that happened to run out bad

I've reported this to Customer Service complete with detailed photos and while customer service admits they are unsure as to why the production error happened on their end i haven't made much headway with regard to a credit so i can reorder the parts or simply having the correct material parts shipped to me. I'm already behind schedule due to the this.

Has anyone else had a problem like this before?

Again.. i *love* what Shapeways represents and appreciate the service they offer,. I just want to have this resolved and move forward with future orders.]]> Plasticdreaming 2011-03-31T02:31:46-00:00 http://www.shapeways.com/forum/index.php?t=rview&goto=25489&th=4882#msg_25489 Youknowwho4eva 2011-03-31T13:35:29-00:00 http://www.shapeways.com/forum/index.php?t=rview&goto=25502&th=4882#msg_25502 hi,


Sorry that this took a bit longer, but I have got a feedback about your complaint. Please see the email we just sent you.

You have designed your models too small and a little bit too thin, it is very hard to polish them. Because due too the size it is nearly impossible to polish them. We can polish them, but the chance that something will break of is huge. Please keep in mind that Stainless steel has a minium wall thickness of 3mm

We have created a voucher for you in return. Please accept our humble apologies on this one.]]> RalphVdB 2011-03-31T15:41:15-00:00 http://www.shapeways.com/forum/index.php?t=rview&goto=25513&th=4882#msg_25513
A bit of clarification please as im unclear on this point: Are the stainless steel parts covered in this gold matte material to begin with and then polished removing the gold matte revealing the "polished stainless steel" appearance ? Or are there occasions when a batch of orders in stainless steel with the gold matte option are printed with steel parts without the gold option and the latter are then polished?

I'm asking as i've ordered stainless steel parts before in this size/scale both before and after this "incorrect" batch and they were received polished (thank you !) without a hint of this gold covering/ crust.

Either way...i sincerely appreciate the replies, the service, the company and the effort .

As i said before..life long customer !

]]> Plasticdreaming 2011-03-31T18:49:50-00:00 http://www.shapeways.com/forum/index.php?t=rview&goto=25514&th=4882#msg_25514 Youknowwho4eva 2011-03-31T18:56:30-00:00 http://www.shapeways.com/forum/index.php?t=rview&goto=25516&th=4882#msg_25516 ]]> stop4stuff 2011-03-31T19:07:52-00:00 http://www.shapeways.com/forum/index.php?t=rview&goto=25529&th=4882#msg_25529
His explaination of the colour variation is down to a combination of the oven used and the polishing (or lack of). My parts varied between firescaled steel, firescaled with a slight polish and fresh bronze colour - all ordered and delivered in the same batch

Your models were too dificult to polish, therefor they have a slightly lighter color.This is the reason behdind the color differences.

Hope this clears things up for you

Cheers, Ralph]]> RalphVdB 2011-04-01T05:56:16-00:00