{"id":745,"date":"2011-02-16T15:14:42","date_gmt":"2011-02-16T15:14:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shapeways.com\/blog\/archives\/745-stainless-steel-whats-happening-here.html"},"modified":"2014-07-03T17:08:28","modified_gmt":"2014-07-03T17:08:28","slug":"stainless-steel-whats-happening-here","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shapeways.com\/blog\/stainless-steel-whats-happening-here","title":{"rendered":"Stainless Steel: What’s happening here?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Hi, I’m Nancy, the Product Lead<\/a> for Materials and Content at Shapeways. I know maybe some of you are confused and frustrated with the Stainless Steel design rules<\/a>,
\nand the disappointing rejection notices you get regarding wall
\nthickness and other violation of design rules. I’d like to take some
\ntime and update you on what we are doing at Shapeways to address this.                                                       <\/p>\n

\"10\"<\/a>
\n<\/p>\n

<\/strong><\/p>\n

First, I’d like to recap some of the important design rules..<\/p>\n

<\/strong>Basically, the way I think of it–it’s less about the precise number of millimeters and a precise ratio (like 1:2 will work but 1:2.01 will not work, or anything under x millimeter will work and x-.1 millimeter won’t), and more about the question, will it break? The part of the process where a model usually breaks is when the material is in the “Green State.” The way I like to think of it is, if I sculpt this out of wet sand–can I pick it up without it falling apart? Or, if I made this out of really brittle, unbaked clay–can I pick it up without it breaking? <\/p>\n

While visiting our suppliers, I took a quick video of me playing with the Stainless Steel in the Green State (a fragile stage in the middle of the process). See how fragile and easily breakable this is? And this piece is actually 3 mm or over!<\/p>\n

<\/embed><\/object><\/p>\n

The current version of our Stainless Steel design rules can be found here<\/a>, in detail. There’s also a blog post<\/a>
\nthat describes some of the nuances. But more importantly, here’s what
\nwe’re cooking up to deal with the confusion over these rules.<\/p>\n


\nSo what are we doing so far? Well, Shapeways is currently working to…<\/p>\n

Define a clearer set of design rules<\/strong>
\nThe first thing we are doing (we’re actually in the middle of this
\nprocess right now), is working with our printing facility to add some
\nclarity to the design rules. There are many things that are indeed
\nprintable that have walls under 3 mm. Currently, the draft of rules we
\nare using states that no parts are allowable under 3 mm, but in reality
\nthere are exceptions. We are trying to formalize those exceptions into
\ndesign rules to give you guys freedom to make more cool stuff. <\/p>\n

Consolidate design rules and documentation<\/strong>
\nAnother stream of work is to consolidate the design rule communication.
\nCurrently, there are rules posted on blogs, others on static
\npages–basically, they are a bit scattered in various areas and not too
\neasy to find. To that end, I am working with Ben and Ana to revamp the
\nDesign Rules section of our website. We want to consolidate all the
\ndesign rules so that there is a golden source that will get updated
\nwhen there are changes, and so that there’s one place to go to for easy
\nto understand rules.<\/p>\n

We also got feedback that more examples would be helpful, so we hope to
\nbuild up an examples database as well as part of this new Design Rule
\nsection. <\/p>\n

Notify rejections sooner and with more details<\/strong>
\nWe are aiming to give you guys feedback on your models as soon as we
\ncan. There is an automagic check when you upload your files that
\ncaptures some of the errors. Then there’s a manual check that looks
\nmore closely at your models. This is why sometimes you would get a
\n“success!” message followed by a “rejection” message. We are working to
\nget you feedback sooner, and with more detailed explanations of why
\nyour model is not printable. Or at least, get you more help in
\nunderstanding the rejection e-mails if you don’t understand something. <\/p>\n

Create a better feedback process<\/strong>
\nAnother point of feedback that I’m thinking a lot about is the
\ncommunication element of this, and effective ways to manage design rule
\nchanges. You guys are quite adept at sending pieces that push the
\nboundaries of 3D printing, which is awesome! I’m sure even the best
\ndesign rules will not capture all the use cases. To that end, we are
\nthinking of ways to set up on our end a better process to review
\nrejections we get from our suppliers on a more regular basis, have a
\nbetter process to spot trends and quickly work with our suppliers to
\neither push the boundaries of what they will produce or modifying (and
\ncommunicating!) the design rules to you guys. This feedback process
\nwill help us rapidly iterate the rules and test new boundaries at the
\nsame time. It will help ensure that we keep our education materials
\nupdated and thorough as well!<\/p>\n

Well Nancy, what can I do to help?<\/strong>
\nActually, having a bunch of examples of models that have failed, and
\nmodels that are under 3 mm wall but still succeeded in printing would
\nhelp us clarify the rules. If you have any models, you wouldn’t mind we
\nuse in our discussions, please let me know at nancy@shapeways.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n

So there you have it. We are approaching this problem through a variety
\nof different tacks. If you have any more ideas, please do let us know! <\/p>\n

\nThanks,<\/p>\n

Nancy<\/p>\n

Image of Steel Rule(er) 10<\/a> \/ Steve Dorsey<\/a> \/ http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-nc-nd\/2.0\/<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hi, I’m Nancy, the Product Lead for Materials and Content at Shapeways. I know maybe some of you are confused…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":5010,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[481,478],"tags":[482,479,477],"class_list":["post-745","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-shapeways","category-community","tag-6-inspiration","tag-3-tutorials","tag-1-whats-hot"],"thumbnail":false,"yoast_head":"\nStainless Steel: What's happening here? - Shapeways Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Hi, I'm Nancy, the Product Lead for Materials and Content at Shapeways. 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