Q: When is 2mm not 2mm?
A: When it's measured by a Shapeways technician.
Here we go again.
After all the 2mm sprue controversy, I went back and reworked dozens of models (and I still have a couple hundred to go) to make sure they met the new guidelines. Now,
this product was designed with 2mm sprues from the start and meets or exceeds all the stated guidelines for WSF, WA, FUD, and FXD. It's even printed successfully multiple times.
And yet, that's still not good enough.
Interestingly, the problem with this model is the sprue, not exposed gun barrels or anything like that. (Fun fact: I started putting parts on sprues on the advice of Shapeways back in 2011, when I first started modeling.) I have to wonder if these parts are breaking because they are poorly designed, or if because they are being poorly handled by the SW techs pulling them from the printer. The inconsistency in how techs are rejecting models is disheartening.
I am so frustrated, and worse yet, my customers are frustrated. If I wasn't wearing this tinfoil hat, I would swear that SW is out to get scale modelers, or maybe just me personally, but I know that's not the case. Still, for a technology that was supposed to be able to do things that traditional manufacturing couldn't, it's terribly disappointing to see how badly it's being handled. The 3D tools are no help, because this product, like others that have been rejected, passed all the tests for printability and yet still were rejected.
I am reminded of a card game we used to play in high school. It was called Mao, and it played very similar to UNO. There were three rules: 1) It plays like UNO. 2) Only the dealer is allowed to speak during gameplay. 3) We can't tell you the rest of the rules. The way the game worked, people new to the game would learn the rules only as the dealer penalized them for breaking one of the rules, and for added fun, the dealer was allowed to make up one new rule per hand. I very much feel that I'm playing Mao with the SW techs right now, and each time a product is ordered, the tech of the day is allowed to make up one rule. Design guidelines? Irrelevant! 3D tools? Pointless! It all boils down to who is handling your product that day and what kind of mood they are in. At least, that's how it feels.
Please, Shapeways, get over your sprue allergy and put some consistency into your treatment of our products.