Producing A Kit Of Parts In Different Materials

Discussion in 'Suggestions & Feedback' started by dragnse7en, Dec 15, 2016.

  1. dragnse7en
    dragnse7en Member
    Okay then, what if shapeways came out with a software tool that can combine multiple model files into one product? That seems like much more of an easy and painless approach for them. If shapeways is still weary of manufacturing issues, such as rejected parts for a whole kit, time relays, etc., then that's not my problem, and I don't operate that way with the current companies that I'm contracted with (Pratt & Whitney, G.E., Raytheon, and more). I'm sure those companies also have solved this issue at hand.
     
  2. CopperBezel
    CopperBezel Well-Known Member
    I really doubt that your contractual relationship to any of those companies has any resemblance to a designer's relationship to Shapeways. Or a customer's, for that matter. It's an a la carte service for either.

    But idea that concern about rejected parts, etc. is delaying the implementation of kits is speculation. I don't think it's unfounded, but again, Shapeways does seem to have a system for this already in the way they treat multi-part models. If one part of a model doesn't pass checks or fails to print successfully, they don't ship and they don't charge. My guess is that they'd want to extend that to any multi-material kits, too.

    And yes, combining multiple models into a single product is the thing that everyone's been talking about. Isn't that the thing you were saying didn't make sense?
     
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  3. dragnse7en
    dragnse7en Member
    Yes, that is the exact and simple issue at hand that I wanted to address.
     
  4. stonysmith
    stonysmith Well-Known Member Moderator
    A bit of an extension to the comments above.. One of the reasons that multiple materials has not been addressed yet is that the standard file formats used by the printers (like STL) do not yet have internal material designators. That's part of why they joined the SVX consortium.
     
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  5. LrdSatyr8
    LrdSatyr8 Well-Known Member
    The way I see it this and would be fairly simple to implement...

    Let's say I've got a full model kit... some parts can be printed in SWF and others require a finer detail and need to be printed in FXD. Now... If I were to upload two separate files in the materials they should be printed in, it would be nice to be able to sell both those models as a single purchase to make a full model "kit". So if the ABS part of the model sells for $10 and the FXD part of the model sells for $5, the total price would be $15... the customer would pay the $15 for both models that are then sent to the printers for printing in the two different materials and everything proceeds as usual! Does that make sense? All you'd have to do is add a single field to the database that contains the ID number of the "kit" and assign it to the parts that belong in that "kit". Does that make more sense? I understand what dragse7en is trying to say!
     
  6. Keystone_Details
    Keystone_Details Well-Known Member
    ^^^ This is the basis of my original query.

    Take these four models.
    upload_2017-5-23_21-20-53.png
    upload_2017-5-23_21-21-57.png
    upload_2017-5-23_21-22-48.png
    upload_2017-5-23_21-23-40.png



    One model is FED, one FUD, one BSF and the other stainless steel (in the order above) and they all are used to make a single model using an existing N Scale chassis. I would like to be able to market this kit in my shop and have a customer purchase all four in a single pick. Yes I know about the "coding" above but I would think a relatively simple HTML change could make it happen as LrdSatyr8 says above.
     
  7. LrdSatyr8
    LrdSatyr8 Well-Known Member
    Then the customer wouldn't have to go searching thru your shop to purchase all 4 of the parts separately. Right now, the only way I'm doing it is letting them know in the description and link to each part. Would be so much nicer if the customer could buy all the parts at once without all the hassle. Maybe even put a discount on the "kit" price or something! Been hoping for this feature for awhile now!
     
  8. Keystone_Details
    Keystone_Details Well-Known Member
    Here is a different thread that I started and an imaged quote from another user that suggested a manual linking of vartious models that will populate the cart with the parts in the link. Appreciation to he6agon:

    upload_2017-5-24_11-10-35.png

    I have not tried it myself, but I plan on doing that for the kit above. I still think it would be better as a SW website arrangement.
     
    Last edited: May 25, 2017