shapeways alternative

[Matias Andina]

Hello all,

We wanted to order more parts from Shapeways but it has been down for a couple of weeks. We are curious if somebody else used any other commercial system in the US to print FED3 parts.
Best,
Matias

[Li Li]

Hello, Matias.

From the FED3 git wiki (https://github.com/KravitzLabDevices/FED3/wiki/3D-printing-FED3), it mentioned wenext.com.

After the price comparison, I ordered every part of FED3 from Wenext. Hope this helps.

Best,

Li

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[Matias Andina]

Awesome, thanks for the info! 

They are indeed cheaper. They are asking for us to re-spec the parts since they are too thin. I am guessing this is akin to the "print anyway" that we used to do in shapeways.com ?

Would you be comfortable sharing your order number / some identifier for me to refer them to, so they know that they have printed them before.

Best,
Matias

[Matias Andina]

Hello all,

I downloaded the housing from the repo to submit for commercial printing at wenext as suggested. A rep from wenext contacted me due to the issues with the files downloaded.

This is the first time I am seeing these gaps, but it seems that there might be a gap in the design (see pics attached and what the rep did to fix it because it would print as 2 parts). 

Just thought to share if anybody encounters this in the future.

Best,

Matias

[Li Li]

Hello, Matias.

I have printed several times at wenext without any issues in the past. 

However, recently they also told me about the gap issue and it eventually leads to two parts instead of one. I do not know how they were able to print it out in the past but it seems to be an issue now.

Li Li 

[Lex]

That's funny - the hopper design has been like this since 2020 and this hasn't come up before.  I can see what they're saying in the TinkerCAD design - there is a gap!  I've made the attached modification (and updated the TinkerCAD and Github) with this new model with the gap removed.  Can you check with WeNext if this works better?

Also, I think Shapeways is back online if that still matters!  Best, -Lex

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[Alison Kreisler]

About to order some housing from WeNext (if there still isn't a Shapeways link for the housing re-estbalished?). Before I do, can we confirm that resin is the best material for durability and accuracy from WeNext? I'll definitely use the updated 2024 file. 

[Matias Andina]

We printed in PA12 as we usually did before. I think they further modified the .stl slightly (trying to get it to double check).

The prints came indistinguishable from Shapeways.

We printed both in gray and black. I like the black better, but it might be personal preference.

Best,
Matias

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[Lex]

Wow I missed this but Shapeways filed for bankruptcy and has stopped operations :(   I always recommended Shapeways to people because they consistently delivered very high quality prints, so it is sad to see that they couldn't make it in the market :(

For alternatives, I've used WeNext a lot (their clear Somos resin is amazing and I haven't found anything else like it), and we've also used HUBS.  As Matias said, I would recommend printing in PA12 Nylon, which is usually printed with a "Multi-jet fusion" (MJF) method.  If you can find a place that uses genuine Hewlett Packard MJF I'd recommend that. The one issue I've had with both WeNext and HUBS is that the process of MJF can deposit uncured powder in internal cavities of a print, like the pellet chute.  The below photo is a print that did not work, due to powder in the chute that I couldn't clean out.  So if the printing company doesn't remove all of the uncured powder it can create jams.  I'm not sure how to communicate this to WeNext or HUBS but it's something to be aware of.

Please post back with your experiences, hopefully we can find a reliably printing service for these!  -Lex

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