Whether you’re an entrepreneur in the midst of expanding your business or a first-time creator experimenting with a new product, your idea deserves the highest quality materials. While 3D printing is an ever-expanding industry, here at Shapeways we’re committed to staying on top of the latest cutting-edge technologies to ensure you have all you need to innovate your industry. A large part of that pledge is consistently diversifying our range of materials so that we always have the perfect match for your product’s specific needs. Today we’re excited to announce the addition of two new maker materials to the platform: PA12 Glass Beads and TPU (thermoplastic polyurethane). These two new materials are maker materials meaning they will only be available for purchase on own models and not available on the marketplace.

PA12 Glass Beads

PA12 Glass Beads Multi Jet Fusion Plastic

PA12 Glass Beads is a new addition to the material family formerly known as “Professional Plastic” that we’re renaming “Multi Jet Fusion Plastic.” PA12 Glass Beads is a glass-filled nylon printed with HP MJF technology. This material offers high stiffness and high structural integrity. Translation: large and flat products will print with ease, without the concern of warping or distortion. PA12 Glass Bead’s resilience and strength make it an ideal material for projects within the medical, robotics, and drones industries, particularly for applications like flat parts, fixtures, and tooling. It’s currently available in two finishes: Gray and Dark Gray.

TPU (Thermoplastic Polyurethane)

TPU (thermoplastic polyurethane)

Highly flexible and shockingly durable, thermoplastic polyurethane is a vast improvement from our previously offered elastoplastic. TPU’s elasticity and natural resistance to most every day wear make it an excellent candidate for automotive and medical use. It would work wonders as an insole, midsole, or helmet; and for robotics applications, TPU could be used for tubing, hoses, and seals.

We’re so excited to see how these new materials will expand the realm of what’s possible with Shapeways. PA12GB and TPU are now available on our site for your own models. Upload your design, select one of these two exciting materials, and get an instant quote now.

The post Introducing Our Two New Materials! appeared first on Shapeways Blog.

Shapeways is proud to offer a market-ready solution for orthosis and prosthesis needs to all designers and businesses in the Shapeways community. Thanks to the partnership between Shapeways and industrial 3D printing tech giant, EOS, the nylon material PA11 will be made available to all Shapeways customers as of March 30, 2019. PA11 is a biobased polymer naturally sourced from castor oil and is known for its strength, ductility, and impact-resistant properties. With this launch, Shapeways designers will be able to collaborate with the medical industry to create customized medical enhancements using 3D printing technology.

PA11’s elastic and tensile properties are also ideal for use in aerospace, automotive, and other high-impact applications, making Selective Laser Sintered PA11 one of the fastest growing markets for additive manufacturing. Ideal applications for PA11 include:

• Orthosis and Prosthesis
• Robotics
• Surgical Planning & Tooling
• Drones
• Electronics Housing
• Consumer Products

About PA11:

PA11 is a biocompatible nylon material that is optimal for use in exterior medical applications such as customized orthotic braces and prosthetics. It is tensile, durable, and impact-resistant with a high elongation at break point. PA11 will be offered in a natural white finish that can be easily dyed to any color. Rush manufacturing is also available for this material.

Learn how industry leaders are utilizing EOS PA 11. Upload a model today or get in touch with our sales team to discover how your product or business can benefit from this new material.

The post New Material Launch: EOS Biobased Polymer PA11 appeared first on Shapeways Blog.

Carbon have been revolutionizing the worlds of fabrication and design since 2013, working with globally renowned brands like Ford to digitally manufacture parts and products at scale. Through our partnership with Carbon, select Shapeways customers will now have access to their breakthrough Digital Light Synthesis (DLS) technology, which opens up entire new worlds of manufacturing possibilities.

Along with DLS technology, our relationship with Carbon introduces three new materials to Shapeways:

• Elastomeric polyurethane (EPU 40), a highly elastic, tear-resistant, and resilient material, great for printing foam-like products
  

  Elastomeric polyurethane (EPU 40)

• Rigid polyurethane (RPU 70), a versatile and rigid material, great for automotive products, and industrial parts
  

  Rigid polyurethane (RPU 70)

• Urethane methacrylate (UMA 90), a tough, rigid resin similar to conventional SLA and used to manufacture jigs and fixtures
  
  

  Urethane methacrylate (UMA 90)

These powerful, multipurpose materials greatly expand our ability to meet even the most detailed and unique design challenges.

These materials are available to all Shapeways customers upon request. Sign up now to receive a quote and discover how your product or business can benefit from these groundbreaking processes and materials, only with Shapeways.

The post Shapeways X Carbon appeared first on Shapeways Blog.

DEVELOPMENT PROCESS
With every new material and technology we offer, we work closely with our community and technology partners to improve and develop it. Our testing and evaluation of this new technology started back in 2016 when Shapeways partnered with HP and received the very first prototype printer in the field. Our 3D printing engineers spent months user-testing this machine and providing expert feedback to the HP team to help drive development of this revolutionary technology.

The HP Jet Fusion Printer in action

Once we received the first production machines, we invited community members to our Eindhoven factory to get feedback on the material in their designs and to get an in-depth look at our process.

A designer from our community tests out HP Nylon Plastic

In April, we opened Early Access to HP’s Multi-Jet Fusion technology. Since then, together, we have been rigorously testing the capabilities with thousands of different applications and geometries, thanks to our diverse community’s endlessly varied, one-of-a-kind products. This has enabled us to have an extraordinary and unique understanding of the material and process.

DETAILS
You have helped us prove that prints developed with HP have excellent mechanical properties, a smooth surface, and a more finished look. Both the quality and strength of HP have not yet been matched by other materials, showing the ingenuity of this new technology. Over the course of developing the material, your insights have also helped us drop our lead time to 6 days.

Because of the increased strength, durability, and smoothness, this new material will be introduced at a higher price than our Strong & Flexible family of plastics.

Along with our community, we hope that in the future the HP printers will help us to lower costs for our users. It is HP’s mission to create the fastest and least expensive nylon printer on the market, and we are grateful to continue working with them to help make this happen.

As roll out HP to all of our makers, we are renaming the material from HP Strong & Flexible to HP Nylon Plastic to distinguish it from our Strong & Flexible family. We have also made updates to the design guidelines, pricing, and lead time.

Testing bracelets printed in HP Nylon Plastic

USES
Due to its superior mechanical properties, we recommend HP Nylon Plastic for functional products that require high strength, stiffness, elongation, and isotropic properties, such as RC cars, mechanical, and casing parts. If you’re not sure if HP Nylon Plastic is the right material for your project, see the comparison chart of functional plastics below.

WHAT’S NEXT
In the near future, we plan to make HP Nylon Plastic available for Shop Owners to offer as well. But first, we’ll need your feedback on the material. What has worked for your own models? What are things to watch out for, or unexpected uses for the material? With your help, we’ll soon be able to offer HP Nylon Plastic to all marketplace shoppers.

We’re grateful for your feedback and ingenuity as we continue to develop new technologies together. We can’t wait to see what you make with HP Nylon Plastic! Upload your design here.

The post HP Nylon Plastic Now Open to All Makers! appeared first on Shapeways Blog.

Material Properties

“Are the material properties the same between regular Strong & Flexible and Premium Strong & Flexible?”

Yes. The same material and printing process is used for Premium as our regular Strong & Flexible plastic material.

Appearance

“But how different is it from regular Strong and Flexible? Do you have any comparison photos?”

Premium adds a sheen to your product, giving it a more finished look. Due to the way it is processed, Premium will also have more color consistency across the geometry of the part. We know that there’s nothing like seeing the product in person, but hopefully these pictures provide a bit more detail.

Orchid Bracelet by Collected Edition

Black Strong & Flexible (left) and Premium Black Strong & Flexible (right)

Bracelet Bluups ORIGAMI R by Bluups

Black Strong & Flexible (left) and Premium Black Strong & Flexible (right)

Black Strong & Flexible (left) and Premium Black Strong & Flexible (right)

The sheen is more subtle for White. However, if you do any post-processing on your own, such as dyeing for your own custom color, your product will have much better color consistency with Premium. Additionally, you can expect the product to have a bit of sheen, as shown with the Black.

Feel & Surface Roughness

“How much smoother is Premium?”

Just saying Premium is smoother is vague. We get it. To quantify how much smoother Premium really is, we did some surface roughness tests.

A surface roughness tester quantifies the texture of a surface by measuring the distance between the peaks and valleys. The larger the distance and the higher the value, the rougher the surface. Small values indicate a smoother surface.

Surface roughness is measured by its Ra value. Ra is the average of these distances between the peaks and values on the surface to its “mean line.” You can think of the mean line as center line between the peaks and values.

We took 6 measurements on each sample. The averages of these values can be seen in the table below.

But so what? What does this mean?

Looking at the values in the table above, the Ra of Premium measured around 5 micrometers whereas regular Strong & Flexible measured around 10 micrometers. This means that in comparison to Strong & Flexible, Premium is about twice as smooth.

Dimensional Accuracy

“Is the dimensional accuracy different for Premium Strong & Flexible?”

We also tested the effect of our Premium finishing on the dimensional accuracy of the part by measuring multiple dimensions both before and after post-processing. Six measurements were taken on six different parts.

On average, the parts decreased in size by 0.9mm. The maximum material removed was 0.1mm.

We recommend slightly scaling up your design to account for this difference if dimensional accuracy is important for your product’s application.

Detail Level

“Do you lose more detail with Premium?”

Although the dimensional accuracy changes slightly with Premium, we did not notice any visible difference in details. Both embossed and engraved details looked very similar before and after finishing.

PremiumWhite S&F (Left) and White S&F (right)

Painting

“How is the surface for painting?”

We had a suspicion that Premium Strong & Flexible would be better for painting. After all, the surface is smoother and less porous.

After a quick test using acrylic paints, no noticeable difference was seen between Strong and Flexible and Premium Strong and Flexible. The paint seem to apply about the same and there was no noticeable visual difference. The picture below shows the surface with one layer of paint. However, we encourage you to test it out for yourselves!

Bracelet Bluups ORIGAMI R by Bluups
Black Strong & Flexible (left) and Premium Black (right)

We hope this was informative and answered your most pressing questions. Now, go test it out and tell us what you think!

The post Your Questions Answered: Premium Strong & Flexible Nylon Plastic appeared first on Shapeways Blog.

Michael recently shared his Premium Strong & Flexible glasses on Facebook, and we are super excited to share his results with you:

Look at that sheen!

At the living henge, the finish is particularly smooth and sleek

Michael fitted his own lenses into the glasses

Check out Michael’s Designer Spotlight to learn more about his process and his work, and explore all his incredible creations in his shop, Pookas.

You can find out more about Premium Strong & Flexible plastic here. What are you making with this new finish? Comment below for a chance to be featured in Shapeways Magazine.

The post This is cool — Michael Mueller’s Premium Strong & Flexible 3D printed glasses appeared first on Shapeways Blog.

This finish will elevate your designs by offering a smoother, glossier surface. Premium Strong and Flexible is perfect for functional parts like phone cases and interlocking mechanisms to jewelry, art, and home decor that are designed to be durable, yet soft to the touch.

Design by Kasia Wisniewski

Premium is finished with a multi-step tumbling, polishing and dyeing process to create a consistent color and surface finish, while removing the grainy feel and layered look of 3D printed parts. Although it is available in both Black and White, we recommend Black for products you’ll carry or wear, like necklaces, rings, bracelets, phone cases, money clips, keychains, eyeglasses, and other personal accessories.

try it now

Design by Michiel Cornelissen

As a designer or shop owner, this new finish will empower you to deliver on your most discerning customers’ expectations – to design products that equal injection-molded finishes. The added smoothness and eggshell sheen of Premium will meet the quality expectations of high-end consumers, enabling you to offer unique, customized products with a finished look and feel.

Premium Strong and Flexible was developed in response to your demand for top-quality wearable and touchable products, in collaboration with members of the Shapeways community. Your feedback has been invaluable through this development process. We are proud to deliver this next-generation offering as a result of your generous participation.

To try out Premium on your own designs, upload here.

To find out how to help Shapeways test future product developments, click here.

print in premium

The post Our Best Material Finish Ever appeared first on Shapeways Blog.

Since 2014, we’ve been working with Hewlett Packard to test and refine their revolutionary Multi Jet Fusion 3D 4200 printer. After months of rigorous trials, we’re proud to announce that, starting today, you can sign up for early access to its unprecedented capabilities.

The HP MJF printer’s nylon plastic material is incredibly strong, smooth and dense. This could lead to lower-cost functional parts and leaner, stronger prints of everything from jewelry to complex miniatures. But we need your help to find its limits.

Bracelets by Shapeways designer mulderendevries

Thanks to your always-expanding variety of designs, we’ve been able to work with HP to drive the evolution of the MJF printer. We’ve tested a huge array of geometries and print orientations, and we’re excited to invite you to further test the MJF printer and refine how we use it. So, give us your most complex, innovative, mind-bending 3D models. Push your imagination (and this material) to the limit. We can’t wait to see what you come up with.

The printer itself is an incredible breakthrough, allowing greater precision at faster build speeds, and unmatched 80% post-printing material reusability. It also lays the groundwork for next-generation features like full-color plastic, conductive pathways, improved product quality, next-day delivery, and lower costs. Today, it’s already one of the coolest machines — and strongest nylon materials — that we’ve seen.

Starry D20 Balanced Gaming Die by Shapeways designer Tiny Tokens

So sign up today for early access to the HP printer’s unprecedented new nylon plastic material, available in fresh-from-the-printer speckled grey or dyed matte black. We’ll soon be making the printer accessible to everyone, but at this point we’ll be sending out invitations to a selection of those who sign up for early access.

We look forward to seeing your designs and hearing your feedback. After all, you are the most important part of this latest leap forward for Shapeways and HP.

SIGN UP HERE

Homepage image: Mega Flora Ring by Nervous System, printed by Shapeways

You can find out more about the partnership and HP’s Multi Jet Fusion technology in this exclusive first look from Make.

The post It’s Here! The HP MJF Printer Is Open for Early Access Signups appeared first on Shapeways Blog.

Meet Coated Full Color Sandstone. By hand brushing Full Color Sandstone pieces with a two-part epoxy resin, we are able to increase the strength and color of sandstone products, and give them a smooth, glossy sheen. We’re very excited about this new process, and believe it has huge potential for the Shapeways marketplace. As with most new materials, we’re starting out with a maker pilot to give you a chance to provide feedback and make sure it’s as great as we think before launching to everyone.

The design guidelines are exactly the same, so anything you’ve designed for regular Full Color Sandstone will work with our new process. At $5.00 startup and $.85 per cc, Coated Full Color Sandstone is only slightly more expensive than regular sandstone.

To get started, simply visit the Pilot Page and click the join button. You can start ordering your full color models instantly.

Please share your photographs in our forums so we can gather feedback. We can’t wait to see what you make?

The post Introducing Coated Full Color Sandstone appeared first on Shapeways Blog.

Have you been lusting after our Rose Gold, Platinum and other premium alloy offerings? Have you wanted to use them but have been waiting for that special project that makes sense and/or is less cost sensitive? We’re excited to announce our new price-friendly Precious Plated Metal finishes!

Introducing Precious Plated 18k and 14k Gold, 14k Rose Gold and Rhodium Plated!

Products made in Precious Plated Metal are made the same way our Polished Brass is with a few bonus steps. Wax casts of your model are 3D printed, plaster is poured around the wax cast, and then the brass is poured in the cast. The brass cools and takes form before we carefully remove the cast. We then layer it with palladium, increasing strength and durability, before finishing your products with 0.5 microns of the precious alloy of your choice. The electroplating on our new upgraded offering is more durable and we are excited to delight even more designers and shoppers with these materials.

Precious Plated Metal is a great choice for all of your jewelry. The 18k Gold Plated will replace our existing Gold Plated Brass. If you were currently selling this material in your shop, we’ve gone ahead and updated the offering and carried over your markup on Shapeways. Be sure to enable your models in the new Rhodium, Rose & 14k Gold Premium Plated, too- they’re all the same price!

Material Guidelines at a Glance:

• Maximum Bounding Box: 89 x 89 x 100 mm
• Minimum Bounding Box: 2.4 x 2.4 x 0.6 mm
• Minimum supported & unsupported wires & walls: 0.8 mm
• Minimum Embossed Detail: 0.4 mm
• Minimum Engraved Detail: .35 mm
• Minimum Escape Hole Width: 4 mm if just one, 2 mm if 2+ Holes
• Minimum Clearance: .3 mm
• Accuracy: .125 mm

What will you make first with our new Precious Plated Metal?

Here are some tips for designing in polished metals:

The post Proudly Presenting Precious Plated 3D Printing from Shapeways appeared first on Shapeways Blog.