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[Akira]

They made their own bed...https://www.belloflostsouls.net/2024/07/shapeways-shuts-down-after-17-years-of-3d-printed-glory.html

[bikerdude999]

I said the same thing on some railway modelling groups, shapeways was insanely expensive, to the point it was cheaper for me to buy my own 3D printer and print the things I wanted myself than to get shapeways to provide them.

[Klunk]

I agree, a few years back,  i wanted some figures I had spied a few months earlier. 25 figures at 1/72 wwii British rn. Priced at £17, so book marked it. Went to eventually order to find they had gone up to £57!

[Backerther]

A sweet and sour memory of Shapeways figures through my 1/96 Fencer build...
Indeed! terribly expensive but indispensable for me to add scale realism to my carrier...
Close to 70 crews are servicing aboard the ship currently, most of whom are the Shapeways men.
Thanks but expensive price which is a sweet and sour taste of memory.
I wonder the company closed due to mainly high cost and prevalence of 3D printers among the modellers..?
Reasonable pricing is to be respected and expected in any fields of business activities for both manufactures and customers, isn't it..,??? needless to say.

[Bunkerbarge]

Not surprisingly we tend to look at Shapeways from the perspective of our own experience, i.e. detail bits for model boats.  However that was only a small part of Shapeway's business, which was mainly aimed at industrial applications where they could provide high quality prints for short run components that it simply wasn't worth a small company investing in the high costs of the printing equipment required.


The biggest challenge Shapeways had was the very hit and miss quality control.  They were supposed to have a filter in place that prevented components being printed that were not strong enough for the application but this didn't work very well.  It was supposed to prevent components being printed in certain unsuitable plastics or in unsuitable scales but the filter wasn't very good.  For instance I had some deck guns printed only to have them arrive with bent barrels.  When I questioned it they told me it should not have been printed in 'X' type plastic but should have been printed in 'Y' type plastic.  Usually much more expensive.  I have had a number of arguments with them over unsuitable items.


In many cases significant price increases were as a result of not understanding the limitations of certain plastics and having to upgrade to a better quality, plastic to acheive the required surface detail.  What a lot of people didn't seem to realise was that the base price was set by the designer, Shapeways simply took a percentage for the printing, shipping and handling.  Another huge difference for the UK market though was Brexit.  The parts were actually printed in Holland, so, after Brexit, had customs duty slapped on them as well.  This made a very big difference to shipping costs, which for some small detail items, simply didn't make economical sense, particularly frustrating when it might have been designed in the UK.  I'm annoyed with myself though as I was going to buy some of the really good sets of 1/48th scale RN Navy figures they had but didn't get around to it.  Somewhere out there is a designer with some superb RN Royal Navy figure designs looking for a quality printing service!


Once you understood the limitations of the plastics and were prepared to pay the shipping Shapeways had a lot to offer that may never be replaced.  I have had some superb items in the past that I could never have sourced anywhere else.

[T888]

Has any one checked directly with them that they are closing down

[Colin Bishop]

I think this is pretty conclusive:

https://www.tctmagazine.com/additive-manufacturing-3d-printing-news/latest-additive-manufacturing-3d-printing-news/shapeways-ceases-operations-and-files-for-bankruptcy/

Colin

[cos918]

Also the Market place has changed . 5 years ago the cost of high end printers was very expensive. Since then we have seen a range of high quality resin 3D printers and reasionable money. Also we have sen sites were peopel can sell the files etc. Basicly Shapways has not keept up with the times. Also in there market place they allow designers to set there own price. Some were cheap some were just ripoff merchents , This did the shapeways brand no good
John

[bikerdude999]

Just to add with regards to shapeways pricing, I printed a few things for some people on a model railway page after they had struggled to find anything at a reasonable price. Both wanted items in 1/76th scale, cannons and some motorbikes. Shapeways wanted around £10 per item plus postage. The cost for me to print each item was a few pence. I think I managed 20 cannons on 1 build plate, and the total material cost was about 80p. The bikes I did 8 Nortons and 8 BSA's, and that was about 65p. I know it was a business and needed to make money, but a mark up of £9.96 per item is just stupid.






As for getting RN figures, I've just had a quick look on google and there are some navy figures on CGtrader, $5 per file, and then print as many as you need for pennies. There are also plenty of AA guns etc available for printing.

[Circlip]

Cost and selling price has always been and always will be a sore point between cottage industry and commercial sales. Wonder how many 'Muddle Shops' have collapsed thanks to T'internet? The six Stainless caliper pistons in me Guzzi Brembos cost a LOT less than a commercial supplier, BUT was cost effective thanks to my £2000 lathe.
  Unfortunately many Joe publics demand maximum value for minimum expenditure without any thought of how a supplier achieves it. 



 Regards  Ian.

[Colin Bishop]

Wonder how many 'Muddle Shops' have collapsed thanks to T'internet?

The model shops closed because there are not enough modellers to support them. Likewise the dozens of shows which have folded over the last ten years or so. Downsizing!

The Internet is essential to the survival of the 'cottage traders' which many of us survivors depend upon. It provides a platform for them to display their range of products. A classified ad in Model Boats just wouldn't hack it.

Colin

[Neil]

In my humble opinion for what its worth,


3D printers are now so cheep for even a decent one, many modellers of all  types are turning to them.


And considering that you can by two printers that can make many varied fittings of all shapes and sizes, for the price that I recently sold my Myford ML10 lathe, which obviously has many constraints in what it can make, fittings wise, it is no wonder that modellers are turning to their own printers rather than buying stock items off the shelves such as companies like Shapeways and others still selling resin fittings.

I dont think it is anyones fault that progress in this day and age is so rapid, and just one of those things.

If people still wanted MGB's and triumph TR6'S by the mass's, then British Leyland would possibly still be churning them out, but with progress, I doubt it.

[Colin Bishop]

The fly in the ointment is that if you just buy the printer then you are reliant on free or paid for computer files to print from. If you need to design your own fittings and components then that's a whole new ball game and puts a lot of people off.

There is a lot of choice out there though. My 1:150 scale liner under construction is effectively N gauge and I ordered some 3D printed station seats to use as deck seats yesterday on eBay at a pretty reasonable price.

Colin

[bikerdude999]

Cost and selling price has always been and always will be a sore point between cottage industry and commercial sales. Wonder how many 'Muddle Shops' have collapsed thanks to T'internet? The six Stainless caliper pistons in me Guzzi Brembos cost a LOT less than a commercial supplier, BUT was cost effective thanks to my £2000 lathe.
  Unfortunately many Joe publics demand maximum value for minimum expenditure without any thought of how a supplier achieves it. 



 Regards  Ian.

I know what you're saying, but how much would it have cost to buy the pistons? More than the cost of the lathe, cost of materials, and the time stood there making them?


I think the difference is that there are decent enough printers available very cheap, with material being cheap, pretty much anyone could use one, and there is a mass of free and paid for files available. For what shapeways would have charged for the 20 cannons in my previous post, I bought my printer and wash/cure unit, and enough resin to print 20x the amount of cannons. And at the end of it, still got the printer to use for other items, or sell and get some money back.


From what I've read, shapeways set the base price, which was very high, meaning the designers had to set the sale price eye-wateringly high to be able to make any money. An alternative to shapeways, there are plenty of people willing to print items at much better prices than shapeways, there are regularly people asking on printing groups on Facebook if anyone can print something for them.

[Bunkerbarge]

As has already been mentioned, the base price was set by the designer, then Shapeways modified it depending on the plastic used, added a percentage and finally added shipping and handling to it.  They also applied a filter which was supposed to remove any designs that were not compatible with certain plastics and/or scales, which was less than effective.


This also highlights the same problem not always addressed by home users, the printer has to be of a good enough quality and the plastic has to be the right type to be able to print the item to the required surface finish.  Many home printers are way below the standard required to produce good quality components that do not require filling and surface finishing for scale model boat applications.  While the cost of home 3D printers have undoubtedly dropped significantly, to be able to produce a surface quality that most of us would be happy with as detail parts for our boats you still need a printer that is outside the price range that many of us would be prepared to pay.

[JimG]

This also highlights the same problem not always addressed by home users, the printer has to be of a good enough quality and the plastic has to be the right type to be able to print the item to the required surface finish.  Many home printers are way below the standard required to produce good quality components that do not require filling and surface finishing for scale model boat applications.  While the cost of home 3D printers have undoubtedly dropped significantly, to be able to produce a surface quality that most of us would be happy with as detail parts for our boats you still need a printer that is outside the price range that many of us would be prepared to pay.

This is basically the case for filament printers which have a ridged surface due to the method of printing. However the better consumer resin printers can produce a finish as good as normal resin castings if not better,  with a surface ready to paint without the need for any filling. Any blemishes are generally due to supports needed for printing overhangs, removing them tends to leave fine pits where they joined to the structure.

[dodgy geezer]

The fly in the ointment is that if you just buy the printer then you are reliant on free or paid for computer files to print from. If you need to design your own fittings and components then that's a whole new ball game and puts a lot of people off.

There is a lot of choice out there though. My 1:150 scale liner under construction is effectively N gauge and I ordered some 3D printed station seats to use as deck seats yesterday on eBay at a pretty reasonable price.

Colin

  When new technology first arrives it is expensive, few people can afford it, and if you want to make use of it you need to rent or hire. The first vacuum cleaners were wheeled round the streets to individual houses doing spring cleaning. Now every housewife has one.

 
I see that the (few) free kits I have put up on my website which include 3-4 printer files are getting more downloads now. Not many, but I see this as an indication that more people are getting the printing machines as they drop in price. There will be more and more free print files becoming available - just like the spread of free 'open source' software as time passes...

 
While doing complex 3-d design work does take some time to master, simple items are laughably easy to create. I don't know what sort of seat designs you wanted for your station, but when I read that I started my copy of FreeCAD (free download) and specified three rectangles as below. It took about a dozen mouse clicks and two minutes to draw a simple seat - this requires very little skill indeed. It really is a doddle to do something this simple...
   
         

[Colin Bishop]

I needed something a bit more detailed. £6.30 for 5. 1:150 scale.

Colin

[Neil]

I bought a set of 5 of similar at 1;50 scale for about £6.00 some years ago for my daughters "Streaker" class CalMac ferry........you couldnt make them or  print them for the price..........and sat so well on the model.

[SailorGreg]

 If you are looking for figures to crew your boats, I found this lot to be very good and much cheaper than Shapeways – www.scale3d.co.uk.
 
Greg

[dodgy geezer]

I needed something a bit more detailed. £6.30 for 5. 1:150 scale.

Colin

The seat base and backs are still basic rectangles - the end frames need to be drawn up/ I estimate 30 mins work for those. £6.50 is certainly good for those, especially if you only need them once. Where printing your own scores is if you want an exact replica of something, or some size,. that isn't available. I still think that, as more and more people buy the printers, there will be more and more people putting their drawings out on the web for free.
I could do with some seats for a paddle-steamer I'm thinking about. Maybe I'll draw up a copy of that and see how long it takes me...     

[Subculture]

The Chinese have got into the game and undercut companies like Shapeways e.g. PCBways. There are still things you might want to use a bureau for like large scale resin printing, sintered nylon or metal printing- those processes are still beyond home machines.

[Colin Bishop]

Yes, as far as I can see from the builder's model there are only 4 seats on the outside decks. There are however a total of 8 shown on one of the NMM drawings which don't include two of those on the builder's model. If the first 5 from eBay are OK I might get another set. Both could be correct as the ship was lengthened 10 years after completion and the NMM plans are a bit mixed up! Neither the plans nor the builder's model can be considered definitive as there are discrepancies between them as one would expect. There  are insufficient photos to clarify these and of course ships were modified during their lifetimes anyway.

As built, Miltiades and her sister Marathon were only 6,700GRT, quite small for the long run to Australia and there were no sunbeds in those days! Parts of the trip could be pretty rough as the photo shows.

However, getting back to 3D printing, I did have a long discussion with Ron Rees who was trying to persuade me to buy a printer and experiment with it. I looked into it in some detail but finally concluded it was not for me as:

The print quality of the mid range hobbyist printers was not good enough for what I wanted.
I wouldn't use it enough to justify the cost.
I didn't want to spend a lot of time grappling with the computerised design process, in short I don't want to be a designer/printer I prefer being a maker which is what has always appealed to me as a modelmaker. I use wood rather than plastic as a default although I am happy to use plastic sparingly where it is the best as opposed to simply being an alternative material. It's a hobby so I don't feel pressurised in going down a route which to me offers less satisfaction but I freely acknowledge that others take a different view and enjoy the design and print process, more power to their elbow. It is literally a case of what floats your boat.

Colin

[Colin Bishop]

My 5 little seats have turned up. Very good quality and painted in two colours as well.

I have ordered 10 non painted longer ones from another supplier at half the price which I think will fit in OK on the model, particularly as they will be under the shade deck. I will use the better ones on the open deck.

Colin

[grendel]

you could carve some soapstone moulds for the seat frames then cast in pewter, and then add wooden slats to them to make up the seats