Much of the high prices are due to the printing method used. The highest quality normally use laser sintering, a polymer powder is kept slightly below it's meting point and a laser heats it until it melts where the laser touches. A new thin layer of powder is put on top and the laser melts the next layer, this continues until the piece is fully printed. The machinery needed to do this is relatively expensive,10's of thousands of pounds so any start up cost is high. The powders must be pure with no lumps although they can use a wider range of materials including metal powderswin the right machine. Resin printers can produce good prints but have a lower range of materials to use and they tend to be brittle once finished. A good resin printer can be bought for under £500 so they are commonly found in homes, few could afford the SLA printers or have room for them at home.Postage and packing could be more expensive as the smaller pieces are fragile and will need careful packing, they don't bend like white metal.
Jim
Author
Topic: Shapeways re-opens (Read 964 times)