My new walls for my prototype modular floor tiles turn up today and I’m not happy. There are some very serious distortion in the prints, and they both seems to have a lace like pattern inside. I’ve contacted Shapeways about this, and they have asked for photos and are investigating. I know Shapeways doesn’t have the highest detail, and they are ‘cheap’ for what they are, but I at least expect my prints to be straight if they cost 100 euros!
At first I thought the deformity was simply a bend, but if you look at the image the left side is pretty straight, but the right is noticeably bent.
On closer inspection I noticed the surface on the bent side was smooth, and the other sides rough, and then thought it may be due to some over zealous finishing, like one side had been sanded down too much or something.
Examining it further, as I do not want the same error to occur again, I noticed something else that was odd. The bit shown from the side is a ‘post’ (column), with a square centre section, but when looking from the top the square looks like it has been compressed into a rectangle shape. At a guess it’s a printer error, the bottom of the post is nice and square, and it holds the shape about half way up, and then it looks like the printer is changing the cross section from a square to a rectangle.
I wonder what the problem is?
I can’t be messing about with this nonsense. I’ve contact another 3D Print Service (thanks Stef). It’ll be more expensive as they use Envisiontec machine, but the detail is amazing.
