Other - 3d printing service

[lewispd]

Hi, let me introduce myself my name is Lewis and i work for a Model making workshop, PD Models here in the uk. We have currently made an investment of a ultra high definition 3D printer and wanted to see if anyone would be interested in our services. I have included some examples of our work below. Hopefully you will agree the quality off our machine is great. Please feel free to take a look at our website http://www.pdmodels.co.uk/ and feel free to get in touch here or via email with any questions you guys may have. Keep up the good work!!

[Gordon Robb]

I for one am definitely interested. Would be interested in how you are pricing though. Good thing about shapeways for example is they give you a price by square cc (which i can find out about my model . Any ideas on pricing? or do I have to send you a file (I should say, that I don't have anything to print right now, but am looking at doing this for a project later in the year.

[Spartan-117]

No way this might be an add-bot?

[Gordon Robb]

Well it takes me to a legit site in the uk, that seems to offer this service.

[Gordon Robb]

They also have thread over at ZBrush Central about 4 weeks ago.

[Spartan-117]

Alright, I apologize for my paranoia there are a lot of add-bots on other forums

[lewispd]

Hey guys, no ad bot here I'm real or at least I hope I am
ok guys here is a breakdown of some prices at different sizes.. pleae note we print at 16 micron layers resulting in a very high def print with no stepping, all the detail in your model will be kept, all the bumps and textures will transfer into the model no problem.
these will only be a giude so if you guys have any item inperticular you would want costings for please dont hesitate in hitting me up at lewis@pdmodels.demon.co.uk

50mm £60

80mm £100

130mm £150

210mm £300

310mm £500

i hope these prices seem ok, we have tryed to be as fair as we could. we would love some fedback on these. well hope to work with you some of you guys real soon!

[Gordon Robb]

So these are a guide. I take it, like most places, the prices is based on actual volume, so things like hollowing the object (with a hole at the bottom obviously) will make it cost less. Am I right? If I sent you an object that I didn't want to print, but was a similar size to what I would be thinking of, would you be able to quote me for that?

[lewispd]

sure no problem, just send it through to lewis@pdmodels.demon.co.uk
i will take a look and get back to you monday.

and you are right for some part the cost is derived from volume, hollow parts will be cheaper. the other factor is height off the bed, basic rule is the flatter the model the faster it will biuld and the cheaper it will be. can be usefull to know as with some models you could split them and biuld in two parts to get a cheaper biuld. hope this helps

[rustythe1]

i am doing a lot of work in 3d printing now adays, infact all my 3 lance work is in that field so far so i am very interested, i might try and hook my guy up with you as it looks like he is getting tons of work, and it seems to be a very quickly growing industry, right to the point he has also started looking at the price of printers.

[Gordon Robb]

It does. Wont be able to send anything to early next week though. Does that mean that if I had a figure, it could be cheaper to have it built lying down? What are the dimension limits?

[rustythe1]

do you have a spec sheet like some of the 3d shops with things like wall thickness limits, wall thickness over distance ratio and such?

[lewispd]

the max size depends, with our machine we can biuld at 3 different resolutions, 16,25 and 40 microns.
the biggest size is when you biuld at low res 40 microns, 11.75 x 7.3 x 8 inches

if you biuld at 16 or 25 microns it drops down to a 8 x 7 x 6 inches biuld envelope.

i would biuld all figures lying down to save on time and cost. oh and remember if the model wont fit we can always biuld it in parts and put back together afterwards.

as far as a spec sheet of what you asked i dont think it exists, i dont think there technically is a limit on the wall thickness, the machine will biuld some pretty small features. ive biult a knife blade before, it biult down to the 16 micron thickness for the edge of the blade and it was pretty sharp and rigid.
i also biult a phone case the other day for a motorola smartphone, the whole thing was 0.6mm thick with a bit of webbing and that biult fine too. hope that helps

[rustythe1]

yes, miles better than shapeways, just befor xmas they put there minimum wall thickness for strong plastic up to 3mm! that ment a load of models i had done for a customer suddenly started to fail! then that caused me a load of upset.

[lewispd]

3mm! thats crazy. i come from a rapid prototype background, no way any of my clients would stand for that at all!

[Lynx121]

i could possibly be interested, i have always wanted to get a 3d model printed, but the cost from shapeways and the wait of 3-4 weeks for delivery doesn't sound too good too me if it is wrong and needs to be redone multiple times.

i live in the UK and as your business is in the UK i was wondering how long i would have to wait from putting my order in too getting delievery? of course it can only be a estimate, but in what region are we looking at?

also i have been looking on the site,

3d print models can be supplied:
unfinished and direct from the machine (support removal only)
with a sandblast frosted finish
Finished to a high gloss
Matched to a hard or fine Spark effect texture
Painted to any colour matched to RAL and pantone reference, or a given sample.

what are the additional costs for these finishes? and any pictured examples of each finish?
am i correct in assuming the top demon bust is the frosted finish?

Ed

[lewispd]

lynx hi,
wow didnt realise shapeways had that long a lead time, of course it depends on the job and how busy we are at the time but we would look to get a basic print out in no more than a week, maybe less depending on the finnish.

with regards to the quotes you pulled off our website, they are referring to the other side of our business really. we are primarily a rapid prototype business. so these finishes reflect the types of paint finishes for getting engineering prototypes processed. they all have examples in our case studies or portfolio.
the price for all of these is based on an hourly rate. cheapest being straight from the machine, an example being the left demon head in the pic above. a frosted finnish is taking the model and sanding it a little to clean it up then giving it a sandblast to finnish the job to a frosted finish. going all the way up to a high gloss finish, the most expensive process for these types of parts.

the same hourly rate would apply to painting figurines. each job would have to be looked at to determine a price, but as an example the cost of painting the knight you see above to a mat grey primer finish i think was charged at about £20, the demon head grey paintjob maybe a little more.

[BigHache]

Very cool. I'm in the States so not as convenient for me. I am seeking a Shapeways alternative though. Their quality have been suffering lately.

[Lynx121]

Originally Posted by lewispd

lynx hi,
wow didnt realise shapeways had that long a lead time, of course it depends on the job and how busy we are at the time but we would look to get a basic print out in no more than a week, maybe less depending on the finnish.

with regards to the quotes you pulled off our website, they are referring to the other side of our business really. we are primarily a rapid prototype business. so these finishes reflect the types of paint finishes for getting engineering prototypes processed. they all have examples in our case studies or portfolio.
the price for all of these is based on an hourly rate. cheapest being straight from the machine, an example being the left demon head in the pic above. a frosted finnish is taking the model and sanding it a little to clean it up then giving it a sandblast to finnish the job to a frosted finish. going all the way up to a high gloss finish, the most expensive process for these types of parts.

the same hourly rate would apply to painting figurines. each job would have to be looked at to determine a price, but as an example the cost of painting the knight you see above to a mat grey primer finish i think was charged at about £20, the demon head grey paintjob maybe a little more.

apparently so, its hard earned cash that im spending so i did my research before i ordered, so i would know what sort of time i would be looking at, and most people in the uk wait 3-4 weeks from the reviews i have read.

around a week sounds great, and fast

ahhh i see, i would be interested in the straight from the machine material if that is the same material as the left demon head, the exact finish i was going after

could i finish up my model and send it too you so you can look on what sort of price it would cost? what file format would you require it in? i model in modo, so when i export it, the dimensions could end up being over sized, could i give you the dimensions i am looking at wanting it in, just incase the scale messes up on export?

Ed

[3D_CG]

Originally Posted by lewispd

Hey guys, no ad bot here I'm real or at least I hope I am
ok guys here is a breakdown of some prices at different sizes.. pleae note we print at 16 micron layers resulting in a very high def print with no stepping, all the detail in your model will be kept, all the bumps and textures will transfer into the model no problem.
these will only be a giude so if you guys have any item inperticular you would want costings for please dont hesitate in hitting me up at lewis@pdmodels.demon.co.uk

50mm £60

80mm £100

130mm £150

210mm £300

310mm £500

i hope these prices seem ok, we have tryed to be as fair as we could. we would love some fedback on these. well hope to work with you some of you guys real soon!

in US dollars ??

[lewispd]

BigHache/3D-CH - ive had a look and redone some prices in dollars for you guys below. remember these are only a giude, you have somehting in mind give me an email and i can give you a quote. and yes we will post worldwide.

50mm $95

80mm $160

130mm $240

210mm $480

310mm $790

Jynx121- yeah sure you can. we mostly work with .STL that would be what id want. and yeah if you forward me the dimentions no problem i can check it and resize if nessesary.
send it through to lewis@pdmodels.demon.co.uk

[3D_CG]

ok
cool
tk

[Gordon Robb]

OK, lewis, I've sent you a crappy model that's about the right size for what I'm looking for. Can you let me know?

[lewispd]

just thought you guys would wnat to see an updated video of a model we made a little while ago

just make sure you watch in high def

[Gordon Robb]

Reported.

[Rigel]

I got it Gordon; thank you!