3D Printing in 2mm Scale

[chrisveitch]

Having decided to throw in the towel with my own home 3D printing efforts, can anyone advise me on the best printing services to use for one-off items for our type of application (i.e. usually very small items those requiring and smooth surfaces and fine detail)?

 

I did try Shapeways some years ago but the results were mediocre at best and could hardly be described as perfectly smooth, and I believe their pricing structure has now changed to make them pretty uncompetitive. I'm assuming that UK-based companies are the best to go for given the difficulty of getting anything in and out of Europe nowadays, but I might be wrong. 

 

Thanks in advance,

 

Chris

[Sithlord75]

Hi Chris,

 

Depending on volume and presuming you have the .stl you want printed, you'll probably find the easiest way is to find a fellow modeller who has been successful in printing items and arranging some sort of deal.  I'd happily look at it for you but the biggest issue with me printing it would be the time waiting for the parcel to come from Aus!  However, the offer stands.

 

Cheers

Kevin

[NScaleNotes]

21 hours ago, chrisveitch said:

Having decided to throw in the towel with my own home 3D printing efforts, can anyone advise me on the best printing services to use for one-off items for our type of application (i.e. usually very small items those requiring and smooth surfaces and fine detail)?

 

I did try Shapeways some years ago but the results were mediocre at best and could hardly be described as perfectly smooth, and I believe their pricing structure has now changed to make them pretty uncompetitive. I'm assuming that UK-based companies are the best to go for given the difficulty of getting anything in and out of Europe nowadays, but I might be wrong. 

 

Thanks in advance,

 

Chris

 

I've used iMaterialise in the past. Very good prints, no visible layer lines and they printed in a water clear resin which did open up all kinds of possibilities. Much cheaper than Shapeways too.

Unfortunately iMaterialise then upped their minimum wall thickness and started to refuse to print some items despite me using their "print it anyway" option (they'd also printed them before with zero issues!) so I found a company in the UK called SGD 3D. They had no issues with minimum tolerances, the prints were very good and so was the price. The parts I wanted had long narrow 'wires' so they suggested a glass reinforced resin which is much tougher than other resins I've seen.

[Neilgue]

“figure out how to make the detail extend down on to curved surfaces in F360. “
 

Have you tried the engrave/emboss commands? (From memory, actual commands may vary…). They are similar to extrude, but from a surface instead of from a plane. You start with an offset sketch which is projected onto a curved surface. You can even project right around a cylinder. 
 

Cheers, Neil