(Model: Sunglasses Strap by andrei_socivoi)
Whenever we launch a new material, we first do extensive in-house testing. We’ll look at its quality and its usefulness for manufacturing products, but also at production issues like rejection rates and machine downtime.
The next step is to offer it to you as a ‘trial’ material. During a period of about two months we learn everything we can about the new material. We collect your feedback and test our design guidelines and material pricing.
With Elasto Plastic, we reached the trial stage twice before but still weren’t convinced we were offering you the best material that we could. The third time’s the charm of course, and we’re happy to announce that Elasto Plastic is now here to stay!
Some small changes in the design guidelines and pricing will follow shortly, but we wanted to get the word out that Elasto Plastic is now a permanent member of the Shapeways Materials family!
Bart: Does this mean we’ll be able to sell models in EP now? Also how do I order a model in black EP? Finally, is there a way to make models accessible to other designers for testing purposes without offering them for sale? Thanks, and if there’s a better forum for questions like these, I’d appreciate the info. MTL
[quote]Thanks, and if there’s a better forum for questions like these, I’d appreciate the info.[/quote]
Well, why don’t you try the forums?
Found them, thanks.
Confirming my subscription to this thread.
Just read pricing info will follow, but would still like to know about black EP and “free test models” to fellow designers. Thx
Hi Mark,
Black EP has been tested in the past and has proven not to be mature enough to provide as a regular material on Shapeways. Our current EP is by nature a different material and is currently only available in the whiteish color that you can also see in the above example. Who knows… maybe in the future we will have the same colors for WSF also available in EP…
Stay tuned!