Road To Major Fud Improvements Starts With Repricing

Unfortunately this isn't 100% accurate. You've always claimed that this is what you do, but I've had prints where this isn't the case, and with some of my models I've had internal details that need to be visible (printing an open wagon rather than a train with a roof, but the same general shape) which have been ruined as the model was printed on it's end (I guess to fit a spot on the tray) and so filled with support wax. Not only has this been more expensive for you to print, but you've always then reprinted when I've complained costing you even more. From talking to customer service I think some of these prints have been outsourced during busy periods though, rather than in house printing which might explain the difference from your stated approach and the actual print orientation.

This is the main reason why I'm so excited about this announcement as once you release the orientation tool, I'll be able to guarantee my models are printed "bathtub" rather than at the whim of the technician building the tray. This is a win-win for me as it should reduce the cost while guaranteeing good quality prints. Can you tell I'm excited

Mark

I know that. You misunderstood me. I meant to allow hollow cavities without or Insufficient escapeholes filled etirely with wax. This wax won't melt out completely. But i don't need it to be remove from the inside. It could stay there, as the model will be painted later. Starship models can have a lot of inner volume with multiple cavities that are not connected. Think about the Enterprise (Kirk). There you want the nacelle pylons and the neck solid, because they are thin, but the main hull, the saucer and the engines can be made hollow to reduce cost. Now i need to eigther slice the model into multiple parts or make 8 escape holes, each with a 2mm diameter for the 4 independent cavities. But for me, the wax can stay inside. Don't need to melt it out.

I'd worry about the wax continuing to react with the material over time, and your model eventually disintegrating. Not sure if that would actually happen or not but it wouldn't surprise me at least to see the wax leach out and damage the paintwork.

I second that. Maybe go safe, go solid? The difference in price per cc in FUD and wax is not too big. Still, accepting this after years of hollow models may take some time....

Something unrelated, but related to the new price structure. What is they idea with FXD today? I've divided models in parts to make them suitable for both FUD and FXD. There was no negative side to that, but now the prices go up. This means I either have to upload a design for FUD and one for FXD. FXD is becoming more expensive compared to FUD because of the new price per part rule which will be more often required for FXD.

As i worte earlier, I have printed almost all of my own models like that through the "print it anyway" programm. I have not whitnessed any reaction on eigther painted or unpainted models.
Think of it. Even with propper escape holes, usually there is always a small amount of wax left inside the model like in corners or pockets. If this would be a problem, many more would have complained about it allready.

There is a big difference though between a small amount of leftover wax that could leak out through escape holes, and a closed volume full of wax where the only place it could go is through the print,

Mark

Well, we received a csv list of our products.
Appearently we have a very different approach of our webshops. All unique geometries we sell were printed by us at least in scale 1/160. We use identical geometry in various sets. So, we do care that all designs get sold, because we invested in all designs first. This is needed because we want to check our models and paint them before putting them on sale. We believe it is very important to show the actual products.
Because we invest we want to earn money back of course. (Don't worry, we manage). For this reason we sell many sets containing multiple items. By this we can offer our models for a lower price and also increase the margin. This allows us to work the way we do.
For this reason we don't use a standard margin, but carefully determine our customer prices. We strongly believe that this is one of the success factors here.

We checked the csv list with all the price changes and discovered that in general the majority of our models would become cheaper. This is nice, but there is a big but:
-As expected the larger sets become (a lot more) expensive. These sets happen to be our bestsellers. A fine example is this set: https://shpws.me/D1eJ
This set becomes a lot more expensive. So anyone who is interested in this set: buy it before May 22nd!
-Also almost all of our Bonus Sets (link: https://www.shapeways.com/shops/rail-n-scale?section=Bonus+Sets&s=0 ) will become quite a bit more expensive. So, anyone who fancies one of our bonus sets should buy them before May 22nd!

So in our case if you can't individual models, the SW numbers are about correct. If we look to the actiual sales figures, these equations are less favourable.

Yes indeed, we could redesign all models (adding sprues, getting the First-to-Try gamble and likely a lower print success rate) but that will take a lot of time.
By this you will change the print quality of your products. SW is going into the wrong direction if they tell designers to alter their designs in a way it will become cheaper. The end customers may be confronted with quite some nasty surprises.

Also we have to change our price setting of the 800 models, because the 'trick' SW will use will result in idiotic prices. We have to iron all the strange prices out in a smart way. That means that some margins will go up, and others will go down.

Regards,
Maurice

I have tried for the last 2 days to signup for the analysis of my shop and it will not allow me to do so...

Brian

Same here.

@srnjm420 @javelin98 Google forms require you sign into a google account to use it

Yeah, I was. Turns out you need to have TLS 1.0, 2.0, and 3.0 enabled in order to submit the form.

If the per part cost is not 'additional' per part cost, then the so called halving of the startup cost is also more like 30% reduction (5 to 3.5)

An important factor we should know to access the impact is: Whats the'minimum' thickness of the support material, i.e. the height of support below the lowest point of the model facing down?

how can I display the support volumen ???

Yeah, and it was mentioned in this thread several times. So, as soon as SW is able to display the price changes here, they are already implemented in your shop. I don't understand you guys. When you introduced the new pricing of WSF you made a complete mess. But back then you atleast provided all information in the shop inventory. Now you don't. Instead you promote the pricing strategy as something you really thought about.
Well, probably SW only thinks of it's own procedures.

So, SW takes this thing seriously by providing scary emails and very little information to the shop owners.
Sorry, but this kind of communication and role-out does not show any kind of consideration at all.

Then this entire show is promoted under the title:"Road to major FUD improvements start with pricing.
No, there are other far more important road blocks with FUD:

1. Print consistency and orientation. FUD/FXD is promoted as the highest surface quality material here. The deviations between printed items are very large. Customers really complain about this. This means that even our customers are aware of the quality problems of SW.
2. Avoid the crystallizing effect over time. See: https://www.shapeways.com/forum/t/powder-appearing-on-fud-after-storage.68722/ We've experienced various levels of crystallization. Partly this seems to be avoidable by proper cleaning. See our tips for this: https://railnscale.com/tips-english/
We've learned that you can easily brush away some crystallization with a fine brush. But the paintwork becomes matte. It seems to be the result of improper curing by SW. What is SW doing about this? I mean it is not a very uncommon problem with FUD/FXD. SW should have studied the behaviour of its products. Also the post-processing techniques are not clearly explained here at SW.
3. Improve your communication. SW is often very unclear. The introduction of the new pricing strategy is just one example of the many communication mistakes.
4. Avoid rejections. The rejection-mess remains the same rubbish as it has been for too many years. No improvements are noticed here.
5. Stop sudden changes without testing them first. Too often some new features were implemented without proper testing and informing.
....
6. Lower your prices would be always good, but it is certainly not on the top of our list. So please implement the above steps first.

Regards,
Maurice

This will be the end of my activities on shapeways - losing customers and making shareholders happy....

This is a joke right?
The wax is there anyway. With other forms of printing where the support structure is formed by the print ok. But with FED the wax is anyway there.
This means that the hollow models will cost more, and if in hollow models large enough other models are printed who then pays the space or the support structure inside, then you cash double?

No joke I'm afraid...
The wax is there, but we have to be fair, that costs money. In the current pricing model Shapeways doesn't take the amount of wax into account, or the amount of tiny loose parts.
I am not happy with all the work this change creates, but in all fairness I do understand why they change the pricing.

With WSF there is no support material, every print ends up with a load of unsintered nylon powder and a load of printed models. The powder will be used in the next print and the models go to the buyers.