Hey everyone. I'm new to 3D design and my first product was met with mild success. I have a few questions that I was wondering could be answered by the more experienced community. First, what is the recommended plastic to use on Shapeways? I've tried the nylon with matte finish, but I don't particularly like the texture. Would the polished nylon be a better choice? Does this affect painting? Second, how well do small details show up using the recommended plastic? I have created a small articulated hand with some detailing that I'm afraid will be lost in the printing process. Lastly, does anyone know how much clearance should be used in ball joints to allow them to remain tight? I made the area of the negative space to be 1.1 times larger than the ball for my first print and it was too loose. I'm unsure what size to make it and was wondering if someone would have an idea. If I am unclear, please ask me to clarify whatever is confusing. I hope to get some good answers from you all! Thanks.
For Shapeways, White Strong Flexible is the default material mostly. It's strong and has decent detail. It is imperfect however as the resolution, and thus the detail, is a bit low. It can also be the most porous, ie grainy. WSF Polished is WSF put into a tumbler and polished. You trade some detail for a smoother surface and it can look pretty good painted. Personally I default to Polished Aluminide because it's damn strong and very crisp in detail. The trade off is that it has high chance of warping in printing, thus joints can come out very loose. I don't have an issue with that as some floor polish can tighten loose joints. Fakebusker disagrees with me on my material preference. For clearance I cannot help you. I have no idea the specifics of the modeling. I've simply ordered a lot of stuff from Shapeways in a variety of materials. I would ask one of the modelers in their art threads or via PM.
