reigels wrote:
What's the difference between Frosted Ultra and Frosted Extreme material?
Looking at 1/700 Oerlikon tubs if it makes a difference.
Hi Scott, great question!
For those not yet familiar with 3D-printing, as Scott points out, Frosted Detail acrylic products are available in two types, Frosted Ultra Detail (FUD) and Frosted Extreme Detail (FXD). Both FUD and FXD products are made using the same printer but the resolution is set differently. It's like printing a very detailed photo on your 2D office printer at home, once in 300 dpi and again in 600 dpi. The difference in detail can be amazing for larger pictures but the amount of ink needed to print them is about the same. Same idea for FUD vs. FXD. Same image, but there can be a big difference in appearance, especially for larger objects with more detail and sloped surfaces.
FUD prints in layers 29 microns thick (micron = millionths of a meter). FXD prints in layers just 16 microns thick, nearly half as thick, achieving better detail and smoother surfaces. But it takes nearly twice as long to print nearly twice as many layers to produce the same object. Since time = money, FXD is more expensive than FUD for larger objects. I like to think of it this way:
FUD = DVD
FXD = BlueRay
Same movie, different visual impact.
The cost to print FXD is usually higher than FUD. That's because the time needed to print an object is taken into consideration by Shapeways' pricing model (unlike injection molded plastic, 3D-printing an object is measured in hours, not minutes). Some materials take longer to print than other materials although the amount of material needed can be essentially the same. This is absolutely the case for FXD. FXD takes nearly twice as long to print nearly twice as many layers to produce the same product. Since time = money, the larger the object, the greater the price difference between FXD and FUD.
For smaller objects like a 1/700 director or turret, the time needed to print the product in FXD is nearly the same as printing it in FUD so the cost works out to be about the same. In those cases, because FXD has better detail and smoothness, if the cost works out to be within a dollar or so, I only offer the product in FXD. But for larger objects like a 1/700 scale
Enterprise island, the price difference is pretty big (about $5) so I offer it in both FUD and FXD.
Under the new pricing model, the Oerlikon tubs cost about the same (FXD costs about 40 cents more). I intend to remove FUD as an option for that product.
Since FXD can take a long time to print, Shapeways puts a limitation on the size of the product it will accept in FXD. Some large superstructures, for example, can only be printed in FUD.
Shapeways pays me the same fee no matter which type of Frosted Detail you order, so it only matters to me in that you as the customer are happy with the product, and hopefully come back for more.
Sometimes people ask why I don't offer more products in Strong and Flexible plastic (S&F), which is cheaper than Frosted Detail. The simple answer is that most of my designs don't meet the printing requirements for S&F. The S&F 3D printers can't print the fine detail, or other features of my designs are too thin. S&F is a kind of nylon. Print lines are very noticeable and it accepts fewer kinds of primer and paint than does acrylic FUD or FXD. S&F does not sand or smooth easily. But many R/C modelers love it because it is tough and takes rougher handling. For some very large products like 1/96 scale turrets that can meet the printing requirements, those products can be and are offered in S&F.
Hope all this helps!
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