After a fews weeks of waiting the final prints from Shapeways have arrived. Using three different printing technology illustrated bellow from left to right: FDM (Up Plus 2), SLA (Form 1) EBM – Electronic Beam Melting (Shapeways) I was able to conceptualise and finalise the design, each process offering different qualities. The FDM process producing excellent quality however needed support structures to form model, resulting in areas being filled in with irremovable supports. SLA process worked extremely well producing quality similar to FDM process with no support structures needed to form the piece, proving to be a better option in printing small intricate works. Finally, EBM – Electronic Beam Melting, whilst Shapeways employ numerous printing technology’s, I’m assuming to create the piece in ‘Polished Gold Steel ‘Enrobed in 24k gold’ this technology would have been employed due to the nature of the technology being able to print without support structures and in various metals; will have to follow up and check. The final piece came out better than expected without any printing problems, Shapeways proving to be an excellent printing service excelling in both quality and service.
Low-cost 3D Printing 