Dear Shapeways seller please-

1. Add extra parts to your orders, especially if they have small pieces.
2. Please provide links to the exact screws required from a worldwide supplier.
3. Please do not make the walls of your puzzles so thin that they distort.

These issues have had me tearing hair out for many years now and I don't buy Shapeways puzzles very often! On numerous occasions there has been missing or damaged parts. I know this is down to Shapeways but a huge hassle to sort out especially when often (20% or so) with Shapeways orders don't even get printed until you contact and remind them.
I only got screws for my recent puzzle since a forum member was kind enough to send me some. May I suggest that the seller sends some to Olivér so they can be grouped with sets of stickers. Despite searching online and offline I still can't find any way of purchasing many of the screws. As I have said before M1x8 or whatever is not sufficient information. I have wasted enough money sending away for screws matching the sellers description only to find they are no good. My last order never even arrived, perhaps because the guy doesn't normally post to the UK.
I am close to the point of never bothering with Shapeways printed puzzles again. Give me dirty resin any day!

Tony I empathize....

My ordeal was not quite as painful. I found a temporary solution to the screw problem. But now I must remember to get a replacement screw for the one I destroyed.

Ah yes, no one shall ever forget Rox's great screw saga. Bards shall sing of your exploits in screwing and cube raping for years to come.

Personally I've never had trouble finding screws. I just type the exact phrase in the description (eg. "12mm M3 screws") into an ebay search and a load of international sellers always come up. Then I just pick the cheapest. The only real modifier I've found is the screw head type, of which I've always chosen 'pan head' and never had a problem.

Maybe I've just been lucky thus far...

I support plea number 1. I had a discussion with a Shapeways seller via PM a few months ago, but he did not agree. Recently, two pieces of one of my puzzles were lost at Shapeways. I think Shapewas has a great customer service and they resolved my problem. Still it took two weeks until I got the missing parts. I do not think that spare pieces for the large parts like the core are required. I had problems with parts broken at arrival (one case) and the mentioned missing two pieces.
I have not ordered many Shapeways puzzles in 2012 (four I guess). In earlier years I had zero problems.

I had never a problem with issues 2. and 3., though. (I remember your post about the M1 screws for the Micro Master Pentultimate. Strangely enough the supplier did not deliver to UK but to Germany. I offered to send you some, but you got them probably in the meantime. I have still 88 spares!)

I too have have some problems with Shapeways, but they have always resolved them to my satisfaction. For puzzles with a lot of small parts, duplicates would be nice, but the buyer would have to pay the extra costs.

As to thin walls causing warping, I always use wall thickness of at least 1mm, and I have never had an obvious problem, even on some quite big pieces.

For screws, if the specified screw is M3, I just use any M3 screw I have lying around, and cut it if it too long. I never really worry about thread type or head type etc., and I have had no problems.

I've started doing this. My Multi Gear Cube Kit has many extra tiles. However I still need to get that model up to my shop.I had been posting a link to amazon where I had been getting my screws. However the last time I checked the particular link I had been using had been taken down. Do you have a particular screw supplier that you prefer? I'd be happy to start using them and posting their links after I've tested them on my models.I have been using 0.7mm wall thickness on most (not all) of my White Strong & Flexible models as that is the minimum wall thickness and it keeps the cost to a minimum. I've never had problems and I test all my models before I offer them for sale. I boil all my parts for cleaing and dying and I've never had a part permanently distorted. I have seen this issue with models that trap the powder inside but I don't do that. That said on some of my puzzles the pieces with very large areas on the exterior of the puzzle can flex if you push on them. Inside the puzzle you always have two walls up agaist each other so this has no impact on the puzzles turning but going forward my plan is to start using 1.4mm wall thickness for all external surfaces and staying with 0.7mm for internal surfaces. I got this advice from a fellow designer at the last IPP. This should make the puzzle feel very solid and not add very much to the cost.

And all that said... if ANYONE were to ever have issues with a Shapeways order of one of my puzzles I would wish they'd contact me as well as Shapeways if its a Shapeways problem. I ususally have extra parts from my test models, extra screws, and even extra already cut stickers sitting around that I'd be happy to ship to anyone having issues like these. Even if I didn't have any in hand I'd get them myself if I needed to. Just one example... when I put my first Multi Gear Cube kit together I accidently distroyed one of the tiles. This is mentioned in one of my videos. I thought it was silly to just order 1 replacement tile so I make a model with something like 20 or 30 tiles it in (I can't remember the exact number at the moment) but needless to say I have ALOT of extras at the moment.

And I'm sure I'm not alone... I would expect most (if not all) Shapeways sellers to be more then eager to help their customers. All you have to do is ask.

Thanks for the feedback,
Carl

I fully support the extra pieces plea. A single extra piece for each type is a minor marginal cost increase.

I don't understand the screw problem. Most puzzle designs are not very sensitive to screw length or head size. A set of M3-12 screws will work across more than half of the Shapeways puzzles offered for sale. Surely there is some European equivalent to buying screws:

Most of my designer wishlist for Shapeways puzzles have more to do with powder drain hole size and configuration so that dyeing and tumbling are easier. The list is too complicated to describe in a post though.

The puzzles I get from Shapeways usually are sensitive to those things and are not common sizes. For example I never found any screws that fitted the Cubes on a Ring puzzle and had to file and cut ones from a Skewb. I am sure the screws are available out there but the problem is often the names to search for and ensuring you have the correct item before ordering. M1x5 for example Amazon.co.uk gives just one result and so does ebay.co.uk. The screws look quite different and I wouldn't risk getting either. In the past I have found threads too coarse and a thick neck which stop them from fitting. When ordering screws in future I will only get ones recommended by forum members who have actually tried them on a specific puzzle.

Here's the time line that lead to this thread-
August- ordered Shapeways puzzle.
23rd Aug- I am told "Exciting update! We're in the midst of creating your order #140438 in our factory of the future".
Over two weeks passed so I send email.
11th Sept- notification of shipment for 12th Sept.
17th Sept- email from Shapeways saying the printing has 30 pieces missing.
20th Sept- I am told "Exciting update! We're in the midst of creating your order #140438 in our factory of the future".
A few days later it arrives.
Still searching for screws I delay assembly.
Ordered Screws.
5 weeks later still no screws.
Kind forum member sends me some screws.
19th November I start assembly only to find some pieces are missing!!!
Contact Shapeways who tells me I have to send photos of the pieces required. Normally fine but some are about 4mm which will require a special set up and work editing the photos.

Shapeways also screwed up several times before. One time they sent parts which were about 1mm too big and then asked for me to send photos demonstrating the fault!

Hey Tony!
I have started adding an entire extra face to my radiolarians. Every single order had parts missing.

Some orders had parts from other radiolarians instead, and so I've had to wait for a few at a time to come in to get the complete prints.

I was hesitant to give them too hard of a time about it because I have a fear they may someday restrict very small parts or create some per-part price hit. I imagine my orders of hundreds of tiny parts are an extra cost for them.

Usually it's just another $20 or so to know I'm getting enough.

I now count the parts for every order right away. I've had too many times where I sit down excited to assemble and discover that I am missing parts.

I've worried about this too. It seems like twisty puzzles with hundreds of parts is really pushing it and I'm very glad they're willing to support it without extra costs.

If they ever decide it is too costly for them I hope they offer a no-cleaning option where they just cut open the bounding box and drop all of the parts and powder into a bag and ship it as-is. I'd much rather do the cleaning anyways since their cleaning is almost never adequate. Having this as an option would save them time and us the headache of having missing pieces.

When you are ordering someone else's puzzle from Shapeways I guess in effect you are purchasing it from two "people". So each is partly responsible for the buyer getting the correct item/s. As stated many times both Shapeways and the designers themselves have always dealt brilliantly with problems so I am not attacking anyone. I would just like to see a better initial set up for people buying some of these puzzles. Perhaps having two purchase options- One with extra parts and the other cheaper (yer takes your chance) without.

I haven't had issues with missing or broken parts yet, but these are great suggestions.

May I add "put sticker templates on Shapeways". This gives purchasers an opportunity to order the stickers for upcoming puzzles in advance, possibly along with other stickers. It also gives purchasers the option to make their own stickers.

I really understand Tony's dilemma. When I went hunting for a screw, I brought the puzzle pieces with me, and the M3 thing (or M5 I can't remember which it was). In HK I was told that is not standard terminology. I am wondering if every country has a different name for them.

It's like brads and chicken rings. I hunted for ages for them here and couldn't get anyone to understand what I was talking about. I finally ordered a gross from the states-like I needed that many. When they got here and I showed them around, everyone knew what they were, but they had different names. Maybe instead of a name for a screw needed the dimensions could be given. That would have helped me loads!

1. я рекомендую дизайнерам давать специальное имя вашим файлам
Breeze Cube (parts 21, polygons 892000, volume 34cm3, filling 12.5perc).stl
Now I write the number of parts, ShapeWays stop losing my parts
2. I bought Micro Square-1, I have long sought screw M1.
I went to the shop where the repair glasses and told master: I need to find the m1-screw.
he gave me a box with different screws for glasses and 10min after I found everything he was looking for

I've had them send puzzles to me with a note on the bag written in pen "Missing 5 parts". Again, I didn't complain because I felt bad that someone had actually counted hundreds of tiny tiny parts by hand.

To thicken the plot a little, I now really like to order parts polished. I find it reduces my break in time considerably, since I haven't yet been able to learn much from Brandon about tumbling. If you want parts polished, your whole puzzle has to fit in a 150x150x150 mm cube. That sounds like no problem, but with puzzles with a lot of interior parts, it can be a tough threshold. I've had more than one occasion where the extra parts push me over the edge.
Also, maintaining the 10% density threshold can also be complicated by adding extra parts.
I think I may just start to do a full puzzle model, plus an extra face model....

I would like to contribute to the other end however, since SLA part bears highly detailed finish and is perfect for rubber molds while SLS part contains voids and is actually not possible to have a glossy finish unless filled. The unit price here for SLA is slightly lower than SLS and have a smooth surface grain in most area(excluding very horizontal surfaces). The major problem for SLA is, usually the parts printed can't be directly used(not even after polish) due to insufficient strength. Not to mention the deformation above 75 degrees centigrade. It's the rubber mold masters' choice.

Anyway, up to screws, how about a set of drills(for slight scaling up of holes) plus M1~M8 set(with lower teeth and long enough to be chopped when necessary)?