It is also a loss for other processes like shared CNC-resources and metalprinting for non-commercial-users

Are you from St George by chance?

Bummer. On rare occasions, I needed a part I couldn't print, and it was worth a few bucks. The marketplace thing was useless, but the printing service was useful.

Thank you for this fantastic video! We want to share some exciting updates: The software you demonstrated has been updated to Revo Scan 5, making it even more intuitive and efficient for both scanning and post-processing. POP 3 came out last year and brings some great improvements over its predecessor, POP 2. Thank you one more time.

Just dropping in to say Slant3D is doing a print on demand API for Etsy shops

I never used their marketplace, but I did use them for printing things that were too big for the common desktop printers as single piece. They weren't bad price-wise for that, but the metal printing seemed high in the era of lost pla, etc casting.

I'm a designer with a shapeways and THIS is how I found out about it closing? 😂

As much as everyone has been saying how expensive they were, I could not find anyone cheaper for full color printing. I used them for color landscapes and city scapes, while using my own resin printers for plain white. There aren’t that many places that offer full color nylon MJF or gypsum ColorJet, and every time I looked for alternatives, Shapeways had the lowest price per cubic centimeter.

audio isn't synced, but it's still a good vid ;) This is sad- hopefully another Company will fill the void.

I have used them several times. I thought they were a bit on the expensive size, but since I rarely need something printed, they were always a great service for me anyway. It will be interesting to see if there will be someone else to take over that market share.

I honestly forgot about them and am surprised they survived as long as they did. It was a cool concept years ago, but I see more and more people owning 3D printers. The Maker community will fill this gap. The only challenge will be connecting customers with people who own the printers. Maybe a good use case for Etsy or the social media platforms.

Shape ways for me my first 3d prints, I was till suing them for my Etsy jewelry pieces, now I have to find an alternative

Shapeways doesn't need to exist anymore. 3D printers are just getting cheaper and cheaper and model makers can sell direct to customers.

HEY PROF, I GET DISTRACTED EASILY.....(SQUIRREL)....SO WHATS WITH THE SHIMMERY, GLITTEEY 'ENTITY' OVER TO YOUR TOP SCREEN LEFT?.....P.S. N-E-V-E-R ASS-UME.

I tried shapeways a few times for quotes, and for basic designs, it just wouldn't be viable. Even at volume, a whole constructed part I make and sell for about 17, couldn't even get the main body printed (SLS) for 25 to 30. So I would not be able to even sell items at cost because I would price myself out of the market. TL;DR: shapeways was too expensive, unless you were selling something for massively more than the printed cost.

I'm glad to find your videos! You are not afraid to be honest and work on a problem till the end! I have my X1C with AMS for a month and it is a great printer, much better than my 11 years old Rostock and 3 years old CR Ender 5+. I understand the technology have moved so far in just last two years, so my old printers were the best for sometimes in the past. By same token this printer was working as soon as I unpacked the printer! I never seen anything like that before, and I'm not only talking about the speed, but the quality of the prints are amazing! 4 colors and auto-feeding system on top of that, and I'm in a 3D haven! Any suggestions how to promote to PTFE? Which plate to use? Or do I need to adjust anything in the slicer? I've purchased a double-sided plate that is just a polished stainless on both sides. Than I purchased www.amazon.com/dp/B0CT582KR9?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details the style is the last one on the bottom corner. I also purchased www.amazon.com/dp/B0CQ1M2Z1W?ref=product_details&th=1 . They work fine for PLA, that I print 99% of the time and sometimes ABS. But I never tried anything else but PLA on my X1C. I red how some people can't scrape off the printed parts with PETG and I don't like to ruin anything, if I can help it. I also have 2 boxes of flexible material, sealed in the original box... about 9 years old, do you think I can use it in these days? Sorry for asking so many questions! Thank you so much and have a great day!

Protolabs I think followed a better business strategy showing the offerings of 3D printing alongside other manufacturing techniques to give users the ability to choose what process to use for their prototypes.

I feel like part of the problem is that most people who would take advantage of the service are also the types to eventually buy a cheap 3d printer and just do it themselves.

That Edison "quote" is probably apocryphal. Shapeways failed for lack of scope. PCBWay seems to have a better handle on that, but I don't understand how their pricing is sustainable, at least on circuit boards. They can make me a dozen boards for less than I can source the materials... #notsponsored.

I run a mini print farm of 8 FDM printers and 8 SLA printers with limited print on demand capabilities and it is not cheap to continuously run these machines at peak performance. I knew from the very beginning of Shapeways business model that it wasn't going to last long, I never used them and like you said many 3D designers just threw up designs on their website without ever testing them. Another website with the same issues is Thingiverse, but the difference there is that if a person wanted a printed model they could request it directly from the designer. In all honesty every major city in the US has businesses that do on demand printing, so people need to start looking in their local communities for these businesses. If Shapeways(besides 3D printing) would have offered online education courses on how to actually use 3D printers and basic modeling their plan would have been more successful.

1/600, 3mm wargame models. Some great shops gone. Big shame.

Nobody mentioning that Slant3D might be able to fill part of this gap?

I used jlpcb not only can they print in metal (not including gold or the finer metals like shapeways) but their clear prints feel like a resin cast and are clear and not this werid semitransparency, granted you could do the sanding and resin casting yourself but if you are prototyping might as well get clearness on the parts that need it

My daughter gave me a gift certificate for Shapeways for Christmas 2019. I used it to get a Baby Yoda printed in January 2020, six months before official toys came out…my coworkers were asking how I got this item so fast…

Classic rent-seeking behavior, but now with robots!

I became a Shapeways designer by accident. I got frustrated by the low availability of accurate dinosaur skull models so I started researching and making my own. A few people said they wanted to buy them so I started a Shapeways shop. Didn't sell tons due to them needing paint and stands plus Shapeways was TOO DAMN EXPENSIVE. Buyers who took the plunge were happy customers though

Yeah the model is not likely to come back anytime soon. The main thing 3D printing is used for is to improve the quality and efficiency of regular mass production--so 3D printing helps move the goalposts for making this model viable! So if we were in a world where a $20K machine could 3D print an entire working iPhone 4, working iPhone 4s would be McDonald's toys and no one could make money just printing and selling such junk.

While I used Shapeways, their pricing was super high. Other options were always considered first.

I never stopped using Shapeways for replacement parts for my boat or the engine. I could design and print custom throttle linkage adapters or portal dogs.

I'm actually not surprised. I wasn't strong armed, but I was forced to use their services last year. The prices were nudging extortive

The dirty underbelly of all mail order businesses since before Sears Roebuck is returning to visibility. The unreliability of the mail order clearing house itself. The business models of mail order as far as I know go back to the 18th century. The clearing house model such as ebay, and Amazon benefits the clearing house company to exploit vendors by having as many vendors as possible paying all the expenses of the a business, investing in stock, warehousing, packing, and shipping while the clearing house takes the lion's share of the profits. The vendors never get a fair shot at the market as the clearing house markets the lowest price vendors to the highest paying customers at a higher profit. The customer doesn't get the best price or even a reliable vendor. Just the highest price, and shoddiest service the clearing house determines the buyer will bear. In e-commerce it's called "curated listings". And if a vendor came up with a successful new product, or combination of products used in a unique way, or a way of selling or self promoting on additional venues the clearing house simply finds their own supply, and cuts out the innovator completely. Sears Roebuck resolved the issue by being reliable. Being the vendor of a large variety but limited variety of products. They paid for stock directly from manufacturers without all the false promise swindles we see the clearing house, "e-platforms" engaging in today. The Sears Roebuck model killed the major mail order swindlers of the 19th century. They sold everything from shoes, and shoelaces to whole kit houses shipped by rail, and horse drawn buckboard all the way to the build site. The swindles were relegated to snake oil, and back of the comic book crap. The Sears Roebuck model can work in the e-commerce space, and somebody will likely make hundreds of billions doing it. The job to outstrip the current crop of mail order e-platform swindlers is to take full advantage of the available variety in this e-connected world, and taking full responsibility for all upstream, and downstream supply. The e-commerce industry grew so fast, and accrued so much money in the hands of so few people with the computer skills to set it up that it took them a little while (really a very little while) to realize the additional profits by swindling. But now it's becoming obvious to buyers, and vendors how unreliable the false promise of these borderline sociopathic platform owners are. Just to sell on ebay, and Amazon you have to give them the same banking information, and authority internet swindlers dream about. They can "temporarily while an issue is resolved" take money from you like an interest free loan. That authority alone, even if they never use it, is worth hundreds of billions in stock value just for the cash liquidity it represents. Amazon is worse because it sets you up to be in violation of its terms of service just to use the platform. They can impound all your bank account money for violating the terms of service. You can have any number of accounts. But if an account is "locked for unusual activity", and you use another account to evade the lockout you're in violation. When your account is "locked for unusual activity" there's a link to resolve it by opening another account to evade the lockout. They (this should be very revealing) even have a live operator to "help" resolve the "issue" by telling you to open a new account to evade the lockout. That's all just to cover their ass legally if you could even find a lawyer willing to go up against a hundred billion dollar company. Of course the Federal Trade Commission is slow to act. Facebook has admitted evidence to congress of practices that if prosecuted would subject them to fines, and penalties of over 3 trillion dollars for direct violation of the law under the FCC 47 U.S. Code § 202 - Discriminations and preferences. In short; If you're carrying illegal things or crimes are committed with your private "carrier", pockets, bags, car, or communications device you can be charged with a crime. But if you hold your carriage out as providing the same service to the public without discriminations and preferences either in price, service, and terms of service (like services) to everyone that uses them (except people convicted of a crime using a like carrier) you are shielded from charges for any crime they may commit. But if you violate the discriminations and preferences clause the fines, and penalties can be sought as well as civil suits.

Dude! I still have Stikfas from the original run!! I loved those

How is it that by the time the kids are older or mature, the next has been swept free of the man's hobby. In the shed indeed.

And what is happening to all the designs that were up on the website, both publicly for sale as well as the private designs?

I'm not sure I'd buy that deaigners have no place to sell their designs. Plenty of places like Fab365 or Cults3d offer designs for a fee that someone can 3d print or have a 3rd party do it for them. Sure, it's not the same model, but still, there are places for people to showcase and sell their models.

Shapeways to me was a way to 3D print things with machines I could not afford. So when I design a custom part for my car for example, I can FDM print a test part. I can even resin print a mostly functional part but it would get brittle over time. So I would do all of my own r&D on my parts and then have shapeways make one out of aluminum for me. This is especially good for small parts with geometry that would be a little more complicated to machine. Compared to having somebody machine it out of aluminum it's substantially cheaper. It's even cheaper than paying somebody for a low volume aluminum casting. Thankfully there are other places today that I can have my aluminum part added to their system and as long as I'm willing to wait, they will just kind of stick it in with whatever other prints they're running and I can get it for roughly the same price. But it was nice being a normal customer with good turnaround time versus being the cheap extra job that's being thrown in with the real work.

Never heard of them. Doesn't impact me.

From what I´ve heard its also a big problem for the people that sell 3D printed jewelery. shapeways offered many more processes than any other supplier I know. gold, silver, ceramic... Also I have the feeling the marketplace was not dead at all. I only had one thing up there (bit holder for a quite outdated makita drill) and still got a few euros every few months.

I think this is loosely related to bambulab disrupting the market now that any amateur can invest in a bambulab & get very good results without putting in a lot of work.

well, I ordered a bunch of sls prints from them a couple of years back because I needed exact tolerances. today I feel that they would have been an alternative to pcbway because asia import fees are heinous in scandinavia. edit: Edison PATENTED the lightbulb, stories differ on wether he invented it... or anything at all.

Literally first time I have heard of Shapeways, clearly won't be missed. This sector is packed with competition so not at all important. Looking at their website its trash you need to fill in a form by hand to get a quote...lol...the competition just let you upload your design and get to work straight away.

I mean shapeways has been "shutting down" for a while now. Slant 3d's channel been talking about it for a months now they had way to much money tied up in their machinery and the lead times was weeks no one can keep a 3dP business going that way

Bro, you are by far one of the most wholesome lecturers here :D

Etsy store can be connected to Slant3D, so that could be one way for some designers. They are FFDM only and might get frustrated if prints are small, not easy to eject or require supports and removal - though their videos are great source to rethink design for print-ability ;)

Years back i was playing with learning solidworks and zbrush, it was always so neat to be able to just send a design off and have it printed (and it was just a hobby curiosity novelty and i was making one-offs so the prices didnt bother me much, in fact i made it a game to try to manually do weight reduction on my models and optimize the price) their color sandstone printing option was really neat, and it's sort of sad to think if I get back into doing that the option is no longer there because they made great prints, though that might be a reason to start printing myself (after the million other things haha)

I used shapeways to have my 3d designed rings printed in silver about 10 years ago. I had made 2 green lantern rings, a blue ,red and yellow lantern as well as an assassin's creed ring all in silver and I thought the prices were very reasonable.

As a Transformers fan I've used Shapeways a few times, in order to get small upgrades on my figures. There's still 3rd party companies making stuff the traditional way (with molds), but they also tend to be pricey and they lump their upgrades together in a box where I would rather just have one upgrade. Truth be told, I haven't really thought about Shapeways in a while. Hasbro has been making better Transformers (as in true to the character models from the show) lately, and that might be part of it.

SHAPEWAYS helped me see the potential in 3D printing. My logo is based off a half mask model I made from re-working a model rip of Jason voorhees mask from MKX! The low polygons gave it a cool look actually and I thought to myself that I could make any physical object on my computer! This was way back in 2018 I think and since then I’ve taught myself how to 3D model in Blender (because it’s free and open source so I can use it forever without issue) .

Shapeway was so pricy to have something made. 6 years ago I planned to have something printed but needed 60 of them and at the time I only knew Shapeway offer such service. They wanted to charge like 15$ a piece without shipping so I scrubbed the idea. A few years later I found exactly the same thing I wanted on Aliexpress done in injection molding at fractions of Shapeway price and that was what I went with. 3D printers got so much better and cheaper these days and I don’t see the reason the go to Shapeway any more. Plus nowadays we have 3D print service behind the Great Wall and they ship to you at lower cost.

The quality you can print from relatively low cost 3D printers is so much better than it was when Shapeways started up. It's not surprising to me that this business model didn't survive.