http://www.shapeways.com/model/130160/master-sword.html?li=productBox-search#

Seems really rough. Is there a better material? I can't even tell what the heck the difference between the materials is. Might just buy some 'cause I'm curious.

Still better than at home 3d printers can usually do... by a long shot. Anyone tried stuff like this?

oo that looks nice

You should get that and links cap

Edited July 10, 201311 yr by SandMirror38

I have bought several items from Shapeways. Yes, small items like Lego pieces will have some level of rough texture as seen in the Master Sword picture (still looks great to me!). They are constantly improving, plus, if you are crafty, there's easy fixes for the rough spots, applying a primer, light sanding, molding and casting all reduce the overall roughness. I make head models for action figures and I get them printed in "White Detail" material, it's kinda waxy to touch, and has the texture of the Lego slope piece, maybe a little less rough. They look and feel great. If you have more questions, feel free to ask!

Wars

Our 3d printer in our R and D lab even at the highest quality is not suitable for production. The material is usually a nylon material which is very soft and springy.

Bill

I think PLE or ABS (of course) is best for 3d printing, resolution is still an issue of course.

There are a lot of neat pieces on that website. The texture might not matter as much in the long run as the actual usability. Some of the helmets or swords are cool, but how well they fit into the hands/head will be the best indicator of quality (in my book). I've purchased from other well known 3rd party retailers and their stuff only slightly fit my figures, but all of the helmets kept getting stuck and not fitting properly, so I just threw them away and vowed only to buy official LEGO.

Hey guys,

I work for Shapeways and just noticed this thread. I just printed a custom lego brick for my son this week (I got the size wrong though), and I'm thinking of doing more projects with him.

In my experience, the best material depends on your purpose: Polished Strong & Flexible plastics work well for bricks and models that don't require a super-high level of detail. It's also quite strong. If you're looking for highly detailed materials that don't require strength, consider 'Frosted Ultra Detail'. With a bit of primer and paint, you can work miracles! It's also a very accurate material, so would result in good fits.

Please let me know if there's anything I can do to help!

Cheers,

Bart

I don't know if Shapeways is the best way to do it, but someone should make some custom baseplates... especially new crater plates to vary the terrain a little bit in our Classic Space displays! ;)

I've bought some experiments. Basically Lego Zelda gear, multiples of a few and in different materials. If I can get any of them looking good enough I might go this way with a few *missing* parts for some customs I want to make (Worf's hair, etc). If I can't then whatever :P.

I wish the process was faster though. It's not shipping until the 14th (estimate). I'm impatient.

I'm actually fairly impressed. It's closer than I thought. If I knew what I was doing I could probably smooth it out more and and color it to make it look pretty darned good.

Something I noticed is I was more impressed with pieces with less detailing. I basically got several Lego Zelda items in different materials. I'm tired and just got back from a trip so I'll keep it brief but the Master Sword in a few materials looked very good with only a few needs to address some roughness (not much to the naked eye, but photographs with their zoom I'm sure can pick up the roughness easier). High detail items like the Hylian Shield where the whole face is textured aren't nearly as effective.

If the models are kept simple (what Lego shield has that much texture anyways?) I think there's a lot of hope. Now I'd just need to find out how to smooth them out a tiny bit more and paint them properly (without a brush, maybe dyes...).

I recently ordered this from Shapeways :

Extremely satisfied with the smoothess, Frosted Ultra Detail almost lloks like Lego (but doesn't have the same feel). Unfortunately, this is a fragile material, so I will avoid to use these parts, I don't want to break them. More info here.

I don't know if Shapeways is the best way to do it, but someone should make some custom baseplates... especially new crater plates to vary the terrain a little bit in our Classic Space displays! ;)

rather than make a full custom baseplate, why not make some varied basic crater pieces that may be positioned on a base plate however you see fit?

I just became aware of Shapeways a few days ago and I guess there are several posts in here on 3D printing.

I dream of things like cheese slope corners etc. Also, 2L Bars in a variety of colors could be a big hit. I wonder how good the colors are when mixing with LEGO elements?

I dream of extra Monorail parts that LEGO patented but never released: http://www.freepatentsonline.com/5087001.pdf and http://www.freepatentsonline.com/4861306.pdf

I want the "Y" track and cross track (both in first pdf), a fix for the current switch that tended to get stuck due to worn part, and the extension for chassis (second pdf, first image.