I'll certainly be interested in people's experiences as a Shapeways seller....
Andi

 

Well, all the chassis I have purchased from Shapeways that were designed by Andi, have been great - Ferrari T4, Renault RS10 and Generic F1.

I have bought other chassis by Olifer (Ninco Acura) and by CG Slot cars (Fly Lola and Fly Ferrari 512).

the Olifer chassis was a bit flimsy and indeed was warped (only slightly). However, a bit of heat sorted that out.

At present I am having great fun with Andi's generic F1 chassis (when I get the time). So far I have used one for a Scalextric Brabham bT49 and a Penelope Pitlane March 721X. I've bought a few more and I think my next effort will be the Scalextric Shadow DN1, followed by the BRM P160.

Marc

 

I have a CG Slotcars chassis for the Monogram March and an Olifer chassis for the Fly Marcos. If I recall correctly in both cases I had to shave the guide flag holder to get the front end of the car low enough and I had to make new rear body posts for the March but otherwise I had no problems. The Marcos turned out to be an especially good runner.

 

I have had a couple of problems with chassis printed by shapeways . But an email explaining the problem and a photo has always resulted in a new chassis being sent out for free.

 

I had an Olifer chassis for the Carrera Bentley Speed 8 LMP, bought about a year ago. It was fine, fitted perfectly and was flat. I have no complaints.

 

I bought a Red Slot 3DP chassis for my Revell Opel Ascona 400. I took it out of the packet, offered it up to the body, put it straight back into the packet. The wheels would have been far too high in the body - it would have been a proper low-rider. If I had put spacers between the body posts and chassis so that the wheels sat right in the arches the chassis would have been under-slung.

I also got a Kilslot chassis for my SCX Audi Quattro. That one didn't even get out of the packet, IIRC. It looked like it was exactly the same design as the original, and the reason I bought it was I wanted get away from the floating front axle.

IME, total waste of money.

 

I've got Amato chassis for the Mini, Cortina, Abarth 124 and other cars. The Mini goes really well but I also make my own pcb chassis and brass chassis for other Minis...I prefer the brass one.

I've had Mustang chassis for the MSC Scooby and Ninco 037, both fitted fine but I'm always looking at improving a chassis and these two chassis ended up being modified to fit an NSR sidewinder pod and are super competitive in Slot Rally.

I have a Sloting Plus 3DP chassis for a Ninco Megane, it's stiff and flat but not used.

I've not had any horror stories but then again all mine are from the designer rather than Shapeways. The blue Olifer ones I've seen look very impressive.

 

PCB chassis! good on ya.

my racing buddy used to make them for us to play around with different configs in 1/24 Eurosport. we never did get one that worked better than the laser-cut stainless steel jobbies, but then again there's a lot of torque on them in that class.

i'll be interested to see the results.

speedy

 

3DP is about just a generic term as DTP (desktop publishing) was two decades ago, like its fore bearer it has opened up a very wide range of design and production options previously reserved to the mainstream Industry. It has revolutionized the manufacturing industry in the same way DTP did for the Graphic industry.
As Dopamine mentioned "..anyone with a working knowledge of the software used to create the print files can design a chassis, stick it on Shapeways and sell it to us" and, if I may add, with the benefit of a world wide distribution system to boot...but...

..like with DTP, having working knowledge of the software does not automatically make you a good designer. (be it graphic and/or slotrace)

The good news is that most of the chassis offered via Shapeways have solid designs and will deliver what they were intended to do, namely to turn respectable shelf queens into respectable runners. If a product is warped, bent or broken..notify Shapeways (with picture proof) and you'll most likely get a new product.

If a product does not fit or is out of spec as "advertised" by the Shop owner....Notify Shapeways and the "designer/shop owner" will get notified and it will show on its rating...

..or contact them directly, most of the 3DP guys that have a shop on Shapeways are present here on Slotforum as well...and like Andi...they all value customer feedback.

One of the first mainstream slot manufacturers to use the advantages of 3DP via Shapeways was Slot.it, the chassis they designed for some of the other respectable brands turned those cars into competitive runners. Recently Scaleauto has joined the ranks, making considerabel savings on tooling and production cost by going the 3DP route to release new chassis versions for their own cars to fit the injection moulded new RT4 Motor pod.

So where 3DP started with transforming shelf queens in to runners its now "game on" in competition racing. 3DP chassis have endured and conquered under some of the most harsh and testing conditions of the digital Le Mans 24hrs. Last weekend's 10hrs GT3 endurance in Mechelen (Belgium) saw a race long battle between the top 4 teams running a Scaleauto C7R with the 3DP chassis, a Sideways Huracan, A Scalex McLaren 12C with a Slot.it 3D chassis and a Carrera M6 with a 3DP Prospeed chassis.

So is 3DP all sunshine and blue skies? Off course not, there will always be manufacturing tolerances and **** ups, and a 3DP chassis needs to be set up for the tracks and races just like any other chassis. But 3DP has opened a whole new variety of slot cars for the manufacturers to produce and the racers to build and run.

with kind regards
Tamar

 

Have successfully Run the CG Carbon, Olifer and Amato chassis variants in magnet racing without any issues whatsoever, with a couple three hour and one four hour enduros also under the belt.

Big fan, especially as the Shapeways (Amato & Olifer) courier gets them to us chop chop, the local postal system having almost gone to zero.

Kind regards

Dave

 

I'd like to comment that in principle everybody can do this job at little expenses. Install a free CAD program like Sketchup for private use and have your ideas printed. Either at home with personal equipment or for instance with Shapeways. Great fun and nothing to argue about bad designs.
Best regards
Thomas

 

What I think happens, is, the people that design them dont test them enough. They just make something that roughly fits.

I definitely think there is a place for 3DP chassiss, quality will only get better as time goes on. Designers will get better..
Hope Shapeways gets better.. They should be amazing quality with their machines, but all the examples Iv seen have been disappointing to say the least. And they are extremely expensive. They cost pennies to produce, so why they need to charge ~$20 is beyond me, I understand they have overheads, but even still, they are to expensive.

Iv just finished designing my first chassis, waiting for my guy to print it. Its for a 1/24 Scaleauto Z4.
Im guessing Ill test it, chop it about, change the drawing, print another, repeat until its awesome. Then repeat on more bodies.
Im planning on doing Chassiss for 1/24 Models where 1/32 Slot Cars are not available. Theres a lot of models here https://www.kentmodels.co.uk/product-category/plastic-model-kits/

Few examples..

 

Remember that compared to conventional injection molding 3D printing is a slow process and time is money. The tooling for injection molding is expensive, you have to sell a lot to just get your money back on the cost of the tooling but you can crank out product quickly. 3D printing eliminates the need for tooling, but since the process is slow it is better suited for low volume production.

 

What has not been addressed is chassis printed on an FDM printer, do these work?. My son has a shop on Shapeways and certainly for him the cost to him and his customers will rise considerably. If it also impacts slot car chassis it may mean that alternative production is required to make it a sensible option. Now FDM machnes are cheap it may be an attractive alternative despite the slow productiojn rate.

 

What I think happens, is, the people that design them dont test them enough. They just make something that roughly fits.

I know for a fact that the more "experienced" 3DP manufacturers will always order test prints to test and check a design before they release it for sale on Shapeways. But that testing may be limited to the type of track available in their vicinity. It will also depend greatly on the designed purpose of the chassis, for a shelfqueen to respectable runner a few tests may be all that's needed. At the other side of the scope..the "competition" chassis I have been co- developing with Prospeed for the Carrera M6 is now version 3 with more than 4 weeks of testing on Carrera and Fleischmann track, and many more testing to follow for Ninco and routed tracks.

...And they are extremely expensive. They cost pennies to produce, so why they need to charge ~$20 is beyond me, I understand they have overheads, but even still, they are to expensive.

What most people don't realize is the huge amount of manual labor still involved in producing 3D SLS printed parts. Its not fill the machine press the button and voila..here's your part. The result of a 3d SLS print run is a big block of SLS sintered and non sintered material with all the (sintered) printed parts inside. Each part needs to be taken out of this block, checked for flaws and irregularities and is then cleaned (removal of non sintered material) manually. The material cost per part may be pennies, but the machines and manual labor is not.

What has not been addressed is chassis printed on an FDM printer, do these work?. My son has a shop on Shapeways and certainly for him the cost to him and his customers will rise considerably. If it also impacts slot car chassis it may mean that alternative production is required to make it a sensible option. Now FDM machnes are cheap it may be an attractive alternative despite the slow productiojn rate.

FDM prints can work for chassis printing (slotingplus uses FDM) but the compared to SLS prints they tend to need more material for the same stiffness..and when printed to the same stiffness they are less flexible as SLS prints.
But if you have your own FDM printer it is a much cheaper and faster (as in order, produce and shipment via shapeways) method.

With kind regards
Tamar

 

Carrera M6

Woop woop.. I need an M6 Chassis in my life.. Is yours the one Iv seen on Shapeways? Iv pondered buying it, but thought about designing and printing my own to save the costs.
I can test one for you on a fast and smooth wood track if you want feedback.

I know what you're saying regarding the labour, I don't do this part so don't know exactly how much is involved. I trim all the parts though, so I know it's not a quick exercise, but the parts Iv seen from shapeways have not been trimmed, they are exactly as they've come out the printer. They have polishing methods too, presumably it's an automated process, put part in unpolished and it comes out polished.

 

Those two, however, arrived badly warped. That's a fault of Shapeways' manufacturing and no reflection on the quality of CG Slotcars's design, but it's annoying nonetheless, especially given the ever increasing cost of Shapeways stuff.

Thanks for the kind words on the Monogram car... With a little luck the McLaren will also come along soon... And thank you to everyone that's tried a CG Chassis from Shapeways over the years!

You can flatten the chassis as you mentioned - but the warp was probably caused by Shapeways when they printed it. I can specify orientation of how it's printed - but I think these days they just cram everything they can sell into a printer and do it all at once (rings, bottle openers, star wars figures and a slot car chassis...) - I think orientation has gone out the window.... The heating and cooling of printing a layer - then waiting while everything else gets printed causes stress and the chassis warps..... The only other reason for warping is a design flaw..... Found in large flat walls <1mm thick.

That Lola chassis came out over 4 years ago (it looks so old to me compared to what we do today!!) - Never had a report of one warping. Shapeways will normally replace it if you file a complaint and send a picture etc....... Then you flatten it while you wait for the new ones to arrive!!

If you are not aware - prices on Shapeways will be going up in the next year... It's going to really test what somebody is willing to pay for a chassis (+ Shipping - + VAT in Europe...).

What has not been addressed is chassis printed on an FDM printer, do these work?. My son has a shop on Shapeways and certainly for him the cost to him and his customers will rise considerably. If it also impacts slot car chassis it may mean that alternative production is required to make it a sensible option. Now FDM machnes are cheap it may be an attractive alternative despite the slow productiojn rate.

You can't print the same chassis through the Shapeways printing process (known as SLS) - and have the same result from an FDM printer. The tolerance and shrinkage that occurs is much different.... The same wall thickness will also get you into trouble - the FDM can be flexible and/or brittle compared to SLS (SLS will just bend).

We do an aftermarket FDM chassis for the NSR Mosler and Slot.it Porsche GT1 (somebody previously mentioned this chassis) - that is more performance driven than whats sold through Shapeways. The cars I sell also have this chassis - but the material is all impregnated with Carbon for strength.... That printer is a little beyond the average printer price....

I like to point out that this all started with a Fly 908/3 chassis I did a few years ago and put for sale on Shapeways.... My goal was to bring an old car up to modern standards and just have it drive smoothly (Yes - you can spend 13 hours working on a fly chassis to make it "work" - I won't!). It's amazing where it's gone.... And the new ideas that we see each month from different designers are very cool! I've picked up on a few details - and I can always tell when people pick up on mine.....I'm hoping that when Shapeways pricing goes up, consumers are still interested - but I guess time will tell - hopefully we don't lose too many shops on there...

Matt

 

If you are not aware - prices on Shapeways will be going up in the next year... It's going to really test what somebody is willing to pay for a chassis (+ Shipping - + VAT in Europe...).

That's disappointing news. I bought three Shapeways chassis yesterday, but only through gritted teeth because the price was just over £15 each. They were some of the cheaper chassis available. Others are £3 or £4 more than that, so any rise will probably see me going back to spending hours modifying original chassis. £15+ for a chassis is very hard to justify, so let's hope a competitor to Shapeways arrives and helps drive costs down.

 

CG Slotcars

4x Nascar Chassis...all 4 of them the wheelbase is jacked up.

2x were refunded and the chassis supposedly fixed. 2 more ordered later...still wrong...and communication is being ignored.

2x Carrera Ford GT chassis from CG Slotcars = wonderful!

2x Carrera DTM chassis from CG Slotcars = awesome!

Seems pot luck?

 

What about alternatives to Shapeways:

thingiverse

sculpteo

i.materialise

kraftwurx

 

3D printed chassis have been around for a while now and more and more of us have started buying them. I came reasonably late to the party but have now bought several, with varying degrees of success. Some have been great, some less so.

This week I've received 3 chassis from Shapeways, all with problems, and it's occurred to me that anyone with a working knowledge of the software used to create the print files can design a chassis, stick it on Shapeways and sell it to us. As buyers, we have to trust that it's designed properly, but as most designers/sellers have limited ranges, there isn't the safety net of a good reputation that a well known brand might have, so I thought it would be worth sharing my experiences and hoping others will do the same.

One of my early Shapeways buys was a chassis by CG Slotcars for a Monogram Lola T70. I was extremely pleased; nicely made and designed and a perfect trouble free fit onto the shell's mounting posts. Consequently I've been happy to buy more from CG Slotcars, including two further Lola T70 chassis this week. Those two, however, arrived badly warped. That's a fault of Shapeways' manufacturing and no reflection on the quality of CG Slotcars's design, but it's annoying nonetheless, especially given the ever increasing cost of Shapeways stuff.

I also thought I'd try an Olifer chassis, via Shapeways, for a Monogram Shelby Cobra Daytona. It's not great. Its greatest problem is the position of the rear axle, which is almost 1mm too far forward. That's not a lot and doesn't notice too much if undersize wheels are used, but with the original wheels and tyres fitted, they sit forward in the wheel-well and look horrible. Poor design.

All of these problems are surmountable: the warped chassis were oven baked flat, the Olifer chassis' motor pod mounting holes carefully elongated, but the flaws really shouldn't have been present. The reason I bought 3D chassis in the first place was because I didn't want the hassle of making a scratch chassis: a 3D printed one appealed as a quick shortcut.

So, have I been unlucky and everyone else has had good experiences, or have others had problems too? Trying not to turn this thread into little more than a list of criticisms, it would be nice to hear others' experiences.

I AGREE...my Shapeways experiences have been terrible...well...I havent experienced the issues that you have but Ive bought about four of them and all are FLIMSY !...I have it for for my Carrera Farrari 488....with success and improvements over the original chassis are nearly %100 but thats not saying much. compared to other GT chassis....the car deslots too often....I also bout a chassis for my Ferrari 458....HUGE improvement over the original but again it couldnt complete one lap...not even 1 turn soooo the chassis is MUCH better but ...barely track worthy certainly not race-worthy. the BEST 3 d chassis that I bought were on Amazon and Pendleracing for the Scaly AMG and Porche911...EXCELLENT runners now !...those chassis were only $8 instead of the $23 for Shapeways. Knowing what I now know I would again buy the chassis for the Ferraris but im NOT buying for any other cars that run ok as the improvements are marginal. TRASH cars...YES !

 

Hi,
I Like CG Slots stuff.
BUT
The Sidewinder pod is tight. I broke one of mine.
Just use a SlotIt one...stiffer and proven.

 

Yeah, never had any faith in the whole 3d-toasting scam.

So, this thread made me take stock and turns out, on that side of things, I've quite a few of the things. 🙄

My memory being what it is and their prices being what they are I don't believe I've bought more than a couple from Shapeways direct. Other than price, no real complaints come to mind.

Olifer, National Racers (is it?), Amato some Jonny fellow have all helped make some turkeys or slackers a pleasure to own and run, once some Slot It niceness has been installed. 👍

The stance of my two Scaley Camaros, sitting on the Amato chassis I recently commissioned, brings me such joy as they just sit there, looking oh so cool. Nevermind the grand way they now run.😁

One, and I can't recall which or from who it was, had a woeful attempt at the wheelbase and was a total disappointment on that score alone. Stance matters. 🤨

Several have required a bit of sanding so as not to catch a guide, foul a body screw or catch on a motor pod but I've found minimal effort brings plentiful reward.

And I was so happy with Arco Slot's sub-frame for the SRC Renault (bought from Pendle) I toddled off and bought a raft of spares from the Spaniards to assemble a second. 🤗

Still looking for a spare moulding of the Renault's V6 for that one.

So my experience is that 3d-printed chassis are mostly grand, revitalising and breathing life into lame ducks. He purred, hypocritically. 😁

 

There's nothing wrong with 3D chassis and pods if they're designed with 'heavy handed owners' in mind.

What's that black gunk slopped all over the place?

 

Hi,
Whats going on there is to "rescue" the pod after breakage, Ive tried to glue it all back together using the motor as a stressed member.
BUT
It was SH1T.
Da "black Staining" as you say, is the wick in of the super glue. The kicker was the amount of flex in pod even after gluing donk in.
.......and before you start on how do you change the motor...... if its glued in......well,..... then I have to I throw the lot away. Just like when I have a bingle, I ditch that sides wheels.
You should have known, though, my friend.

I order the CG Slots chassis without the pod, now. SlotIts are better pods. Chassis is great.

I wish someone would make a chassis for Pioneer Chargers....save me a lot of diking around.

https://www.slotforum.com/threads/pioneer-dodge-charger-generalgrant-rcr.217955/?post_id=2701758#post-2701758

 

I have bought several Olifer chassis and a few CG Slotcar chassis from Shapeways over the past 7 or even 8 years or so. All appear to have been well made and perfectly flat. I have bought a few 3DP chassis (I can’t remember the brand at the moment), from Evotec in Spain and these have also been very good. Have I just been lucky?

I thought the pricing from Shapeways was not too expensive but the postal charges were crippling.