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Material Info
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Sandstone
Colors
About Sandstone
Full Color Sandstone offers multi-color printing, making it the best material for figurines, architecture, medical models and other applications that require many colors. Although it's a great material for decorative models, it is not well suited for handling due to its low strength and brittle nature.
Common Applications
Figurines, Architecture, Terrain, Scans, Art Sculptures, Avatars
Material Properties
Multi-Color
Great Value
Great for Architecture models
Handling and Care
Sandstone is a brittle material that must be handled with care.
Upload a file to get started
Frequently Asked Questions
What finishes are available?
Natural: This tan raw material has a slightly rough surface finish
Natural Full Color: This finish has a slightly rough surface with matte colors
Glossy Full Color: A glossy finish that enhances colors and provides good UV and moisture resistance
Is Sandstone water resistant?
Exposure to water will cause fading for the Natural finish. However, the Glossy finish will provide some resistance to water and moisture.
How do I create a color file for printing?
Please see this tutorial for creating and exporting files for color printing.
How well will the colors of the product match the colors of the file?
The colors of the product will not perfectly match the colors of digital file or render. When printing in this material, some variation in color shade is unavoidable, especially with difficult-to-produce colors such as browns and skin tones. We optimize each print run to make individual models look great, but you may see differences in color when looking at multiple prints of the same model side by side.
More Materials
Smooth Surface
Very high detail
High Accuracy
Applications
Miniatures
Scale Models
Jewelry Prototypes
Technology
Material Jetting
Strength & Durability
Many available colors
Good for prototypes
Applications
Figurines
Prototypes
Tech Accessories
Technology
Selective Laser Sintering
- Bounding Box
- Wall Thickness
- Wires
- Surface Details
- Escape Holes
- Clearance
- Interlocking Parts
- Multiple Parts
- Accuracy
- Color
- Design Tips
- Pricing
BOUNDING BOX
Maximum
250 × 380 × 200 mm
Minimum
X + Y + Z > 10 mm
Your model should be within the minimum and maximum bounding box sizes. The maximum bounding box represents the largest model that our printers can produce. The minimum bounding box size is the smallest dimension in which we can print in this material.
WALL THICKNESS
Min Supported Wall Thickness
2.0 mm
Min Unsupported Wall Thickness
3.0 mm
A supported wall is connected on at least two sides. Walls in your model must meet the minimum measurements to ensure it survives the printing and cleaning process. Thin walls are prone to warping during printing and are fragile to clean. Objects that meet the minimum requirements may still be rejected based on the geometry in which case our production team will communicate with you if the design needs improvements and can assist you to strengthen your model.
WIRES
Min Supported Wires
2.0 mm
Min Unsupported Wires
3.0 mm
A geometry is considered a wire when it is thinner in both unconnected directions than its length. Wires that are under our suggested minimums are prone to breaking in the cleaning process.
SURFACE DETAILS
Min embossed detail
0.4 mm high & wide thick
Min engraved detail
0.4 mm high & wide
We recommend these minimum measurements for details like embossing or engraving, based off of printer resolution.
ESCAPE HOLES
Single Escape Hole Diameter
25 mm
Multiple Escape Hole Diameter
15 mm
10 mm when there are four or more escape holes
When Full Color Sandstone products contain hollow cavities, they are often still filled with powder even after they are removed from the build tray. Small escape holes and difficult geometry can make it impossible to remove excess powder.
A single escape hole at the end of a cavity will not allow material in the corners near the escape hole to fully escape. So we recommend multiple escape holes at both ends of the cavity.
CLEARANCE
0.9 mm
Clearance is the space between an two parts, e.g. space between gears or a ball and socket joint.
INTERLOCKING AND ENCLOSED PARTS ?
Yes.
Full Color Sandstone products are printed by depositing a binder material onto a bed of gypsum powder, layer by layer. Since the product is solid when it is removed from the print bed, it is possible to make interlocking parts as long as the clearance is greater than the indicated minimum.
MULTIPLE PARTS ?
Yes.
ACCURACY
+/- 0.5 mm
COLOR
Color parts require texture maps. A standard .STL file will not be sufficient for a color part. Color models must be submitted as a single compressed .ZIP file containing a .DAE, .WRL, .X3D, .X3DB, or .X3DV with .PNG, .JPG, or .GIF texture files. If you have uploaded your color model properly, the colors will appear in the 3D render when you select your material and at checkout. If the 3D render is all gray or all black the model will not print in color.
Please note that color files cannot be resized on Shapeways because the texture map will no longer link properly to the model. If you need to adjust the size of the model, please do so on your 3D design software and re-export, zip, and upload your resized model.
Please see this tutorial for additional help creating and exporting files for color printing.
DESIGN TIPS
Print Lines or "Stepping"
A "staircase" effect, or print lines, can occur on the surface of your print. These can become more pronounced on curved and angled surfaces
Preventing Warping
Making your design more stiff (increasing torsional rigidity) will reduce the risk of warping. Longer walls need to be thicker than short ones.
PRICING
How will the price of my model be calculated?
- Material Volume - the amount of material needed to 3D print your product
- Number of parts - a part is a piece of a model that can be separated from other pieces of the model
- Production - associated production costs including labor; quality control; machine maintenance; general utilities; and other supporting services required to 3D print your product
What is the minimum price per part?
- Natural - $7.50
- Glossy - $11
