The backbone of Shapeways is the 3D Printing materials we

offer to our community. From the versatile Strong and Flexible Plastics,

to the beautiful, hand-polished finish of Premium Silver, materials

inspire everyone to create new products that no one ever dreamed of

before.

Our mission at Shapeways

has always been to enable anyone to make anything they want. First, we

built a system to allow Makers to design and purchase models for

themselves. Then we created Shapeways Shops to enable anyone to launch a

business and sell their products worldwide. Now, we want to make it

easier for Makers to gain access to the newest 3D printing materials on the market and test them with us. Think about it like one big, global 3D Printing R&D team.

We’re

excited to announce the launch of our first ‘Maker Only’ material: a

flexible, rubbery plastic called Elasto Plastic! The finish, color, and

properties are not yet ready for sale to a wider audience, but it’s a perfect

material for any Maker out there who can work with a textured surface and

maybe a little extra powder arriving with their model.

The new, improved Elasto

Plastic is a great option for Makers as it is an incredibly durable

material with a lot of really interesting properties such as high impact

resistance, flexibility and compression (depending on the geometry), along with a high level of static friction because of the surface

texture. Though not strictly water-tight, it can hold liquids, but it does

not like high temperatures or fire. It is a valuable addition to our 3D Printing material options here on Shapeways that we are sure you will

find incredibly useful and fun.

To all our hackers, tinkerers, and dreamers, this is the start of a new series of materials catered just to you. The models that you submit push the limits of our machines and materials, which in turn inspire us to make improvements to meet your needs. The experiments we see posted on the forum (dyeing your own nylon or testing out surface treatments) help us understand your needs, and often get integrated into our standard processes. We want to continue to work together with our community on material innovation.

Our first Maker material is an entirely new Elasto Plastic, and is not based on based on the same technology used for our Black Elasto trial we had back in July 2012. Although it is still very experimental, this material is much more durable with more forgiving design rules. Take a look at some of our test 3D prints and the video to get a better idea how this new material will work for you.

Shapeways interlocked cube showing excess powder caught in negative details.

Elasto Plastic’s impact resistance makes it useful to protect your valuables.

Note some warping may occur depending on geometry of 3D model.

Macro shot of Elasto Plastic surface texture

Sometimes it’s squishy

Not so good for very small things.

Check out the full design rules for our 3D Printed Elasto Plastic and the video below to see how the material responds to impact, bending, twisting, stretching and fire. Remember this is an experimental material and the design rules may change.

We think this new material will redefine people’s perception of what’s possible with 3D Printing and we can’t wait to see what you make!