Dear staff,
I’m using your software with great results, I turn my drawings into real products and I would like to ask you if you’re planning to add the following features in the software in order to improve the workflow from idea to final products:
Regards,
Alessandro Momo.
Hi @OmniMuse, CAM and built in slicer are not coming anytime soon, but text hopefully is coming next year. Also manufacturing drawings are coming early next year. Would love to learn more about how you are using Shapr3D. What are you using for CAM now?
Hi @Istvan,
I use Shapr3d in different fields, I design piano action parts that are subsequently either 3D printed or cnc machined. I’m also a TANOS Systainer dealer for Italy and I use the software to design custom interiors for customers. I make also a lot of templates and special clamping for small series production. Now I use Fusion360 as CAM and what would great is having a CAD-CAM solution (even with at least basic features with GRBL post processor) all together in an iPad without the hassle of transferring files to a PC and moving back and forth several times for code refinements. In my opinion If you do something in this direction you would probably lead the market for iOS users.
Alessandro.
Wow, very cool! Can you share some pictures?
We’ve just announced our mac beta, and the Windows version is coming later. That will also mean that your designs will be automatically synced between your devices. I think that will help a lot.
That we already do 
But we are much more ambitious than that. We want to lead the entire CAD market.
Hi @Istvan,
I can’t show you actual production pieces with exact dimensions but I can show a “looks like” model with “about” proportions just to give you the idea.
I can also just for fun a cnc machine I built myself
And some motor mount
Sorry if some are looking messy but I took some quick screenshot here and there between drawings.
Alessandro.
Wow! These are very cool, and sound like really exciting projects. Were these entirely designed in Shapr3D? I love the piano part. Are they replacement parts, or are you designing an entire piano? Or new experimental parts?
Hi @Istvan,
Yes entirely made in Shapr3d, everything but the linear axis of the cnc machine because they are commercial THK linear axis so I got the free drawings from their site. Piano parts I make are sometimes replacement for old pianos that don’t have anymore commercial availability but also new concept of actions made with modern materials, experimental shapes and experimental manufacturing methods. I’m completely in love with Shapr3d as I found the learning curve fast, using the pencil makes things pretty intuitive and I’m not bound to sit on a desk in front of a pc to design. I know that perhaps can be silly but find a place you are in comfort or that you find it inspirational to sit and draw has really no price. Cam would be a perfect add-on 
.
Alessandro.
Wow! I would love to learn more about this… how do you even start with a design like this? I am assuming that there are a million parameters that impact the quality of the part. How do you measure the results? Are there complex sound analysis processes that you rely on?
Piano action is basically a lever system with proportions refined during centuries so there’s a range of measures you can play with but let’s say you can’t change drastically as piano players have grown used to a certain kind of action and is a pretty conservative world overall. What you can do is try to understand pros of wooden piano action and their typical manufacture and keep these pros using different materials that maybe have also the chance to solve the cons of wooden piano action (for instance hygroscopicity, dimensional stability, repeatability in manufacturing process ecc) and also for instance 3d printing can give us the chance to think parts that can be hollow inside or shapes that are impossible to create with traditional processes. 3d printers are not precise enough for the required accuracy now but they will be in future so brainstorming and try to experiment in this direction is something i consider worthy. Tools I use to check parts are the same you find in a machinery workshop so calipers, micrometers, dial gauges, granite flat plates, altimeters, roughness meter, Johnson gauges, precision weight scale and so on. Talking about acoustic I tend to design an action that is acoustically transparent so doesn’t mess up with the rest of the piano design, a piano is made with something like 12000 different pieces if you consider repeating parts so in order to avoid unwanted problems better to keep it on the safe side if possible and let the soundboard doing his job. .
OMG.
Is it common to use 3D printed parts in pianos nowadays? What are the benefits? Eg. can you achieve some acoustic properties that wiuld be impossible otherwise?
No 3d printing is not common at all, that’s why I’m exploring if it is feasible, action has little impact in the sound, hammers and hammer shank do have impact on sound but what’s beneath is merely mechanical, they must translate in the best and reliable way the energy from the pianist finger to the string. Moving parts must be light, accurate, frictionless, wear as little as possible and dimensional stable over time as piano can last over a century.
For instance this is a commercial typical grand action part, try to immagine all the process involved in production to make this parts with common wood cnc router, saws, drill, and so on
3d printing could solve many production problems, probably not now but in the future when materials will be more fit for the purpose and printers will have better accuracy.
