Going to back a way for awhile (Page 1 of 2)

Don't fully understand all your issues (and obviously, I think solidoodle is aimed more to the hobbyist than to the industrial manufacturer), but I printed the elliptic gears assembly of thingsuniverse and I was quite impressed with the quality of the teeth (they respect the correct shape for teeth in gears).

The assembly is a little loose, but I'm sure the model needs reworking to get it fully correct.

Again, the parts clearly aren't of commercial moulded plastic quality (appearance, strength, ...) but then , I don't know of many industrial process which can go from STL to complex shaped parts in an hour or two.

I might try to make a small pulley setup with some gears for my kid's toy garage (and to print my first home designed mechanism, this will take a little time to design, but I'm confident it will come out pretty nice and operational).

IMHO, your need is more a FORM1 or a B9 creator or any other resin cure printer than a FDM printer...

B9 creator link

Form 1 link

Form1 is only .3mm resolution though and I hear that the cost of resin is much higher than our ABS. I would think that under certain circumstances the SD2 could create a print of better quality then the Form1.

Irish,
I can try and print that part for you and see if I get the same outcome.  That way we can know if it was a slicing issue or an issue with the stl itself.

I am able to use my printer around 20 hours a day...I have gone through 8kgs of filament on the original hot-end...only clearing  clogs one time with a guitar wire. 

Try a different slic3r and post the file you are having issues with...a lot of the time it is a crappy file..I personally plan to make a set of dinner bowls from http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:28305 cast with stainless steel, but it is nearly impossible to print because of the way diz make their files...if you look at all of his/her post nobody prints them despite the apparent beauty....a resin print probably could print these though...we can always want more tools even though we can't afford them!!!

I was unable to slice their files, also.  Frustrating: pretty, but even after cleaning them up, they did not slice reasonably.

Try different slicing programs.  I have been doing testing, software only as I do t have my machine yet, and the slicing software varies greatly.  Speed and for most parts Slic3r works great, but when Slic3r fails, Skeinforge and Cura work.  Cura is faster than Skeinforge, but doesn't work inside of Retepier, but the Gcode will.  It would be nice if Repetier could add the ability to use any slicing app, but that requires a lot of work.

No, not a slicing issue I feel. It's a material process issue. Fused Filament is like squeezing hot plastic out a toothpaste tube, there's a big differnce than with powdered or micron build up.

Well, as good as it is as a Hobbiest machine, I'd like to see you build the Eifle Tower in the same size they did, form1, with the same detail on an SD2. The two machines are for two different purposes. The SD2 is a real good hobbiest machine where the Form1 is a low end commercial grade machine. In no way am I knocking the SD2 as I feel it's the best for who it's sold to, the home hobbiest. Best value for quality.

I've gone back to buying from Shapeways for now. I need the sharp quality of their high end machines. Don't like the high end prices but I have little choice. I do one drawing and then scale it to multiple scales and have those printed out. These I use for masters for RTV molds to make production masters.

I was able to turn out some really acceptable wooden barrels on the SD2 in two scales. I did 24 of one and 18 of a larger one and those are ready to make into production molds without the intemedate mold. That was my intended purpose using the SD2. But when I tried square/rectangular pieces even in 1:1 scale they were not usable or would need too much work to make them such. All the way it goes. Time is very important to me and taking too long to fix pieces to make the usable is not a good idea cost wise.

If that's the case, then what about just outsourcing the printing to Shapeways? Means you can't do the rapid same day prototyping, but gives you the quality you need without huge ourlay. You could even prototype with you SD then get the final parts for moulding from Shapeways.

Have you priced anything through Shapeways? I just ordered four items, 3 are scale steel drums 5/16" diam. by 1/2" high and a flat rectangle piece with grooves in it that measures 1-1/2" wide by 4-1/2" long by 1/4" thick.... $56.00 for the lot. Won't take much at that rate to buy a Form1 I feel. Just need to convince the wife of it. [grin] Every order I've done with them has been at that price. Most are FUD, their most expensive but also the parts were hollow to reduce volume. This last the drums where FUD and not hollow and the rectanular piece was Sandstone which is far less expensive.

Problem is the ABS printers can't provide the quality and fine detail that I need, that simple. As far as hobby 3D printers go the SD2 is at the top of the list for value = performance.

You need to read the rest of this thread to understand I work in scale minatures. A wooden barrel in 1:87 scale 5/8" high by 1/4" in diameter with detail showing the staves and bands. I need wall thicknesses of 1/32" on many pieces. There's no way you're going to do that fine with most ABS filament printers. I've seen some nice work from some but it took days to get it. That's not logical if you are in business. Resin is far cheaper than the FUD that Shapesways uses.

I wasn't aware of that.

.028" inches?  That's .71mm.  Everyone here could send you a bucket with .016" on the day they get their printer.

I presume you mean .028mm if you're bragging on it.