3D Printing Services
We 3D print in polylactic acid (PLA) or Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET) enhanced with glycol (PETg) plastic, which are strong and durable and meet most additive manufacturing needs. Get in touch for a quote.
We can 3D print your 3D designs from a file and send the results back to you via post or you can collect from our workshop just outside Chippenham, Wiltshire, UK.
Once you have the design you want, you need to export it from the CAD system as an STL file. From this file we can tell you what it will cost and how long it will take to print the design.
We have a variety of colours of PLA and can order in specific colours if required. We normally stock white, blue, red, and green PLA.
Pricing
We work out our prices by the volume of plastic used:
Set up cost – £4.50
PLA price per cm3 using our standard settings – £0.40
Postage – £3.85 for Royal Mail 1st Class. Other postage/courier options are available.
For large volumes of prints we can offer a bulk discount.
If you require us to design your 3D print for you – this includes reverse engineering – we can give you a quote for design work.
Design requirements
3D printing is the most versatile of all manufacturing processes, and can make more different shapes than any other technology. However, it still has some restrictions. There is a good guide for designing for 3D printing in Make Magazine to get you started. The biggest object we can print in one go would fit in a box 200×200 mm2 at the base by 300 mm high, but it is often possible to divide bigger objects in the design system, print them separately, then fix the results together.
There is lots of software freely available that will allow you to design almost anything using your computer. You can also download other people’s designs and optionally modify them yourself. If you are new to 3D design, this is a good way to start. The RepRap project website has a good list of design file websites. See also our 3D design service below.
Get in touch and we can give you a quote.
Lasercutting
We have a 40W lasercutter and can cut your 2D designs from DXF files. The usual materials we work with are MDF, plywood, and acrylic sheet, though we can cut other materials as well (though not metals). The thickest we can cut is 6mm, and the maximum area of cut is 580 x 290 mm2.
There are many free CAD systems that can create DXF files.
If you have a file you would like cut, please contact us for a quote.
Design
We also offer a 3D design service. We can create engineering designs from your sketches or even an e-mail description, then supply you with the 3D CAD files in ISO 10303 (STEP) format and optionally 3D print prototypes of those designs for you. We are an open-source company, so we will offer you a discount on our charges for design if you are prepared to open-source the results. Alternatively, if you want your design to be kept confidential, that’s fine too.
Adrian Bowyer – Speaker
Adrian is able to give informative and interesting lectures and talks, up to an hour long, on RepRap and the history of the RepRap project. He can also provide a RepRap demonstration showing how a RepRap FFF 3D printer works.
If you would like him to come to your conference or group meeting please get in touch with the following information:
Date (and time, if known) and venue
Number of people in audience expected
Type of event – is the audience charged an admission fee*?
Demonstration of a working RepRap required (additional charges may apply)?
*For events where an audience is charged for attending or for closed meetings, Adrian will charge a speaker’s fee. For events that are open to all and free to attend Adrian will only charge for travel expenses from his home in Wiltshire, UK.
Please note that Adrian is asked to speak at many events each year and his diary does fill up around six months in advance.
For other speakers on RepRap, see this RepRap Forum post.