3D Printing Services

[BG John]

I'm thinking of getting something 3D printed, and wondered if anyone had tried the various printing services where you send them an STL file and they print one off for you.

 

This is what I'm interested in getting printed. It's a pen holder for the cheap CNC milling machine I've ordered.

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2505524

 

A quick Google came up with UK 3D, who quoted their minimum charge of £7.99, that I think includes postage. Another quote was around double that, and others want all my details before quoting so I didn't go any further with them. £7.99 seems a reasonable price for this, and far easier than the alternative of making something similar by hand.

 

Am I likely to get an acceptable result? Are there better alternatives?

[Quarryscapes]

There are hundreds, if not thousands, of different 3D print places. Shapeways is the biggest, then i.Materialise, sculpteo, 3D Hubs (which is a broker for hundreds of small printers), Proto Labs, and many many more. You can even order printed direct from Thingverse, though I'm not sure who it comes from.

[BG John]

There are hundreds, if not thousands, of different 3D print places. Shapeways is the biggest, then i.Materialise, sculpteo, 3D Hubs (which is a broker for hundreds of small printers), Proto Labs, and many many more. You can even order printed direct from Thingverse, though I'm not sure who it comes from.

So many places that it's confusing for someone who's never had one done before! All I could see on Thingiverse were people in the US, so presumably complications with postage costs, VAT and import charges.

[uk3dcom]

Hi,

I'm David from UK-3D.com

 

I've been up and running for many years now, running a printer farm of 10 Ultimaker printers, and within the Last Year , now purchased two Epilog Laser cutters.

 

I have set a low price, to be realistic, and very competitive with others.. But still giving you the makers and hobbyists a first class service.

 

Not everything is "printable", but will be honest and refund, if required

 

I have generated a lifetime discount for all members here of 10% with coupon code RM10RM

 

I appreciate this post might be against the rules, but I just don't see the need of you being ripped off..

 

For 3D Printing - Click here

 

For Laser Cutting - Click here

 

I welcome response, and if you have any questions, or can be of any other assistance then please contact me.

 

Kind Regards

 

David

[MGR Hooper!]

Hi,

I'm David from UK-3D.com

 

I've been up and running for many years now, running a printer farm of 10 Ultimaker printers, and within the Last Year , now purchased two Epilog Laser cutters.

 

I have set a low price, to be realistic, and very competitive with others.. But still giving you the makers and hobbyists a first class service.

 

Not everything is "printable", but will be honest and refund, if required

 

I have generated a lifetime discount for all members here of 10% with coupon code RM10RM

 

I appreciate this post might be against the rules, but I just don't see the need of you being ripped off..

 

For 3D Printing - Click here

 

For Laser Cutting - Click here

 

I welcome response, and if you have any questions, or can be of any other assistance then please contact me.

 

Kind Regards

 

David

I shall PM you soon....discount or no discount that's irrelevant. I'm looking to move away from Shapeways as they insist on UPS and UPS is @#+?@#&

[uk3dcom]

I shall PM you soon....discount or no discount that's irrelevant. I'm looking to move away from Shapeways as they insist on UPS and UPS is @#+?@#&

No problem, I welcome your potential order, and an honest review on here (which I trust will be posted on here)

 

David

[BG John]

Hi,

I'm David from UK-3D.com

 

I've been up and running for many years now, running a printer farm of 10 Ultimaker printers, and within the Last Year , now purchased two Epilog Laser cutters.

 

I have set a low price, to be realistic, and very competitive with others.. But still giving you the makers and hobbyists a first class service.

 

Not everything is "printable", but will be honest and refund, if required

 

I have generated a lifetime discount for all members here of 10% with coupon code RM10RM

 

I appreciate this post might be against the rules, but I just don't see the need of you being ripped off..

 

For 3D Printing - Click here

 

For Laser Cutting - Click here

 

I welcome response, and if you have any questions, or can be of any other assistance then please contact me.

 

Kind Regards

 

David

Whether it breaks the rules or not, as the person who started this topic I'm glad you posted. I hope some RMwebbers benefit from it, and that might even include me one day. Unfortunately, I've just bought a mini CNC milling machine, and, don't tell anyone this as it's a secret, a 3D printer with be arriving in the next few days. I doubt I'll get the quality that I'd get from a service like yours, but it will be more fun!

[Guy Rixon]

Before selecting a print service on price/service/delivery metrics, one needs see what they print in and to decide in what materials the part could be printed, bearing in mind resolution of detail, surface finish and strength. John's pen-holder looks like the kind of thing that would work well in PLA. Conversely, PLA is typically not a good material for fine-detail parts in small, modelling scales.

[uk3dcom]

Before selecting a print service on price/service/delivery metrics, one needs see what they print in and to decide in what materials the part could be printed, bearing in mind resolution of detail, surface finish and strength. John's pen-holder looks like the kind of thing that would work well in PLA. Conversely, PLA is typically not a good material for fine-detail parts in small, modelling scales.

You've hi-lighted a very good point here...  What materials do you prefer for this?

[Guy Rixon]

BTW, I've heard a rumour that Shapeways are now shipping at domestic mail-rates from the UK. Dunno if this is true. I would guess that they send over goods in batch from Eindhoven and then have a British agent who  splits them out into packages for Royal Mail.

[Guy Rixon]

You've hi-lighted a very good point here...  What materials do you prefer for this?

All the successful, high-res prints that I've seen have been in some kind of acrylic resin. This is particularly true for prints that have lots of negative space, e.g. cosmetic, suspension parts.

 

The resin printers, particularly at Shapeways, seem to have issues with printing flat surfaces, so printing, say, a coach end with panelling and details like lighting-control bars is hard. 

 

I have seen, at exhibitions, PLA parts from low-or-mid-priced printers that seemed fit for purpose for use in scale models. E.g. the 7mm scale coach parts demonstrated on the Isinglass stand, which look like they could be fettled quite easily. These include no fine details and the areas that have to be flat are large enough that they can be sanded flat. I'm not sure that it would work for 4mm scale.

 

I note that parts without small, embossed detail may still need reasonable resolution for larger details. I'm thinking of mouldings on coach sides here. How are your machines set for printing panelled coaches in 4mm scale?

[neilkirby]

BTW, I've heard a rumour that Shapeways are now shipping at domestic mail-rates from the UK. Dunno if this is true..

I 'm in the UK and received something small from Shapeways yesterday from Eindhoven via UPS.

 

Neil

[MGR Hooper!]

No problem, I welcome your potential order, and an honest review on here (which I trust will be posted on here)

 

David

Hi David,

 

Surely. I'm still designing the loco and also working hand in hand with another UK based company to supply me with motorized bogies.

 

Once the CAD is done I'll order the bogies, once the bogies arrive I'll tweak the CAD as there could be certain variations etc. Once all that's done I'll get in touch with the something for you.

 

Busy at the moment but will send you some CAD images soon.

 

Will give a review for sure. If I happy I believe in giving a 100% satisfied review. If I am unhappy I believe in first contacting those concerned to see what can be done first before storming forums with bad reviews.

[mikeharvey22]

You've hi-lighted a very good point here...  What materials do you prefer for this?

 

David (uk3dcom) has highlighted the issue of material suitability. @uk3dcom

 

A couple of weeks back I sent the same file to UK 3D and Shapeways. It is the interface between a motorised bus chassis and the body of an off-the-shelf bus in N. There are 4 individual interfaces in the file joined by short sprues. Nothing is superfluous in the design so all the surfaces require to fit with some precision of around 0.1mm. For guidance the file is about 68mm wide, 74mm long, and 15mm high. And the walls are 1mm plus thick.

 

This is an image of the file I sent.

 

 

 

The default option was PLA at UK 3D with "Clean up" and I chose the colour black.

 

This is what came back from UK 3D.

 

 

​Unfortunately the support material at the front and back is totally fused with the intended finished product, and although I have attempted to remove this down to the fitting points for the front and rear on the chassis, there is no possibility of getting the surplus support material off or smoothing it to leave a flat enough surface for the interface to mate with the body. The brittleness of PLA does not help here either. Dimensional tolerances mean that the 1mm walls are oversize so the chassis will not fit into the interface, and the overall width would scratch the clear plastic bus body if inserted, ignoring the impossibility of it mating at the front and rear. Less easy to explain are parts missing from the underside of the interface, which was the top surface in the printing process. I ordered 2 prints and both were identical with the same parts missing, and coincidentally almost identical stringing on what was the print bed. 

 

 

​I chose White Strong Flexible for the Shapeways material. The print which came back from Shapeways looked like this. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dimensions are spot-on. the WSF print was separated into the 4 interfaces in less than a minute, and the first bus was assembled and ready to run in less than a minute after that.

 

​What I know for certain is that PLA is the wrong material for a print with flat platforms and overhangs, with thin precision walls, where the print itself is small and has numerous precise fitting points. On the other hand Shapeways cheapest material for this file is ideal and the easy removal of support material at the post production stage at the manufacturing point is a real bonus.

Edited November 28, 2017 by mikeharvey22