3D Printing
Commercial 3D printers working in a wide range of plastics and composites, for one-off parts and small batch runs.
Commercial 3D printing, CAD design and prototyping
3D Printing Manchester
One-off parts, prototypes and replacements for parts that are no longer made, designed in-house from your file, sketch or photo and printed in plastics or carbon-fibre composites.
- 5.0 from 35+ Google reviews
- Free, no-obligation quotes
- CAD from sketches or photos
- Parts sent across the UK
Design and print under one roof
Commercial 3D Printing Service in Manchester
3D Printing Manchester designs and prints parts for businesses, inventors and anyone with something that needs making or replacing. Whether you have a finished CAD file, a hand-drawn sketch or a broken part that is no longer made, our designers and commercial 3D printers can turn it into a finished, working part.
Our printers work in a range of plastics and in carbon-fibre composites, which give strong, lightweight parts for jigs, fixtures and components that have to take real loads. We tell you which material suits the job, explain the options without the technical jargon, and quote before anything is printed.
Many of our customers come to us with an idea and no design software. That is where we start: we draw it up in CAD, print a prototype for you to test, and adjust it until it works.
What we do
Our 3D Printing Services
From a single replacement part to a tested prototype ready for production.
3D Design and CAD
We create 3D designs from 2D drawings, hand sketches or photos, and use generative design where it helps.
Rapid Prototyping
Print a prototype quickly to test how it works, how it fits and how people respond to it, before you commit to tooling.
Legacy Parts
If a component is broken and no longer made or stocked, we can recreate it, often in a stronger modern material.
3D Printing Materials
Plastics, flexible materials and carbon-fibre composites, chosen for how the part has to perform.
Injection Moulding
Once a design is proven, injection moulding brings the unit cost down for higher production volumes.
Not sure which you need? Browse everything we offer or tell us about your part.
From idea to finished part
How Our 3D Printing Service Works
Four steps, and you only need the first one to get started.
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Send us your file or idea
Use our contact form to send an STL or CAD file (zipped), a sketch, or photos of the part next to a ruler.
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We check it and quote
We check the design, recommend a material and give you a free, no-obligation quote. If a CAD model needs drawing first, we include that.
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We print and finish it
Your part is printed on our commercial printers. A small, simple part can take around 30 minutes; a large or complex one can take several days.
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Your part is sent to you
We send the finished part out to you, wherever you are in the UK.
Legacy parts
Recreating Parts That Are No Longer Made
When a part breaks and a replacement is no longer made, it can mean throwing away a machine, a vehicle or something with sentimental value. 3D printing gives it a second life. The hinge shown here was recreated from a broken original, and printed in a modern material it can be stronger than the part it replaces.
Businesses use the same approach to keep older but serviceable machinery running without the cost of replacing it. Send us a photo of the part next to a ruler and we will give you an initial quote, or read more about how we recreate legacy parts.
Manchester based, UK wide
3D Printing Service Across the UK
Most of our customers are in Manchester, Greater Manchester and Lancashire, but because the work starts from a digital file, location doesn’t limit what we can do. We work with customers across the UK, and finished parts are sent out to them.
Through our network of design and manufacturing partners, we can also take a proven design on to other methods, such as injection moulding for larger runs, when the volumes call for it.
Quotes
Free, from a file, sketch or photo
Quantities
One-off parts to small batch runs
Materials
Plastics and carbon-fibre composites
Sectors
Automotive, aerospace, construction and product development
Our work
Recent 3D Printing Work
A selection of parts and models we have designed and printed for customers.
A short clip of composite parts we have printed.
Looking for a commercial 3D printing service?
Send us your file, sketch or photos for a free quote, or call us Monday to Friday, 8am to 6pm.
Questions
3D Printing FAQs
The questions we are asked most often. If yours isn’t here, send us a message.
What 3D print files do you accept?
STL is the standard file type for 3D printing. If you have a different format, send it anyway and we will check whether we can convert it. Our software then tells us how much material and print time the job needs, so we can give you an accurate quote.
When you send an STL through our contact form, zip it first. The upload accepts .zip files but not .stl files on their own.
What if I don’t have a 3D file?
That is common, especially with new inventions. Our design team can work from 2D drawings, sketches or photos, or from the broken part itself in the case of legacy parts, and recreate it in CAD.
We don’t use 3D scanners. When we trialled them, recreating the file ourselves proved more accurate and more cost-effective.
How large can you 3D print?
Our commercial printers print items up to roughly the size of a shoebox in a single run. Larger items can often be printed in sections that fit together to make one piece. That doesn’t suit every design, so we will tell you whether it can work for yours.
How long does 3D printing take?
It depends on the size and complexity of the part. A small, simple plastic part can take around 30 minutes, while a larger item can take several days. Once we have reviewed your design, we can tell you how long yours will take.
What materials can you 3D print in?
We print in a range of plastics, including PLA and flexible TPU, and in carbon-fibre composites for parts that need to be strong and light. Tell us what the part has to do and we will recommend the most suitable material.
Is there a difference between 3D printing and additive manufacturing?
The two terms are often used to mean the same thing. Strictly, 3D printing builds an object up layer by layer, while additive manufacturing is the wider term for any process that adds material together to form an object, including electron-beam manufacturing and selective laser melting.
3D printing is by far the most common type, so additive manufacturing is generally taken to mean 3D printing, and the term is used more often in industrial and commercial settings.
What commercial 3D printing services do you offer?
Commercial 3D printing usually means printing parts a business will put to practical use, rather than decorative items. Our commercial-grade printers work in a wider range of materials, including carbon-fibre composites, and handle small batch runs as well as one-offs.
Do you only work in Manchester?
No. Most of our customers are in Manchester, Greater Manchester and Lancashire, but because the work starts from a digital file, we work with customers across the UK and send the finished parts out to them.