Online 3D printing service

We use machine learning algorithms to calculate the exact cost of any 3D print directly from a CAD file, based on millions of 3D printing orders we’ve previously processed. No more using clunky cost calculators, we can generate an exact quote for you instantly (well, in about 5 seconds).

This means you always know the price up front. Simply upload a CAD file to generate a quote: get an instant 3D printing quote. Our quotes are completely free, you only need to create an account so we can protect your IP.

It’s so easy to use that we encourage mechanical engineers to use it constantly as they optimise their designs for cost. Whenever you’ve made a new design iteration, simply load both the old and the new design into our quoting tool and see if the price is different.

This technology means our manufacturing partners also don’t need to do their own 3d print quotes, which means less overhead for them. This makes the whole process less expensive, which translates into lower prices for our customers.

The main costs associated with 3D printing are the number of unique parts, material cost, individual part volume and post-processing requirements. To reduce costs you need to understand the impact of these factors on cost.

The most obvious tip for reducing the cost is to reduce the amount of material used. This can be achieved by reducing the size of your model, hollowing it out, and eliminating the need for support structures.

The second most important tip is to choose the right process for the job. In general, FDM is the most economical 3D printing process for very low volumes (1-10 pieces). SLS, MJF and SLA are more expensive at low volumes, but share similar price ranges and are generally more competitive than FDM for orders of 10 or more pieces. Metal 3D printing is much more expensive than plastic 3D printing.

The third tip is to design parts correctly. Each 3D printing technology has its own benefits and limitations, which affect the affordability of certain design choices. We have many resources to help you design parts correctly for each different process:

• How to design parts for FDM 3D printing
• How to design parts for SLA 3D printing
• How to design parts for SLS 3D printing
• How to design parts for metal 3D printing

To learn more, read our full guide on how to reduce the cost of 3D printing.

We use algorithms to identify the best manufacturer in our network for your specific order, based on their proximity to you, their experience with similar parts and their available capacity right now. This allows us to balance our customers’ demands for speed, cost and quality better than ever before.

In manufacturing you’re only as good as your last order, so we take quality seriously.

We don’t just accept anyone into our network of manufacturing partners, we have a rigorous supplier vetting process and only accept top-performing partners to ensure we continue to deliver the highest quality parts to our customers. We also have people on the ground completing regular quality checks of our partners’ facilities.

We include a comprehensive, standardized inspection report with every order to ensure quality metrics are being met, and offer a first article inspection service on orders of 100+ units.

We also have multiple certifications available on request, including but not limited to ISO9001, ISO13485 and AS9100.

Follow this link to read more about our quality assurance measures.

There are multiple processes and materials available, which means there are many ways you can approach this problem.

By material: if you already know which material you would like to use, selecting a 3D printing process is relatively easy, as only a few technologies can produce parts from the same materials.

By use case: once you know whether the part needs to be functional or visually appealing, choosing a process is relatively easy. As a rule of thumb, thermoplastic polymer parts are better suited for functional applications while thermosets are best suited for visual appearance.

For a full overview of both these selection methods you can read our guide to selecting the right 3D printing process, but in the end the best way to learn about which process is best for which applications is simply to learn about the processes themselves. We have a wide range of resources to help you with exactly this.

Read our introduction to FDM 3D printing to learn about the most widely used 3D Printing technology. FDM is the first technology most people are exposed to as it’s the most common process for early and low-volume prototyping.

Read our introduction to SLS 3D printing to learn about the powder bed fusion family of 3D printing processes. Both SLS and MJF are great for functional and high-fidelity prototypes.

Read our introduction to SLA 3D printing to learn about the vat photopolymerization family of processes. SLA is ideal for small, smooth and visually impressive prints.

Finally, read out introduction to metal 3D printing to learn about Selective Laser Melting (SLM) and Direct Metal Laser Sintering (DMLS), two metal 3D printing processes in the powder bed fusion 3D printing family. Metal 3D printing is commonly used for design verification of metal parts or as an alternative to CNC machining for low volumes or complex parts.

3D Hubs was started by mechanical engineers and we have many more engineers and technicians in our team. Together we’ve written a lot of content on 3D printing over the years. You can find a selection of resources below, or you can head to our knowledge hub and filter on 3D printing to read case studies, in-depth design guidelines, explanations of processes and surface finishes, and even information on how to create and use CAD files.

We’ve also written a complete engineering guide to 3D printing, which has been updated for 2020. Here you can learn about how the many different kinds of 3D printers work and the different materials available, so you can easily compare their benefits & limitations. You’ll also learn the basic design rules and the most common applications of each technology.