3D printing took one place from the many, on the list of the most viable manufacturing process in the year 1980.
Be it for mass production or for small volume production, more and more manufacturers are preferring this technique over other technologies.
The technology is not yet fully developed, it is yet in its initial phase of development.
If you try to list down the flexibilities that this technology offers, one of them is the ability to fastly print prototypes. The other one is the ability to print on the basis of a soft copy i.e. the 3D design file. A point of flexibility is also the way in which you can get this service completely online.
That’s right. Search for 3D printing service prices and you will notice that near your locality or, if you wish to buy it online, the services are also available globally. Isn’t this amazing?
In this article, we are going to talk about the 3D printing service costs that you have to pay to different 3D printing service providers for getting your product ready.
These different 3D printing service providers charge you differently because of the different offerings that they have on their websites.
Different materials, different use of 3D printers, different technologies sum up the different charges they charge you with.
Because you do not have to take the pain of comparing them on your own, we have listed down a few best 3D printing service costs for the current year in this article. Let’s get straight to it.
Craftcloud
Craftcloud is a price comparison service that works in much the same way as Google Flights, Booking.com, or Yahoo Shopping.
The difference between them and CraftCloud is that instead of tickets, hotels, or general products, Craftcloud compares prices for having designs 3D printed.
The website also provides real-time offers from leading manufacturers around the world. CraftCloud uses your location and project details, on the basis of which it finds the best prices and service providers to satisfy your needs.
There are many local manufacturers associated with CraftCloud whom you might even have not heard of.
Because of which you do not have the lower-priced offering that they have, which you can benefit from while buying from CraftCloud. Also, this would lower your shipping costs.
Craftcloud guarantees in any case, whether local or global, that the prices you get to see come on-screen directly from their partners and there are no hidden fees or added 3D printing service costs!
When you upload a file on CraftCloud
Say if you are a designer who has an STL file ready with yourself, you would be able to instantly upload your file and get the quote for the same.
But, even if you aren’t a designer and wish to get a general idea about pricing from this website, what you can do is click on some of the products that are given on the home page of the website.
Like for example when you click on the Trilope pattern, Craftcloud gives you an option to see the material and prices for the same.
When you click on that option, you are able to see PLA costing $15.16, polycarbonate costing $16.61. There is ABS costing $16.73 and so on.
From prices as low as $15.16, you have materials like titanium costing $403.85 and sterling silver costing $485.98. This would give you the ongoing material cost of the material that you wish to 3D print from.
After selecting the material, the next part is selecting the finish. Although options are not available with every material for finishes, there are some with which you can get multiple finishes.
Finishes basically mean you are selecting the infill percentage. Generally, there is 20 percent infill in every finish, so 20 percent infill does not cost you a single buck.
But then you have 40 percent finish for polycarbonate at $57.39, 60 percent for $59.39, and moving on to 100 percent infill you have to pay $71.39 for that.
After selecting the finish you get another option which is to select the color. If you are opting for polycarbonate material, white color won’t cost you a single buck, whilst black would cost you $51.39. After making your choice of color, you will end up on the pricing options.
Yes! Craftcloud offers you not just one, but multiple pricing options. Wherein there is a difference in price and delivery days. Here you have the option to select one from the multiple options available and put it into your cart. So this is the final step of the purchase.
After going through this journey you can say that the 3D printing service cost for a Trilope pattern, with polycarbonate material that has 20 percent infill, and white color, you can get it for $16.61 or $68 on CraftCloud.
3D Experience marketplace Make
The 3DExperience Make Marketplace is managed by a French Software Company named Dassault Systèmes.
This website provides on-demand manufacturing wherein users can upload their files, by choosing from a wide variety of industrial-grade materials.
Not just that, but it also has a global network of manufacturers, using which it can get your parts and functional prototypes printed.
Instant quoting provided by the company gets you the exact price for your order.
The website also allows buying the part directly or getting to request a quote from three suppliers.
The website has more than two hundred qualified service providers and more than thirteen thousand manufacturing machines.
3DExperience Make Marketplace not only offers 3D printing, but also services such as CNC machining, injection molding, laser cutting, and a lot more.
In addition to all this, 3DExperience also provides an online 3D-component catalog. This 3D printing service is also integrated within Solidworks and CATIA. Because of this integration users are directly allowed to interact with manufacturers.
Instant 3D printing service cost on 3DExperience Marketplace Make
There are few web pages on this website. Apart from home, there are service providers, get an instant quote, my requests, and become a partner.
As soon as you click on get an instant quote, the website asks you, your login credentials.
When you go onto the service provider’s page, you get to know the network that this company has created over the years by working in the 3D printing service market.
Service providers on this page are listed according to the tolerances that they offer which is a very unique way of listing that the website has employed.
The other factor which makes this website list a service provider on top, along with tolerance is the turnaround time.
So, for example, the service provider which has the minimum tolerance and the minimum turnaround time is listed on the top.
You can sort a service provider by price, refine the list of the service provider by their capacity, and select the country, quotation, or certification.
When you select one of the service providers and try to go into more detail the website again asks for your login credentials. Unlike Craftcloud, this website does not let you know the 3D printing service cost easily.
Sculpteo
Sculpteo claims to be a global leader in digital manufacturing. The company is based in Paris and San Francisco.
Sculpteo provides professional online 3D printing services along with laser cutting services for on-demand production of prototypes, individual products as well as short-run manufacturing.
The company provides access to a wide range of materials, finishes, and techniques, as well as superior optimization tools for file analysis and repair.
Sculpteo offers fast turnaround and worldwide delivery with factories in Europe and the United States. This company was founded in 2009 by Eric Carreel and Clément Moreau.
On Sculpteo’s website, there’s a ‘web portal’ team and workshops. The former team designs and operates online services.
It is in charge of promoting the Sculpteo brand as well as enhancing the customer relationship. While the latter performs the actual printing of 3D designs, using various techniques, and handles all shipping aspects.
There are three web pages that Sculpteo’s website has i.e. Services, material guides, and learn. You have an option of 3D printing under the services tab, as soon as you click on that, you see the option to upload your file.
So, if you are a designer you can instantly upload your file. But, you need your account, as you did on the website that we talked about just before this one.
As you scroll down on this page you get to see the materials with which Sculpteo offering 3D printing services.
The next option that you see on this website is of getting an instant quote, for accessing that too, you need the login credentials.
So, Sclupteo too, like the website that we were talking about before it, does not offer an option to look at the 3D printing service cost without logging into it.
3D Hubs
Completely focused on 3D printing service, facilitated by local enthusiasts and professionals, this website has pivoted towards offering a wide array of manufacturing processes.
This they do, from their professional partners by suggesting users the optimum method of production on a part by part basis.
After this, they delegate it to an appropriately located partner for manufacture to ensure the minimum delivery days.
Alongside dynamically updating prices based on material and location, the turnaround times are also specified, which makes it an important variable in your purchase decision.
3D Hubs was founded in 2013, and since then has produced more than 4,000,000 parts as per the claims made on its website go.
If that is true then 3D Hubs is the global leader in distributing manufactured products.
The website also claims to have raised over $30M from the people behind the world’s most successful online platforms, such as Uber, Spotify, and Booking.
The company is headquartered in the vibrant city center of Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
How to get 3D printing service costs on 3D Hubs?
There are four tabs on this website i.e. About, our manufacturing capabilities, materials, and resources.
As soon as you click on materials, you get to choose from CNC machining materials, 3D printing materials, Sheet metal materials, and injection molding materials.
When you click on 3D printing materials, you get to choose from plastics, metals, stainless steel, aluminum, and other materials like Nylon, ABS, PC, PLA, etc.
After clicking on any of the material, you get to see its description lead time and the variations available in it. The website also offers you an option to order 3D printed parts.
After clicking on which, you get an option to upload your file and then you get to know the 3D printing service cost that the company will charge you.
This cost varies with the variation in material as well as the 3D printing technology.
For example, if you select printing an electronic enclosure version 11, as the sample given on the website, the 3D printing service cost for printing it with Nylon material, HP PA 12 by multi-jet fusion is $51.29.
The details of the quality of the parts and when will be shipped to you are mentioned to you before placing your order.
Xometry
“Custom Manufacturing at Fingertips.” This is the first title that is going to strike you when you enter the homepage of this 3D printing service provider’s website.
Just beneath the title is your “get instant quote,” option. Clicking on this option a new webpage is going to open up in front of you wherein you would be given the option of uploading your 3D design file in many formats i.e. STEP, STP, SLDPRT, STL, X_T, X_B, IPT, 3DXML, CATPART, PRT, SAT and DXF.
And you will also have to select from the processes that are available with the website makers.
By processes here the maker is trying to imply the 3D printing techniques that are available in the market, like FDM 3D printing, SLA 3D Printing, SLS 3D Printing, etc.
You can also select the material from which you want your object to be made.
Xometry is effectively a 3D software company that leverages a US-wide network of manufacturing partners to offer instant quotes or Pricing.
These quotes or pricing are then filterable by production method, material, and lead time.
This 3D printing service price has customers including Fortune 500 companies.
The complete system of Xometry brings together those in need of custom parts quickly, and workshops frustrated at unorganized inquiries that lead nowhere.
Additionally, users of Xometry can have parts CNC machined, wrought from sheet metal, and injection molded.
Jawstec
Get a 3D Print Instant Quote and Get a CNC Machining Instant Quote those are two options colored in red, asking your attention to click on at least one of them.
JawsTec is a 3D printing service price providing company that has five major tabs when you land on the homepage of the website to open.
The first one is the one informing you about the company’s 3D printing capabilities. The other one is 3D Design Service, then you have CNC Manufacturing, Shop, and Blog.
After taking the cursor of your mouse onto the first tab, you get to see the viewing of five names of 3D printing technologies that this company works with.
There is for some reason the first technique named Additive manufacturing which is up to the maker of the website to claim, what made him or her put it with the other names which are actually the names of different methods of 3D printing technologies.
Whereas Additive manufacturing is something that is more referred to as a synonym of 3D printing itself.
Moving on, you have SLA, Thermoplastic polyurethane, propylene multi-jet fusion, and then you also have a material name which is HP Nylon PA 11.
3D Printing AU
This one is amongst those rare websites about which there is not much being written as much as about the 3D printing service price providers based in the USA or maybe some other geography.
As the name suggests, this website is based in Australia. There is a video getting played in the background without your permission.
Hands are checking the already manufactured 3D printed part or a functional prototype. And there are claims with the text that are visible to you despite the video being played in the background like,” We’ll beat any SLS quote,” etc.
There are eight tabs on the company’s website. Apart from providing 3D printing service prices, the website also has the option of 3D Scanning service and buying a 3D printer. You can even design the company.
3DPrint-AU.com claims to have a state-of-the-art additive manufacturing center, with expert staff on-site to print your 3D parts for you.
Using what they call “Toll Priority courier”, you can rest assured that long waiting times will become a thing of the past and you’ll receive your 3D printed part promptly, whether you live in Australia or New Zealand.
Yes. The website is not strictly limited to Australia also has its hands on New Zealand.
The Conclusion
For getting 3D printing service costs, the factor that is considered most important is dimension.
Then the other factor is the material, followed by the 3D printing technology, chained with the 3D printer used by the company, the color that the final part is going to be made available in, and the shipping charge based on your geographical location.
All of these factors sum up and, your final 3D printing service cost. As seen in the article you will have to log in to these websites and create your own account to get access to the final quotes.
However, there are websites like Craftcloud which you cannot have an account on and yet get a final quote or multiple numbers of quotes to choose from.
If you do not have a 3D file and yet want to know the quote, you can try to get a 3D file from websites like Thingiverse or Myminifactory and upload the STL file on these websites and then get to know the quote for that file.
Based on which you can calculate the cost of material and other factors and determine the 3D printing service cost for your part or a functional prototype. But it is still going to change if the dimension changes.
