3D Printing Online

January 26, 2006 9:36 AM

3D printing. Does anyone offer it online, at a consumer level price, in the UK?

I'm itching to give this a try, but dont have $18,0000 for my own printer.

posted by MintSauce to Computers & Internet (5 answers total)

The technical name for it is Stereolithography. Googling for "Stereolithography services" with your locality should get you some quality hits. Also try the phrase "rapid prototyping".

Also, try your local engineering school. Many universities have stereolithography machines and will do models for you for a low price.
posted by Laen at 10:11 AM on January 26, 2006

This place looks promising.
posted by Laen at 10:27 AM on January 26, 2006

Not to nitpick, but I don't think this is a stereolithography machine. I believe the process used here is called Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM).

I had something printed by 3dArtToPart a couple of years ago and they were much cheaper than the b2b places that I priced out. They're in the US, though, so that might not help.

I found lot's of UK rapid prototypers through Google, but few seem to have automated online quote request and ordering.

Laen's link looks good; these guys might be worth a look too.
posted by crumbly at 11:54 AM on January 26, 2006

I don't know what you mean by "consumer level" pricing but rapid prototyping is still an expensive job; expect to pay in the hundreds, not tens.
posted by blag at 1:18 PM on January 26, 2006

My good friend owns this business - Cutting Edge Designs. His success has gone through the roof in the last couple years because he prices things competitively. He does do mostly B2B though but you might wanna check it out. I know he offers 5000 3D business cards for $.85 each.
posted by mojabunni at 8:36 PM on January 26, 2006