The questions our quoting inbox gets most. If yours isn't here, ask us.
A 3D model file — STL, STEP, 3MF, or OBJ. Any common CAD package exports one. If all you have is a photo, a drawing, a PDF, or a physical part, the printers cannot read it, but our team can often build the model for you. Book a meeting and we will tell you whether your project will work.
Four things set the price: the set-up time to program the tool paths and profile the machine will run, the print time itself, the material the part consumes, and the human labor for post-processing, cleaning, and quality control. The quote is built up from what the job actually costs to run, not marked up on a price from somewhere else, which is why our pricing is as competitive as you will find.
Every quote carries its own lead time, and we work to beat it. Small orders are often just one to two days. Jobs run in the order they arrive and the queue moves in waves, so the number on your quote is the one to plan against.
Yes. On a production run the set-up cost spreads across the whole batch, and small parts can come down to a few dollars each depending on material. Getting there sometimes means optimizing the design for printing first — work we specialize in, and minor against the savings on a bulk order. On larger orders it is often free.
No. Most of our work is for companies, but we will print for anyone — students included.
Three. FDM prints thermoplastic filament, SLA cures liquid resin with a laser, and MJF sinters nylon powder. Each has its own range of materials to pick from, and special requests are welcome.
Core filaments, core resin families, and nylon powders — the material guide lists everything we hold, with strength, heat tolerance, and cost side by side. If what you need is not on it, ask: we run special requests regularly.
Up to 500 × 500 × 500 mm in a single piece, though the material choice narrows at that size — PLA and PETG run best at full volume. Past that we split the model into sections, print them in parallel, then bond and finish them back into one part.
It depends on the process, the material, the resolution and settings chosen, and the features of the part itself, so there is no single number. Each material page carries more detail. Call out any dimension that has to be right when you send the model, and we will tell you what is realistic before it runs.
An FDM part does not have to be solid inside. Infill is the lattice that fills the bulky areas, and leaving it partial saves substantial time and money — often with better material behavior than a solid part. Twenty percent is standard for working parts. Solid does not mean strong: bridges and beehives are light, stiff, and strong precisely because they are not solid, and would fail at their jobs if they were. Above roughly 40 percent there is rarely anything left to gain, and if your part has no bulky areas, infill barely applies at all.
About $120 an hour. Our team designs in CAD daily and knows what prints well, so the model arrives suited both to your application and to the process it will run on. The first consultation is free — book a meeting and we will scope the work before anything is billed.
No. We print thermoplastics, resins, and nylon powder — metal is outside what we run.
We sell filament, not printers, and we do not service or repair machines. The store carries the same spools we run in production: free shipping over $35, next-day anywhere in Southern California, same-day pickup in San Diego — and pricing that is hard to beat, Amazon included.
Anything not covered here, email us. For material choices, the guide compares every option side by side.