The reasons for using a 3D printer is that you can create a 3D model of your Computer Aided Design without the need for tooling or specialist programming skills. You can choose from a variety of materials, and different resolutions to suit your application.
With the increased use of CAD many designers are either having a small scaled model made before production tooling is ordered to ensure the integrity of the design, or full size models to show their customers, to ensure they are going to be happy with the size, shape and form of a new design.
3D printing machines are optimised for speed, relative low cost and ease of use which makes them suitable for visualising designs during the conceptual stages of your design when properties such as mechanical strength is less important.
Colour can be introduced to a model in 2 ways, you can colour or render your model in CAD and export a VRML model, or you can send us an STL file and a document to show us the colours which we can then apply in our software.
3D printing works by converting a 3D digital design into thin cross sections that are determined by the 3D printer software. This information is then sent to the machine where it starts to deposit material layer by layer, one above the other, thus creating a 3-Dimensional object. This process is called "Additive Layer Manufacturing".
This is dependent on the size of your model, which technology that has been chosen to 3D print your model, and how much post processing there is on the model after printing, and our workload at the time of ordering. Typically you can expect a model to be despatched 2 to 3 days working from receipt of order for our Standard service. If your model is more urgent then please let us know, and when we quote and we may be able to prioritise your model, it could take as little as 24 hours to ship.
3D printing technology is cheaper, faster and more accurate with FDM, SLA and SLS machines, and with the added bonus of no nasty chemicals, powders or resins to handle it is better for the environment as well.
Our preferred file format is STL, which stands for "Standard Triangulation Language", but the following monochrome file formats can also be accepted:
If you only have .Step or iges files we can bring them into a CAD program and do a conversion for you, but this takes extra time and slow down the quoting process
For colour printing the following formats are accepted:
If you have any queries regarding file formats please contact us
Yes we can. Sometimes it carries an extra charge, which is dependant on the number of errors in your mesh, and the time it takes to fix the model ready for printing.
If you have a problem with a file, even if you are not going to get us to print it, please let us know and we will try and help. A typical example of this would be for printing architectural models when you have tight dealine and you need some expert help.
You can pay by Debit card, credit card, Gpay or online transfer, or if you are a business customer we can open a business account for you after your first order has been processed on a pro-forma basis. After this you will be invoiced after each job.
Yes, if you are a business customer we can set up an account for you after your first order has been processed and you will then be invoiced after each job after we have a credit trems framed.
If you wish to pay for a one off job by cheque please email us at contact@printlay.in and we can arrange for your job to be processed once the cheque has been received.
It is dependant on where your model is the manufacturing process. If we have started to produce the model or we have started repairing your mesh then cancellation may incur a charge. If we have not carried out any processing then cancellation may be possible, please contact us
When we calculate the price of a model, we take into account the quantity requested, we will look at the volume of material used and the time it takes to print and post process your model and send you a quote. If you want to increase the quantity ordered we will re-calculate the price and in most cases higher volume will mean lower prices.
We actively encourage 3D printing for production items and will ensure discount prices apply accordingly, but it is up to each customer to assess the usage, as written in our Terms and Conditions.
The kind of items we have made for production recently are spacers, Conductive tracks for PCB connectors, low volume custom product holder, retaining clips, Face masks, trophies, game character, toys, awards, Key chains and model car components.
Please contact us.
Yes we do, anywhere you like. International shipping charges will apply.
Yes you can. Please ensure that you provide us with billing address and shipping address.
This is dependant on the process that you require for your model. The white functional material is as its name suggests only available in white, whereas the multi-colour material has full VGA capabilities, so parts like the ones shown below are possible.
Yes, we can convert 2D drawings or sketches to printable 3D CAD files, or if you have the object that needs to be 3d printed, we perform 3d Scanning and obtain 3d model. This will allow us to calculate the price for your model we need to import your file into our specialist 3D printing software.
Unfortunately there is no way of calculating the actual price without doing this, so we cant give firm cost without a 3D digital model, but we can help you decide if 3D printing is appropriate, so please send a jpeg here or contactus . We look forward to helping you get your 3D design printed.
If you are in India, you will have to pay Goods and Service Tax (or GST) on top of the prices, the current rate of GST is 18%. If you are a business in India and you need to provide your GSTIN (GST Identification Number) you will be able to claim the tax amount.
We have fifteen 3D printing machines, 3 technologies with a forth just waiting to be ommissioned. As you have correctly anticipated the costs are calculated in a formula derived from entering the STL file into the printer software, the output gives us the volume of material used in the print,
the time to print and we add any post printing costs to that calculation to establish a sales cost, we add time to fix the mesh before printing, also packing and carriage and then send you a quote. The limitations for a single build is the volume of the build envelope, the largest one being 1000mm x 1000mm x 1000mm, but having said that we have also printed 1000mm sculptures and glued them together and 700mm x 600mm parts as a single piece. All the models can be painted if required but we do have colour printers that can print any coloured image on the model.
That's no problem, just contact us and attach your file(s) to the email. If your file(s) are over 100Mb then please use the free file upload service wetransfer.com where you can upload up to 2Gb.
3D Laser Scanning is a non-contact, non-destructive technology that digitally captures the shape of physical objects using a line of laser light. 3D laser scanners create “point clouds” of data from the surface of an object. In other words, 3D laser scanning is a way to capture a physical object’s exact size and shape into the computer world as a digital 3-dimensional representation.
Yes, our expert engineers will visit your location (world-wide) with the equipments necessary for 3d scanning. But processing the scanned file will happen in our location.
Yes, if you are located in the cities where we have our 3d scanning setup, we pick up your parts through our instant pickup and delivery partners. If you are located in other cities, we would request you to ship them to us and we will ship it back after 3d scanning is completed.
When designing an object from scratch, an engineer will draw up a design specification and produce drawings from which the item is constructed. Conversely, with reverse engineering, the design engineer starts with the final product and works through the design process in the opposite direction to arrive at the product design specification. During the process, vital information about the design concept and manufacturing methods is discovered.