How to Get Something 3D Printed (No Printer Needed)
A file, a broken part, a photo or just an idea: what each one needs before it can be printed, and what a part costs at three sizes, priced live.
You do not need a printer to get something 3D printed. You need a file, or something that can be turned into one, and somewhere to send it. Most people who search for this are holding one of four things: a file someone sent them, a broken part, a picture of what they want, or just the idea of it. Each of those has its own first step, and only the first one can be priced straight away. Start with what you have.
What do you have?
How big is it?
You can have a price before you finish reading this.
- 01Upload itSTL, 3MF, OBJ or STEP. We slice it the moment it lands and price it from the slicer’s own grams and print time.
- 02Pick the plastic and colourPLA for most things; PETG, PETG-CF or ABS if it lives somewhere hot or gets knocked; TPU if it has to bend.
- 03Pay and we print itChecked by hand, then shipped from Orange, California. A job of up to about two days of printing ships within three business days.
What a part that size costs
Phone stand
90 × 70 × 100 mm · 72 g · 1 h 34 min on the printer
$6.16for one
Material $1.44 plus print time $4.72, in PLA Basic, before shipping.
A real part, sliced on our production profile. Your own file is priced the same way the moment you upload it.
The one thing to know
The file is the order. Once you have one, the price, the plastic and the date it ships all follow.
WhyA printer only understands a 3D model. Everything else, from a sketch to a snapped clip, is a step on the way to one.
Where people get things printed
There are four usual places, and they suit different jobs. None of them is wrong.
- A library or makerspace
- Many public libraries and makerspaces have a printer you can book. It is cheap and you learn a lot, but you queue, you often run the print yourself, and the choice of plastic is usually one or two.
- A friend with a printer
- Good for one quick thing. Harder to ask twice, and harder still for ten copies.
- A local print shop
- Worth it when you need to hand the part over in person or talk it through at a counter. Opening hours and prices vary by shop.
- An online print service
- Upload the file, choose the plastic, pay, and the part comes in the post. The fastest way to an exact price, and the only one that scales from one copy to hundreds.
We are the last kind. You upload a file to the parts page and get a price per part in seconds, read from the slicer’s own grams and print time rather than from a form someone answers later. Then you pick from the plastics on our rack, pay, and we print it, check it by hand and ship it from Orange, California.
What changes the price
- Size
- The biggest lever. Make a part twice as big in every direction and it holds roughly eight times the plastic, and takes far longer to print.
- Print time
- Most of the cost of a small part is the time it occupies a printer, not the plastic. A dense, detailed part costs more than a hollow, simple one of the same size.
- Plastic
- PLA is the everyday choice. PETG, PETG-CF and ABS cost a little more per gram and are worth it for parts that get hot or get knocked.
- Quantity
- Copies that fit side by side on a printer bed cost less each, and the more you order, the larger the saving.
If you want to understand a price before you upload, the Make-Cost Index lists 36 everyday parts with their real grams and print times. If the part has to survive a hot car or a drop, pick the plastic by where it will live. And if a broken part is why you are here, start with how to get a replacement printed.
Before you upload
- Check the size
- We print up to 255 mm on the longest side. Bigger things are split into pieces that join, which any designer can do.
- Check the units
- A file drawn in inches but saved as millimetres arrives 25 times too small. The upload shows the measured size, so look at it.
- Check the licence
- If the file came from a model site, make sure its licence lets someone print it for you, and for money if you plan to sell it.
- Decide the colour last
- It never changes the price within one plastic, so pick it after everything else.
FAQ
At a library or makerspace with a printer, through a friend, at a local print shop, or with an online print service that takes your file and posts the part to you. Online services give an exact price fastest and handle any quantity.
It depends mostly on size and print time. A palm-sized part usually costs a few dollars to make, and a shoebox-lid-sized organiser costs in the mid-teens in PLA, before shipping. Uploading the file gives the exact price in seconds.
Yes. Measure the part and have it modelled in free CAD, or describe it, or upload a photo, in Studio, which returns a printable design you can order from.
An STL, 3MF, OBJ or STEP file. The instant quote takes files up to 25 MB.
A job with up to about two days of printing ships within three business days. Bigger runs take as long as their print time, and the order review asks you to confirm a ship date first.
Yes. One part or a few hundred, priced the same way. There is a $2 minimum per order.
Have a file? Have a price.
Upload it and the price comes back in seconds, worked out from the slicer. One part or a few hundred, checked by hand and posted to any address.
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