3D printing guides

What we have learned printing parts for people in Barcelona: which material to pick, how to design so it does not break, and where the price comes from. No filler.

Spares and repairs

The part is discontinued: what to do when there is no spare

The maker says there is no spare and the machine still works. The five routes left, in order, and when printing the part is the answer.

6 min read

Plastic spares for old and classic cars

Clips, trim, vents, knobs and guides nobody makes any more, reproduced in 3D. Which material survives inside a car, and what we will not touch.

6 min read

Appliance spares that are no longer sold

Knobs, drawers, door catches, blades and shelf brackets for washers, dishwashers and fridges: what can be printed, in what material, and what cannot.

5 min read

Parts for old machinery and equipment with no spares

When the maker no longer exists or the machine is thirty years old: which parts get reproduced, how to document them, and why printed stock pays.

5 min read

Blind, shower screen and furniture parts nobody sells

The household parts that break and cannot be found: shower rollers, blind stops, wardrobe fittings, feet and drawer runners.

4 min read

Projects and applications

Prototyping RC parts: which material survives which crash

How to iterate RC car and boat chassis, bumpers, mounts and bodies without overspending, and why the stiffest part is not the toughest.

6 min read

Printed drone parts: arms, guards and mounts

Which drone parts can be printed and which cannot, how to save weight without losing strength, and why sun heat is the real enemy.

6 min read

Spares for discontinued toys and scale models

The missing piece from an old toy, a train, a model or a discontinued kit, reproduced in 3D. Including what to know about child safety.

5 min read

Printed 3D letters and signage: sizes and mounting

How a printed sign gets made: maximum size per letter, materials for indoors or out, finish, backlighting and how it goes on the wall.

5 min read

Printed architectural models: scale, detail and assembly

Which scale to choose, what detail survives each one, how to split a large building, and how to prepare a Revit or SketchUp model for printing.

5 min read

Printed tooling: jigs, gauges and soft jaws

The most profitable use of a printer in a workshop: drill jigs, go/no-go gauges, soft jaws and fixtures that save hours.

5 min read

Prices and quotes

Should I buy a 3D printer or order the parts?

The full sum of owning a printer — machine, material, failures and your time — against ordering, and the parts-per-year figure where the answer flips.

6 min read

Why one quote says €18 and another €60 for the same part

The five things that make two workshops price the same file very differently, and how to compare quotes without comparing apples to oranges.

5 min read

How much the unit price drops on a short run

Which part of the price falls with quantity and which does not, where tooling starts to win, and how to order a run without surprises.

5 min read

What does a 3D print actually cost? The real numbers

We break down the price of a real part: material, machine time, set-up and margin. With concrete figures from our Barcelona workshop.

5 min read

Seven ways to make your part cheaper without ruining it

Concrete ways to bring down the price of a 3D print: infill, layer height, orientation, hollowing and quantity. With what each one actually saves.

4 min read

3D printing or CNC machining: which one you want

When printing wins and when machining does, by quantity, material, tolerance and geometry. Without overselling either.

4 min read

Materials

ABS: when it is worth it and when it is asking for trouble

The highest-temperature filament we print, with its two genuine drawbacks. When to ask for it, and when PETG is enough.

4 min read

Carbon fibre PLA: what it genuinely improves and what it does not

Stiffness, matte finish and stability versus the belief that carbon makes a part unbreakable. Which parts it suits, and which it makes worse.

4 min read

Is it safe to print something that touches food?

The honest answer on printed parts and food: where the real risk is, what does not fix it, and which alternatives actually work.

5 min read

3D printing and the environment: what is true and what is marketing

Biodegradable PLA, support waste, electricity use and what really happens when a printed part is recycled. Without the greenwashing.

4 min read

TPU: when you need a part that bends instead of breaking

What TPU is, what it is genuinely for, how it differs from a rigid plastic, and what to expect from a printed flexible part.

4 min read

PLA or PETG: which one your part needs

The most common decision in 3D printing, settled with practical criteria: heat, sun, impact, detail and price. With a simple rule at the end.

4 min read

Which material survives outdoors?

Sun, rain and cold versus printed plastic. Which materials last outside, which do not, and how to make a part live longer.

3 min read

Parts that get hot: what actually holds

Real deformation temperatures for PLA, PETG, ABS and resin, with examples of where each fails. For car, kitchen and electronics parts.

3 min read

FDM or resin: which your project needs

The two technologies compared on detail, strength, size and price. With the clear cases where only one of them will do.

4 min read

Design for printing

Snap fits: closing a part without screws

How to design a catch that survives being opened and closed many times, which material to pick, and why nine out of ten printed clips break on the third try.

5 min read

Printed gears and moving parts: what actually works

Clearances, materials and orientation for printed mechanisms, and why printing an assembly already assembled works better than it sounds.

5 min read

Overhangs and bridges: how far the air holds

What angle holds without support, how far a bridge can span without drooping, and how to read a part before printing it.

5 min read

Designing without supports: seven changes that alter nothing

Chamfers, teardrop holes, Y-ribs and the sacrificial layer: how to remove every support from a part without touching what it does.

5 min read

Why printed holes come out small (and by how much)

A 5 mm hole comes out at 4.7. The cause, the numbers to compensate, and when it is better to drill afterwards.

4 min read

Splitting a part bigger than the bed

Where to cut, which joint to use, how much clearance to leave and what to bond with, so the seam neither shows nor becomes the weak point.

5 min read

Raised and engraved text: what reads and what does not

Minimum height, stroke width, which typefaces survive a 0.4 mm nozzle, and why recessed text usually comes out better.

4 min read

Why corners lift, and how to design so they do not

Warping is shrinkage, not bad luck. Which materials suffer, which shapes cause it, and the design changes that eliminate it.

4 min read

Personalising every unit of a run without raising the price

A mould makes a thousand identical parts; a printer makes a thousand different ones for the same cost. How to design the part to exploit that.

4 min read

Infill: which percentage to choose, and why 100 % is nearly always a mistake

What infill actually does, why raising it adds almost no strength past 30 %, and which percentage to ask for by type of part.

4 min read

Layer height: quality against time, and when fine is not worth it

What changes between 0.12 and 0.28 mm, why a fine layer doubles the price, and on which parts the difference genuinely shows.

4 min read

Wall thickness: why 0.4 mm is not enough

How to pick a wall thickness so the part neither snaps nor turns translucent. The nozzle-multiple rule.

3 min read

Tolerances and fits: clearances that work

How much clearance to leave between printed parts for a press fit, a slide or a rotation. With concrete values, and why holes come out small.

4 min read

Why your part broke: it was the orientation

A printed part is up to five times weaker along the stacking direction. How to design and orient so the load does not peel the layers apart.

3 min read

When you need supports (and how to avoid them)

The 45-degree rule, why supports cost money and spoil the surface, and design tricks to avoid needing them.

3 min read

The six design mistakes we see most

Mistakes that turn up again and again in the files we receive, and how to fix them before sending a part to print.

4 min read

How to design an electronics enclosure that works first time

Wall thicknesses, board standoffs, connector clearances and ventilation. The concrete numbers so the box closes and the board sits still.

6 min read

Threaded inserts: the easy way to put screws in a printed part

How to size the hole for an M3 brass insert, how to fit it with a soldering iron, and why tapping plastic directly does not last.

4 min read

Files and lead times

I have no 3D file: the four ways to get one

Model libraries, custom modelling, scanning and drawing it yourself. What each route costs, how long it takes, and which suits your part.

5 min read

How to measure a broken part so the copy fits

What to measure, with what, and which photos to send so a printed spare fits first time. With the measuring mistakes that ruin most parts.

5 min read

Can I print this? Licences, spares and trademarks

What can and cannot legally be printed: downloaded models, appliance spares, other people’s logos and licensed figures. Explained plainly.

5 min read

STL, 3MF, STEP or OBJ: which format to send and why

What each format stores, which one loses information, which avoids the classic scale mistake, and which to send if you want the part fixable.

4 min read

From a logo to a printed part: which file it takes

Why a JPG is not enough, what a vector file is, and how a flat logo becomes an object with volume that can be printed.

4 min read

Finishes: what you actually buy when you order sanded or painted

What each finish does, how much it changes the part, which materials it works on, and when the raw finish is already enough.

5 min read

3D printing for companies: invoicing, lead times and reorders

How ordering as a company works: VAT invoice, confidentiality, real lead times, repeat orders, and who answers when something goes wrong.

4 min read

How to export an STL that gives no trouble

Resolution, units, watertight meshes and which format to pick. Concrete settings for Fusion 360, SolidWorks, Blender and FreeCAD.

4 min read

How long does a 3D printing order take?

What the real lead time is made of: waiting for material, production and shipping. And what you can do to get it sooner.

3 min read

I need a custom part: the easiest way to get one made

What to do when you need a part that does not exist, with or without a 3D file. The three routes, what each costs, and which to pick.

5 min read

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