Company to do adhoc 3D Printing in UK?

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dolmadis
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Location: UK

Company to do adhoc 3D Printing in UK?

Post by dolmadis »

Hi

Noting that colleagues here around the world are happy to share (with thanks) 3D files I want to locate an economically reasonable commercial service in the UK for adhoc printing opportunities from supplied files.

Suggestions, Links etc., very welcome.

BR

John

perdu34
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Post by perdu34 »

Is there a local Hackspace you can join?

These are normally good places to find a "self-service" 3D printer or two and if it's a good one some help in getting set up.

dolmadis
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Post by dolmadis »

Thanks for the suggestion. I had looked before and checked again after your post but No (not yet).

BR

John

ChrisR
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Post by ChrisR »

I have limited access to a small hackspace. It has 3D printers, but the quality of output I've seen is not encouraging. One of the machines has a theoretical 10-20µm resolution.
I'm not familiar with the programs which generate the files - some of them are a major learning effort.
Any recommendations?
Chris R

elf
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Post by elf »

I use Fusion 360. It's free to most people. The learning curve isn't too bad. Blender is also free, but the learning curve is steep.

Deanimator
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Post by Deanimator »

Here, the Cleveland Public Library offers 3d printing services. You might want to see if there's a similar arrangement near you.

dolmadis
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Post by dolmadis »

Thanks for the thought. Libraries are being closed in the UK under reduced government funding. Sadly no.

John

MileAxis
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Post by MileAxis »

Search on ebay for 3d printing service. There are quite a few people who put listings up at £0.99 basically as advertising. They range from professional designers to people who are monetising their hobby. You can often get an idea about their work by looking at their photos, and there's often a website link. If you just want a print and post service, you may find someone who can do what you need at a fair price.

-Ian

Saul
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Post by Saul »

Saul
μ-stuff

dolmadis
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Post by dolmadis »

Ian. Saul

Thanks for the suggestions.

So far I have only tried one quotation (I won't mention names) but the minimum was GBP 75 !!

Saul. Raf is going to see whether the fabrication shop he uses can make one in aluminium using your .stl file because at GBP 75 this becomes the best option.

BR

John

Saul
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Post by Saul »

dolmadis wrote:... GBP 75 this becomes the best option....
Hmm...I'm getting on the https://www.3dhubs.com £ 4.78
Image
Saul
μ-stuff

dolmadis
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Post by dolmadis »

I'll go with that one !!

Saul
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Post by Saul »

Question for administrators - maybe it would be useful to create a new permanent thread just for 3d models, diagrams, drawings, etc. with short description ? Now, just to find something similar through the search, takes a lot of efforts and not always successful. Not sure, can we put models on the PMN server, but it could be kept on the some online drive and we could post just simple link.
Saul
μ-stuff

ChrisR
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Post by ChrisR »

Chris R

Chris S.
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Post by Chris S. »

Saul wrote:Question for administrators - maybe it would be useful to create a new permanent thread just for 3d models, diagrams, drawings, etc. with short description ? Now, just to find something similar through the search, takes a lot of efforts and not always successful. Not sure, can we put models on the PMN server, but it could be kept on the some online drive and we could post just simple link.
Saul,

So far as I understand, it's not an easy thing to set up PMN to host files. And as ChrisR mentions, there are facilities already set up for this sort of thing.

But your point has merit. How about a FAQ or sticky thread that references, categorizes, and describes such files, and contains links to where they can be downloaded? Such threads seem to work best when someone volunteers to take ownership--collating, adding, and changing the main post as needed. Any forum member can create a FAQ, and we anticipate that FAQ creators will take a heavier hand in editing than would be the norm in regular threads. Admins could easily delete posts that become obsolete after their content has been incorporated into the FAQ (or rejected, if appropriate).

Any volunteers? :D (Saul, you'd be great! ;))

--Chris S.

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