Pricing
What a part costs.
What a printed part will cost is hard to judge from the outside, and it should not stay that way. Four worked examples show you the order of magnitude before you ask. Further down I explain what a price is made of and which levers are in your own hands. Do get in touch even if you only roughly know what you need.
Four worked examples
Four typical cases, from a small one-off to an elaborate enclosure. Pick the one closest to yours: your part will usually sit somewhere in between. This is not a fixed price list; I tell you the exact price before the order.
Spacer, single piece
Small part, simple shape, no finishing. The cheap end.
- Material
- PLA
- Weight
- 12 g
- Quantity
- 1
- Lead time
- 2 working days
PriceCHF 35Bracket, single piece
Simple geometry, no post-processing, standard material.
- Material
- PETG
- Weight
- 45 g
- Quantity
- 1
- Lead time
- 3 working days
PriceCHF 68Spare part from a broken original
Nothing available but the broken part. Measuring and modelling is included in the price.
- Material
- PETG
- Weight
- 60 g
- Quantity
- 1
- Lead time
- 6 working days
PriceCHF 145Enclosure prototype
Fit to the board, snap hooks, engraved markings. This is what it looks like when it gets elaborate.
- Material
- ASA
- Weight
- 180 g
- Quantity
- 1
- Lead time
- 5 working days
PriceCHF 240
Example figures for orientation. What your part costs, I tell you before the job. Shipping and packaging come on top and are stated in the quote.
All prices are in Swiss francs. No value added tax is charged or shown: Printerking is not liable for VAT.
Is this worth it for me?
The most important answer first.
If the part exists ready made, buying is usually the better choice
A factory part is almost always cheaper than a printed one. If you can find yours in the shops, go ahead and buy it there. Ask me beforehand if you are unsure.
Printing pays off when it does not exist like that
When the manufacturer no longer supplies it, when nothing fits exactly, when you want to change a dimension, or when you need a single piece: then there is no cheaper alternative, and that is exactly what the process is for.
No file?
Most people arrive with a photo or the broken original, not with a drawing. Measuring and modelling it is therefore not a surcharge but part of the work, and it is included in the examples above. It is the largest item in any case, and for genuinely elaborate shapes, an organically formed housing say, it becomes the dominant one. In that case I tell you beforehand.
What the price is made of
A price per gram says as little as a price per kilo of steel. What decides the price is not the weight of plastic used, but the effort of turning a file into a part you can rely on. Sixty per cent of that is human work.
Total price100 %
Planning & print preparation
The largest item, and the least visible one. Checking and repairing the file, orienting the part, placing supports, setting up the slicer, choosing material and profile, preparing the machine. Even when you send a finished file, that skilled work at the screen still happens. For a one-off it is carried by that single part; for a series it is incurred only once.
Material
The smallest item, contrary to expectation. With PLA and PETG the filament barely registers. With carbon-fibre reinforced polyamide, polycarbonate or technical specialty materials the share rises considerably; the right material is the cheapest one that meets the requirement.
Machine time
Print duration, occupancy, wear, power and maintenance. The machine works on its own, but during that time it is not available for any other job. A tall part takes longer than a flat one of the same weight: time depends on geometry, not on material.
Post-processing
Removing supports, cleaning, deburring, cutting threads, assembling, inspecting. Even a quarter of an hour weighs heavily: a minute of handwork costs a multiple of a minute of machine time.
An example breakdown for a typical one-off order. The actual shares vary with the part, the quantity, the material and the amount of finishing.
What brings the price down
Four levers in your own hands. I point them out unprompted.
- Increase wall thickness only where load is actually applied.
- Avoid overhangs that force support material and rework.
- Combine several parts into one order, preparation is then incurred once.
- Choose the cheapest material that meets the requirement, not the best one.
Next step
Two routes, depending on where you are.
You have a file
Upload it, describe your requirements, get a quote within 24 hours. STL, STEP and 3MF as well as native CAD files, photos and PDF.
You only have an idea
A sketch, a photo or the broken original will do. I will tell you whether and how it can be made, before any cost is incurred.