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3D printing service

3D Printing Forge provides high quality 3D printing service for clients in the Midlands and rest of the UK. We are based in Coventry which is the perfect central location for shipping components wherever our clients are based.

We focus on FDM/FFF and resin printing technologies.

Our Capabilities

Why use 3D printing to manufacture your parts?

There is a good chance you may have also heard terms such as Additive Manufacturing (AM), Additive Layer Manufacturing (ALM) or Rapid Prototyping. These terms and 3D printing all refer to technologies that allow ,aking parts by adding material in layers to build up 3 dimensional part. 

It is a great solution in a wide range of scenarios. From making custom parts for personal projects to manufacturing parts for consumer products.

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Examples of where 3D printing is a great solution:

  • Personal projects that requires custom part(s) (i.e. cosplay, DIY home improvement, gadgets etc.)

  • Prototyping new products (both functional and non-functional prototypes can be made very fast compared other techniques)

  • Low/medium volume production

  • Customising a product for a client or yourself (i.e. custom text or custom part sizing)

  • Sculptures and other art

  • Architectural models

  • Design and assembly validation (i.e. injection moulded part design verification, assembly trials)

  • Tooling/jigs for production lines

  • Short lead time projects where custom parts are needed in days or weeks and there is no time to make parts using traditional manufacturing methods

  • Geometries that may not be possible with traditional manufacturing techniques

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Examples of where 3D printing may not be optimal solution:

  • High volume production

  • High precision parts

  • Specialist materials

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Advantages of 3D printing compared to traditional manufacturing technologies:

  • No part specific tooling and setup costs

  • Fast turnaround time (days instead of weeks and months)

  • For production parts, design changes can be implemented quickly and at minimal cost

  • Very cost effective for small/medium volumes

  • Efficient material usage with minimal waste

  • Allows easy customisation of products

  • More freedom with part geometry

  • Domestically manufactured parts

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Disadvantages of 3D printing compared to other manufacturing technologies:

  • Material properties not as good as traditional manufacturing techniques (e.g. injection moulding)

  • Material variety not as good as for traditional manufacturing techniques

  • For high volume manufacturing unit cost can be comparatively high

 

As with any manufacturing process it is important to design your parts so that they are optimised for that process. For example, 3D printing parts designed for injection moulding will usually result in worse performance. However, this can be overcome by designing the part for 3D printing process in mind. Same is true in reverse, where parts designed for 3D printing cannot usually be made at all using injection moulding without significant design changes.

Who is our 3D printing service for?

3D Printing Forge caters to a wide variety of customers and different industries. As we are avid 3D printing enthusiast we want to see the technology get used by more people. We want to play our part in making 3D printing more accessible to everyone and help grow it's popularity and adoption.

3D printing is an incredibly versatile manufacturing method. This makes it useful to a wide customer base which includes:

  • Engineers

  • Designers

  • Manufacturers

  • Artists

  • Architects

  • Hobbyists

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These days 3D printers are popular and readily available for anyone. You can get a cheap printer starting from around £150 and with a bit of luck and time it can produce good quality prints. However, there are a few considerations when deciding between buying a printer yourself or outsourcing the job to us.

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Here are some benefits to getting your own 3D printer:

  • Speed - depending on the part size you could have a part printed and in your hands in a matter of hours.

  • Fast design iterations - you can iterate your designs in hours.

  • Learning - it is always good to learn new skills.

  • Independence - no reliance on a third party supplier for part deliveries and production capacity.

As 3D printing enthusiasts ourselves we would encourage anyone who wants to learn the process to get themselves a printer and try it out.

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However,  there are also several significant benefits to using our 3D printing service:

  • Expertise - 3D printers are not as user friendly as standard consumer products. There is a significant learning curve and you will have to deal with variety of issues that inevitably come up.

  • Specialisation - you want to focus on what you are good at and not get side tracked by having to learn the ins and outs of printers and spend your time maintaining them.

  • Capacity - if you only occasionally need to print significant number of parts then maintaining your own print farm is very costly. So why not have us make the parts for you?

  • Material Range - it is expensive to stock various materials and colours if you only occasionally use them. Materials beyond PLA and PETG also usually have very specific printing requirements and need time and experience for good results. As specialist 3D printing company we stock variety of materials and colours. We also have the experience printing wide range of materials.

  • Time - running 3D printers can be very time consuming. Managing even a small print farm can easily consume large part of your day. 

  • Cost - running your own printers always comes with associated cost. Either you buy a cheap machine and then spend time and money fixing and upgrading them. Or, you can buy a more expensive machine that requires less maintenance. Either way, cost and time commitments are significant. 

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