Six core services, all run in-house from our Dorset workshop, from a single prototype to a full production batch. Whether it's a functional load-bearing bracket for a Filton engineering team or a scale model of a Bristol landmark like the Clifton Suspension Bridge, if it can be modelled, we can usually print it.
First mock-up to iteration to small batch. Next-day form-fit-function prototypes with DFM feedback before you pay for a failed print.
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1 to 1,000 units at consistent tolerance, a real alternative to injection moulding for runs under 1,000, with no tooling spend.
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No file, no problem. We model from a brief, sketch, calipers or the physical part itself in Fusion 360 or SolidWorks.
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Branded activations, exhibition pieces and launch giveaways, one hero piece or 400 matched units, delivered for your event date.
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Experiential builds and branded installations, 2m+ pieces engineered for structural integrity, with transport and on-site install.
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Discontinued or unavailable parts reverse-engineered and reproduced, measured, redrawn and reprinted from a single broken original.
Learn more →"James handled the 3D printing for a functional heat-resistant component we needed in batch production. He helped dial in the prototype first with their design service, then produced the final batch with really consistent results. Super fast 3D print turnaround and great quality across all the 3D printed parts. Will 100% be coming back."
"We needed a sit-in F1-car for an exhibition to showcase our new racing game. 3D Printing Express took our CAD, optimised it for strength and weight as we had no idea how it all worked! Turned out beautifully. They colour matched the finish and was looking like the real deal. On show day the cockpit ran non-stop, adults and kids jumped in."
"We ordered a batch of 100 PA-12 parts from 3D Printing Express and could not be happier. Every part arrived consistent, dimensionally accurate, and ready for use straight from the box. The PA-12 gave us the strength and stability we needed for functional testing, with minimal post-processing required."
"I needed parts 3D printed for mounting a 5G router to a pole. I used the online form to upload the STL files. James contacted me directly via email, helped optimise the geometry for printability and shipped fast. Brilliant communication."
"James was very helpful, discussed our project in detail. Supported us through the development. We had a few difficulties which were managed well. Would definitely use again and recommend."
No need to travel. Upload your files, we quote within 2 hours, and your parts ship on a free, tracked DPD next-day courier, UK-wide · most Bristol orders are on your bench the next working day. No collection or travel needed · we print every order in-house and deliver it to you.
Get a quoteBristol is one of our regular delivery routes. Upload your files, we quote within 2 hours, and your parts ship on a free tracked DPD next-day courier · most Bristol orders land the next working day. Everything is printed in-house at our Dorset workshop, so there is no need to travel.
Bristol · free next-day DPD
Filton, Patchway, Bradley Stoke · next-day
Bath & BS postcodes · next-day
Order before noon for next-morning
Monday – Friday · 09:00–17:30
Send an urgent brief before 10am and we will tell you what is achievable.
Brief in. Quote in 2 hours. Print. Shipped UK-wide. Four steps from your file to a part on your bench.
Send the file
PDF, STEP, STL, sketch, or a photo of the part. Whatever you have, we will work with it.
Inside 2 hours
Reviewed by a real engineer. Pricing breakdown, lead time, and printability flags before you commit.
UK fleet, 3 days
multiple in-house FDM printers in our Dorset workshop. Hardened-steel nozzles on CF jobs. Photo proofs on request.
Next-day courier
Royal Mail Tracked or DPD Next Day, UK-wide · or collect from our Dorset workshop by arrangement.
Here's the whole process · idea to parts in your hands, in 4 simple steps. Send us a file, photo, sketch, or just a description of what you need, we'll work with whatever you've got. Quote back within 2 hours. Two-minute read, no jargon.
A snapshot of the colours and grades we run most often. We stock Polymaker and Fiberon filaments as standard, with engineering-grade composites on request. Bristol jobs typically run in PLA, PETG, PA12-CF or ASA.
Not sure which material is right for you? We can help.
Email us your use case →A snapshot of the kind of work we handle for Bristol · an aerospace prototyper on the Filton corridor, a creative studio or agency, a University of Bristol or UWE research group, or an engineering workshop needing functional prototypes.
Bristol is one of northern Europe's densest aerospace clusters · Airbus, Rolls-Royce and GKN Aerospace all design at Filton, where Concorde was built. Parts here take load, heat and safety review, all things the PLA and PETG most print shops default to simply won't survive.
For Bristol's main sectors · aerospace and precision engineering, creative studios, robotics and product development · PA12-CF leads for load-bearing brackets and jigs, with ASA for anything outdoor, PETG-GF for stiff, dimensionally stable enclosures, and UL94 V-0 grades when a flame rating is required. Polymaker and Fiberon supply our filament.
When you send a brief, describe the application context · the environment, the load, the regulation if any. We'll suggest the right material in the quote and ship a test sample first so you can verify before the full batch runs.
UV and weather resistant · outdoor fittings, enclosures, housings and display hardware.
Carbon-fibre composite · ~95 MPa tensile. Load-bearing brackets and jigs · the grade that suits Bristol's aerospace and precision-engineering work.
Flame-retardant · self-extinguishing within 10s of flame removal. Regulated environments.
Bristol is one of northern Europe's densest aerospace clusters, and it shows up on our bench. Concorde was built at Filton, and Airbus, Rolls-Royce and GKN Aerospace (whose Bristol technology centre is built around additive manufacturing) all design there · so the demand is for engineering-grade prototypes, jigs and iteration parts in PA12-CF and composite grades. There is common ground too: Aardman, Bristol's Wallace & Gromit studio, 3D-prints thousands of replaceable puppet mouths for its films · model-making and 3D printing are the same craft.
Bristol's robotics labs, its universities (Bristol and UWE, students get 10% off) and its "Silicon Gorge" hardware scene need functional prototypes and small-batch enclosures, and the city's Brunel engineering heritage is a fitting backdrop. Bristol is about two hours from our Dorset workshop, so we serve it as a delivery city · upload your files, we quote in 2 hours and ship on a tracked courier. We also serve Bournemouth, Poole and the wider south coast, and ship UK-wide.
Most Bristol orders are shipped, not collected for most jobs · once your quote is approved and the part is made, it goes out UK-wide on DPD Next Day or Royal Mail Tracked. Email your file before noon and on simple geometries in stocked materials we can often dispatch within 24-48 hours. Collection from our Dorset workshop is by arrangement.
| Tier | Cut-off | Lead time | Delivery |
|---|---|---|---|
| Collection (Dorset) | 10am | Same-day / next morning | Dorset workshop · by arrangement |
| Express | 12pm | 24-48 hrs | DPD Next Day · UK-wide |
| Standard most popular | Any time | 2-5 working days | Royal Mail Tracked or DPD |
| Economy | Any time | 5-10 working days | Royal Mail Tracked |
Lead times depend on complexity, material and queue · all tiers reviewed and confirmed in your 2-hour quote. Volume runs of 50+ units get a fast turnaround quote with batch pricing · email for bulk-pricing tiers.
A snapshot of jobs we've shipped for businesses across the south coast. Full case studies cover the brief, build, and outcome.
Five things in your brief mean a faster, more accurate quote and a printable file first time. None of these are dealbreakers if missing · we'll ask · but the more you tell us upfront, the quicker you'll have a sample part on your bench.
One sentence on use case · "it's a bracket holding a 200g PCB inside a sealed sensor enclosure" beats "I need a bracket" every time. Tells us load, environment, tolerance.
STEP and STL are easiest. Sketch, scan, or a photo of a broken part also work · we reverse-engineer in-house if no CAD exists.
1 prototype, 10 iteration units, 100-unit batch, 1,000-unit production run · changes the print strategy and the unit price. Bracket batches over 50 get batch pricing.
Event date, demo day, regulatory deadline. If you tell us, we'll quote the lead time honestly · we'd rather decline than miss a date.
If you know you want PA12-CF, tell us. If not, describe the use case and we'll recommend the right material in the quote.
Every quote we send comes back with the same structure · no upsells, no hidden fees, no algorithmic "best guess". An engineer reviews the file, prices the work and shares any flags before you commit.
Total filament used in grams + total print hours. PA12-CF runs slower than PLA but uses less infill for the same strength. We show both so you can see the trade-off.
Support removal, sand, paint, assemble · only what you've asked for. Each finish has a separate line. No "premium finishing" mystery surcharge.
DPD Next Day or Royal Mail Tracked · fixed price by parcel weight. Bristol orders almost always go by tracked courier; workshop collection in Dorset is free by arrangement.
If the engineer spots a thin wall, a support-trap or a tolerance risk, we flag it in the quote · with a suggested fix. You decide whether to proceed or revise.
Batch runs of 50+ units automatically include a per-unit price breakdown so you can compare cost-at-scale before committing. No VAT to add, the price we quote is the price you pay.
Our Dorset workshopWe are based in Dorset, about two hours from Bristol via the M4 and M5. We deliver right across Bristol and the South West: Filton, Patchway, Bradley Stoke, Bath and the surrounding BS postcodes, alongside our home patch in Dorset.
Every order ships UK-wide on a tracked courier (Royal Mail Tracked or DPD Next Day) once it's made, for Bristol that usually means parts on your bench the working day after dispatch. Collection from the Dorset workshop is by arrangement.
We take on work from right across Bristol, from Filton, Patchway and Bradley Stoke in the north to Clifton, Bedminster, the harbourside and out to Bath, with the M4 and M5 linking the city straight to our Dorset workshop. From aerospace and engineering prototypes to creative props, display pieces and research models, if a part has to take real load or heat we'll usually steer you toward a composite grade like PA12-CF. We cover the rest of the South West too, see the areas we serve.
Price is set by three things: material cost, print time, and any post-processing you need. A single small prototype in PLA costs substantially less than a 100-unit batch in PA12-CF. We give you an itemised breakdown in every quote, no black-box pricing.
PLA is the most cost-effective. PETG, ABS, and ASA sit in the mid range. Engineering composites like PA12-CF and PC cost more per gram but need less infill for equivalent strength, often comparable over the life of the part.
Small parts (under 100g) typically run 2–6 hours. Larger enclosures or batch runs scale proportionally. We run multiple in-house FDM printers so parallel printing keeps lead times short without premium surcharges.
Support removal and a basic finish are included. Sanding, painting, colour-matching, or assembly are priced separately. We'll list every finish step as a line item, you choose what you need.
Orders of 50+ units qualify for batch pricing, the unit price drops as we optimise print orientation and plate fills. Tell us your target quantity in the brief and we'll quote it alongside a 10-unit pilot option.
We quote every job individually, no online calculator gives accurate prices for engineering-grade FDM. Send your file and application context to get a line-itemised quote in 2 hours. No commitment to order.
We are based in Dorset, about two hours from Bristol via the M4 and M5. We also run a second workshop in Newbury, Berkshire. Every part is printed in-house, we don't outsource to third-party bureaus. James handles client briefs and design; Freddy runs production.
Quotes within 2 hours on business days. Typical production is 2-5 working days depending on complexity and material; once a part is made it ships to Bristol on a next-day tracked courier (DPD or Royal Mail Tracked). Urgent jobs with a fixed event date: tell us on the brief and we'll confirm within 24 hours whether we can hit it.
We ship UK-wide. Across the South West we deliver to Bristol, Filton, Patchway, Bradley Stoke, Bath and the surrounding BS postcodes, alongside our home patch in Dorset · Poole, Christchurch and Wimborne. For larger or recurring orders we can arrange a regular courier slot.
Bristol leans heavily on aerospace and advanced engineering, so the work we're set up to take on there is mostly load-bearing and functional: brackets, jigs, fixtures and iteration parts for the Airbus, Rolls-Royce and GKN Aerospace cluster at Filton and the wider precision-engineering base. We're also a strong fit for Bristol's creative studios and agencies (Aardman among them), its robotics labs, university research groups at the University of Bristol and UWE, and local product-design and hardware-tech firms.
Yes. Send a broken part in the post or drop one in if you're local, send a photo, send a sketch, or just describe the part. We do reverse engineering and CAD in-house · James will build the file and quote you. Especially useful for obsolete or discontinued parts where no digital file exists.
Most Bristol orders ship on a free next-day courier, usually the fastest option, since we're about two hours away in Dorset. Everything is printed in-house and delivered, so there's no collection trip to make. For genuinely urgent jobs, send the brief before noon and we'll tell you honestly what's achievable.
We deliver free next-day right across Bristol and the South West. We also run pages for our home workshops in Bournemouth and Poole, and for London. Same engineer-reviewed service, quoted in 2 hours, shipped UK-wide.
