Six core services, all run in-house from our Dorset workshop, from a single prototype to a full production batch. Whether it's a marine-grade bracket for a Swanage watersports outfit or a scale model of a Swanage landmark like Durlston Castle and the Great Globe at Durlston Country Park, 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."
Our workshop is at Broadstone Business Centre, Moor Road, Poole BH18 8AZ, about 35 minutes from Swanage via the A351 through Corfe Castle. Most Swanage orders go out on a tracked courier; local collection is by arrangement.
Monday – Friday · 09:00–17:30
Collection by arrangement · email before 10am for same-day.
Swanage · ~35 min via A351
Corfe Castle · ~25 min
Wareham · ~30 min
Studland · ~35 min (or via Sandbanks ferry)
Langton Matravers · ~35 min
Brief in. Quote in 6 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 6 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 6 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. Swanage 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 Swanage, a watersports or diving business needing weather-stable mounts, a tourism or hospitality operator after signage and display fittings, a heritage or stone-restoration trade needing jigs and templates, or a local engineering workshop chasing an obsolete spare.
Swanage faces the open sea on the edge of the Isle of Purbeck, where tourism, watersports and diving trades share the coast with the Purbeck stone quarries behind the town. A print destined for a slipway, a dive boat or an exposed clifftop mount has to shrug off salt, grit and UV, which is more than the PLA and PETG on most print-shop shelves can manage.
For Swanage's main sectors · tourism and seaside hospitality, watersports and marine leisure, heritage and stone restoration, and small-scale engineering · we mostly reach for ASA on anything exposed to salt and sun, PA12-CF for load-bearing mounts and tooling, PETG-GF for stiff, dimensionally stable parts, and UL94 V-0 grades when a flame rating is called for. Polymaker and Fiberon are our suppliers.
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 saltwater resistant · built for Swanage's exposed coast · slipway and waterfront fittings, watersports mounts and outdoor signage.
Carbon-fibre composite · ~95 MPa tensile. Load-bearing brackets, jigs and equipment mounts · handy for watersports rigs and stone-restoration tooling.
Flame-retardant · self-extinguishing within 10s of flame removal. Regulated environments.
Swanage runs on its season · tea rooms, dive charters, the sailing clubs and a high street of independent shops that all have to be ready before the visitors arrive and weatherproof once they're out in it. That rhythm shapes the kind of work a Swanage business typically needs: a fittings run that has to land before the school holidays, a replacement mount for kit that lives out on a slipway, a display piece for a shopfront. We serve Swanage from our Dorset workshop in Broadstone, roughly 35 minutes up the A351 through Corfe Castle, and we're well set up for the saltwater-and-UV reality of an exposed Purbeck coastline · ASA and PA12-CF rather than the PLA most high-street print shops stock.
There's a real engineering streak here too. The Swanage Railway keeps a heritage steam line running on Victorian stock, and Purbeck's stone and conservation trades work constantly with parts that were never catalogued · the sort of obsolete spare or one-off template where no CAD file has ever existed. That's squarely the kind of job operations like these usually want: a broken original reverse-engineered from a photo or the part itself, a jig built to replicate a worn fitting, a small batch of weather-stable brackets for a watersports outfit. PETG-GF and PA12-CF suit the load-bearing work; ASA handles anything exposed; UL94 V-0 grades cover a flame-rating spec. Send the part, a sketch or just a description and James will model it. Most orders ship UK-wide on a tracked courier; collection from the Dorset workshop is by arrangement.
Most Swanage 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 | Broadstone 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 6-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. Swanage 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 workshopOur workshop is at Broadstone Business Centre, Poole BH18 8AZ, in Dorset, about 35 minutes from Swanage via the A351 through Corfe Castle. We take on work right across the Isle of Purbeck and Dorset: Swanage, Studland, Corfe Castle, Langton Matravers, Worth Matravers and Wareham, alongside our home patch around Poole.
Every order ships UK-wide on a tracked courier (Royal Mail Tracked or DPD Next Day) once it's made, for Swanage 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 Swanage and the Isle of Purbeck, from Herston and Durlston to Ulwell, Langton Matravers, Studland, Corfe Castle and Worth Matravers, with the A351 through Corfe Castle linking the town to our Dorset workshop. From functional marine and engineering parts to heritage templates and display pieces, if a part lives near the water we'll usually steer you toward a UV- and saltwater-stable grade. We cover the rest of the south coast 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 6 hours. No commitment to order.
Our workshop is at Broadstone Business Centre, Moor Road, Broadstone, Poole BH18 8AZ, in Dorset, about 35 minutes from Swanage via the A351 through Corfe Castle. 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 6 hours on business days. Typical production is 2-5 working days depending on complexity and material; once a part is made it ships to Swanage on a 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 Isle of Purbeck and Dorset we serve Swanage, Studland, Corfe Castle, Langton Matravers, Worth Matravers and Wareham, alongside our home patch around Poole, Christchurch and Wimborne. For larger or recurring orders we can arrange a regular courier slot.
Swanage's economy leans on tourism, the coast and Purbeck's heritage, so much of the work we take on there is split between marine and visitor-facing trades: weather-stable brackets, mounts and spare parts for watersports, sailing and diving businesses; signage, display stands and replacement fittings for hospitality and independent retailers; and jigs, templates and replication parts for heritage and stone-restoration work. We also help small engineering firms and tradespeople with bespoke fixtures and obsolete spares.
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 Swanage orders ship UK-wide on a tracked courier, usually the easiest option, since we're about 35 minutes away in Dorset. If you'd rather collect, that's fine by arrangement from the Broadstone workshop. For genuinely urgent jobs, send the brief before noon and we'll tell you honestly what's achievable.
