How to choose the best 3D printing service?

Posted By Lucie Gaget on Feb 13, 2019 | 0 comments

A lot of companies are offering their additive manufacturing services and you might feel a bit lost. In this blog post we will help you choose the best 3D printing service for your project. What criteria should you take into account to choose your 3D printing service? We will see what is best for you and give you our best tips.

Why would you need to choose a 3D printing service?

First, we will see what is a 3D printing service and why you might need to choose one.

If you want to use 3D printing, there are actually two options: You can buy yourself a 3D printer, or use a 3D printing service to manufacture your products. The second option might be the most economical choice. Indeed, purchasing a professional industrial 3D printer, such as Selective Laser Sintering 3D printers (or SLS 3D printers) or Direct Metal Laser Sintering 3D printers (DMLS 3D printers) to create high-quality parts would be really expensive, and desktop 3D printers using Fused Deposition Modeling might not necessarily be adapted to your projects.  

Did you decide to work with 3D printing services? The main thing you need to do now is to choose which additive manufacturing partner you will work with. Here are the main criterias that you have to take into account in order to make such a decision!

How to choose a 3D printing service?

Materials and technologies available

Each 3D printing material has its own properties. While some of them are perfect for mechanical uses, others are better for design or artistic purposes. Having a wide range of choice will help you 3D print objects that really match your needs. You will also have to choose the material that will help you reduce the cost of your 3D print.

Moreover, you might want to use specific 3D printing materials. For instance, if you’re a jeweler, choose one of the 3D printing services that have a large range of precious metals. As a result, you need to check materials available.

Do you need design assistance?

Using a 3D printing service is pretty simple, but there are still a few things to know. In order to 3D print, you will need a 3D model of the part you want to manufacture. A 3D model is a three-dimensional representation of an object made using a 3D modeling software.

These programs can be hard to use for beginners, but to make the most of 3D printing, some 3D printing services might also offer 3D modeling services and training. This could really help you to get the perfect 3D model for your project.

Also, you can check if the 3D printing service offers you some tools to optimize your design without the help of professional 3D designers. Doing so, will reduce your additive manufacturing costs and improve your 3D printed parts.

What about budget and quality?

Of course, printing prices are important criteria when choosing between 3D printing services. Some additive manufacturing services are just more expensive than others. But, you will need to find which printing prices match your needs and your budget!

The quality of the part is also an important aspect if you are willing to work with a 3D printing service! Get yourself a sample or look at what the printing service has done before to get a better idea of the quality of their work.

Why Sculpteo might be the best solution for you!

Now that you are ready to start your 3D printing projects… Do you know that Sculpteo is an online 3D printing service? Let’s see how we could help you to improve your manufacturing process right now!

Sculpteo Studio: Our design experts at your service

If you need help with your designs, at Sculpteo, we might have something for you that will help you take your manufacturing process to the next level. Our professional industrial 3D designers can help you with your existing designs or can create a project from scratch, matching your expectations.

Sculpteo Studio offers design consulting and training services. They can help you find the best way to implement additive manufacturing in your manufacturing process. Design is a real key to the development of any project, getting good 3D files will definitely help you to access to all advantage of 3D printing

A wide range of printing materials for 3D printing

At Sculpteo, we offer a wide range of 3D printing materials for all your projects, from plastic to metal materials! Choose your 3D printing technology. Do you need to prototype using our raw Multi Jet Fusion PA12 material? Do you want to create mechanical parts using the Binder Jetting technology? Do you need your material to be resistant to heat or to stress? Does your part need to be flexible? You can make your choice among all of our 3D printing materials after uploading your file for 3D printing.

Take a look at our 3D printing materials page, or contact our sales team for further information on what material you should use for your project, among plastic, or metal printing options.

Instant quote and optimization tools

One of the greatest advantages of Sculpteo is that we are an online 3D printing service, you can easily upload your 3D files, as we accept more than 30 different file formats. Then, you will get an instant online quote for your 3D printed object!

Once you have uploaded your 3D model, you can also use our optimization tools in order to improve your project, such as thickening fragile parts to avoid breaking. It is also possible to hollow your part, to reduce the amount of 3D printing material use, and the cost!

All projects, from prototyping to production

Our 3D printing service is adapted both for prototyping and production! You will necessarily find several advantages to the use of additive manufacturing in your business. Indeed, according to the 2018 edition of our State of 3D printing 39% of our respondents were using 3D printing to accelerate their product development.

If you can use this technology for functional prototyping, you can also use it for production. If you want to produce small batches of consumer products, 3D printing is a cost-effective technique to manufacture your parts. By choosing the right materials and finishing, you can totally create high-quality end-products!

What are you waiting for? Start using 3D printing technology, upload your 3D model right now on our online 3D printing service, and receive your parts in a few days! Additive manufacturing is now a real alternative to CNC machining, injection molding, try it out and share your experience with us!

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