CT19 · Kent
3D printing in Cheriton
Freight and haulage yards beside the Eurotunnel terminal order the same three things: a mounting that survives a wash-down, a guard for a machine nobody supports any more, and a replacement for the fitting that broke on a Friday.
One rule governs almost every Cheriton job: nothing that lives in a vehicle gets printed in PLA. PLA begins to soften at around 55 °C and the inside of a van standing on the terminal apron in July passes that comfortably. A PLA mount does not snap: it slumps, quietly, and takes whatever it was holding with it. PETG holds to roughly 75 °C and is the working default; ASA goes on the outside of a vehicle or under a bonnet.
That is worth stating first because Cheriton's business base is overwhelmingly vehicle- and freight-facing. The terminal is on the doorstep, and around it sit hauliers, commercial vehicle workshops, plant and equipment hire, customs and forwarding agents, and a large population of trades running out of a van. Their printing work is unglamorous and repeatable (a clip, a bracket, a bezel, a cable saddle) and it is usually the part that decides whether a vehicle goes out today.
It is also work that almost never comes in ones. A spares drawer costs less than a second breakdown, and the batch tiers step at five, ten, twenty-five and fifty units, so ten clips cost barely more than one.
Cheriton sits against the Eurotunnel terminal, and the businesses here reflect what that brings: freight and haulage operators, commercial vehicle workshops, plant and equipment hire, customs and logistics agents, and the trades that keep a fleet moving. Their printing work is unglamorous and repeatable: the clip, bracket, bezel or cable saddle that decides whether a vehicle goes out today, and it is almost always ordered in tens rather than ones, because a spares drawer is cheaper than a second breakdown. Anything destined for a cab or a trailer is quoted in PETG or ASA: a vehicle standing on the terminal apron in July gets hot enough to slump PLA.
What we will and will not print for a vehicle
Interior fittings, trim, mounts, covers and non-structural exterior parts: yes, and that is most of what Cheriton sends. Anything safety-critical or load-bearing: brake, steering, suspension or restraint components: no. That is a hard line rather than a caution. FDM plastic is the wrong material for a load path and no printer changes that.
For parts that get knocked about, PETG-CF is worth the extra per kilogram. The chopped carbon fibre stiffens it considerably and reduces the slow creep that makes an unfilled bush go loose over a season. It runs on a hardened nozzle, which is fitted.
Typical FDM tolerance is around ±0.3 mm. On a trim clip that is irrelevant; on anything that has to be a controlled fit into a machined bore it is not, and we will say so before quoting rather than after.
Every filament we stock, with the price per kilogram and what each one is actually for, is listed on the materials page. If you are not sure which one a Cheriton job needs, tell us where the part lives and what it has to survive.
Cheriton orders, in rough order of frequency
- Fleet and commercial workshops
Trim clips, saddles and fasteners by the batch
The grey plastic pieces that hold a door card, an arch liner or a loom in place and shatter the first time anything is taken apart. Print twenty, keep them on the shelf. At that quantity the batch discount is already doing the work.
- Hauliers, telematics installers
Vehicle-specific mounts
Cradles for a camera, tracker, tablet or handset that clamp to one specific vent, bar or bracket in one specific cab rather than a universal mount that rattles loose by Ashford. PETG minimum, ASA where it sees sun through glass all day.
- Van-based trades and installers
Racking, tool-holder and cable hardware
Clips, saddles, spacers and end caps for the inside of a working van. Printed thick, in PETG, and cheap enough that replacing one that has been stood on is not an event.
- Logistics and storage operators
Warehouse and shelf-edge fittings
Label holders, bin lips, divider clips and scanner docks in runs of fifty upwards, matched to racking that the original supplier no longer stocks parts for.
- Cheriton independents
Display hardware for the High Street
Price-card holders, shelf risers, hook rails and window-sign feet in runs of ten to fifty: exactly the quantity where printing beats having anything tooled.
Turnaround when the workshop is five minutes away
Five minutes each way means the part can be handed over the moment it comes off the plate instead of waiting for a courier collection. A file confirmed in the morning is frequently a part the same afternoon if it is small enough to slot in around whatever is already running.
For fleet work in particular, print one before you print ten. A single test part is usually a few pounds and it is a great deal cheaper than finding out the clip is 0.3 mm too wide across a box of them. We keep your settings on file so the batch matches the sample exactly, and a reorder is an email.
Standard turnaround across the site is three to five working days. Express at 48 hours and next-day printing are both priced openly on the quote page rather than negotiated on the phone.
Service area
Cheriton to the workshop, and back
Cheriton is 2 miles from the machines by road, immediately west-north-west, towards the tunnel terminal. Everything is printed in Folkestone and travels out from there. There is no second site and no subcontracting, which is why a reorder six months later comes off the same machines with the same settings.
- Sandgate, CT20, 1.5 miles by road from the workshop, west-south-west of Folkestone.
- Cheriton, CT19, 2 miles by road from the workshop, west-north-west of Folkestone.
- Hawkinge, CT18, 3.5 miles by road from the workshop, north of Folkestone.
- Saltwood, CT21, 3.5 miles by road from the workshop, west of Folkestone.
Questions from Cheriton
Three things businesses here ask first
Interior fittings and non-structural exterior parts, yes, and that is a large share of what we print for Cheriton.
Nothing safety-critical or load-bearing. That is a hard line, not a disclaimer: any bureau that tells you otherwise is selling you something.
A small clip is a few pence of filament. Nearly all of the price is file checking, plate setup, handling and the minimum order, which is why quantity matters so much on parts this size.
Because handling is charged per plate rather than per piece, a full plate of clips costs very little more than a half-empty one. Twenty is often barely more than five.
ASA. It is ultraviolet-stable, tolerates under-bonnet temperatures and is what genuine automotive exterior trim is made from.
It runs enclosed, so mention it when you enquire and we will make sure the right machine is free.
There are more answers on the frequently asked questions page, the full pricing model is written out on the pricing page, and what we will and will not take on is set out on the capabilities page.
What we can print for a business in Cheriton
Iterate in days
Rapid prototyping
Hold the revision before you commit to tooling, a supplier or a production run. First iteration on the plate within one working day of the file arriving.
From £30.00
10 to 200 units
Small-batch production
Repeat runs of ten to two hundred identical parts from one held file, with no tooling bill and a per-unit price that steps down at 5, 10, 25 and 50 units. Small-batch 3D printing for UK businesses, printed in Kent and posted anywhere.
From £30.00
Shop-floor tooling
Jigs, fixtures & tooling
Drill guides, assembly fixtures, alignment jigs, gauges and mounts, made to the dimensions of your bench rather than to a catalogue's.
From £30.00
Discontinued components
One-off & replacement parts
The component that failed on a machine the manufacturer stopped supporting. Measured with callipers, corrected where the original was weak, and reprinted.
From £30.00
£42 per hour
3D design & CAD
For businesses with an idea, a sketch or a sample but no model. £42 per hour, quoted against an estimate before work starts, and you own the files.
£42.00 per hour
Nearest areas to Cheriton
Every area page covers a different local trade. The service area index lists all 14, with distances, postcodes and how parts reach each one.
Next step
Drop an STL or 3MF into the quote page and you get a price and a lead time straight away. The file is read in your own browser: it is not uploaded unless you send it with an order, which matters if the drawing is confidential.