Discontinued components
One-off and replacement parts, remade to measure
The component that failed on a machine the manufacturer stopped supporting. Measured with callipers, corrected where the original was weak, and reprinted.
- Turnaround
- 3–5 working days once the design is agreed
- Price
- From £30
- Files
- Yours, and confidential
What this is
One-off & replacement parts: what you are actually buying
A production line does not stop because a casting failed. It stops because a £6 plastic guide failed and the part number was discontinued in 2014. That is the job this service exists for.
You do not need a CAD file. Send the broken original by post, or clear photographs alongside a steel rule, and we measure it properly with digital callipers, model it and print a replacement. Critical mating dimensions are checked against the assembly before a batch is run.
Where the original failed because it was moulded too thin at a corner, we will usually say so and thicken the section, add a fillet, change the print orientation so the layers do not run across the load path, or move to a tougher material. Reprinting a bad design in a new material is still a bad design.
We print one part happily. There is no minimum quantity beyond the £30 order minimum. Once the model exists it stays on file, so the second failure is a next-day reprint rather than a repeat of the whole exercise.
We will also tell you when a printed part is the wrong answer. If the component carries real load, sees continuous heat above about 90°C, or has to be certified, you need it machined or moulded, and we would rather say so than sell you a part that fails in service.
Who it is for
Maintenance engineers, facilities teams, repairers and anyone keeping older equipment in service without OEM support.
What you get
- Photographs, sketches or the broken original, no CAD file required
- Measured with digital callipers, not scaled off a photograph
- Weak points in the original design corrected rather than copied
- Model kept on file, so the next failure is a same-week reprint
- Straight answer when the part should be machined or moulded instead
What we need from you
- The broken original by post, or clear photographs with a steel rule in shot
- What machine or assembly it came from, and what it does there
- Whether it gets hot, wet, loaded or left in sunlight
- How soon the equipment needs to be back in service
How it runs
The process for this specific service
In order, with what each stage actually decides. Lead time runs from the point the design is agreed, not from the point the enquiry lands.
Send the original, or photograph it properly
Day 0Post the broken part, or photograph it from several angles alongside a steel rule with a plain background. Include the assembly it came out of if you can: a part measured in isolation often misses the feature that actually locates it.
Measured with callipers, not scaled from a photo
Day 1Every dimension that mates with something else is measured with digital callipers. Where a feature has worn or snapped away, we work it out from the assembly rather than guessing, and we will tell you which dimensions we had to infer.
The weak point is corrected, not copied
Design decisionMost parts we are asked to replace failed for a reason: moulded too thin at a corner, no fillet at a stress riser, a material that went brittle in UV. We will usually thicken the section, add a radius, change the orientation so the layers do not run across the load path, or move to a tougher material, and tell you what we changed.
First part checked in the assembly
3–5 working daysOne part is printed and, where you can, fitted before anything else is made. If it needs 0.2 mm off a boss or a hole opened out, that is a quick change rather than a scrapped batch.
The model stays on file
Next failureOnce the model exists, the second failure is a same-week reprint rather than a repeat of the whole exercise. Plenty of customers order two: one to fit and one for the shelf.
Example jobs
Work of this kind we have taken on
- Discontinued soap-drawer catch remodelled from the snapped original
- Roof-light winder handle reprinted in ASA to survive year-round outdoor use
- Drive gear for a bread maker, tooth count copied from the original, printed in PETG
- Wall bracket for a discontinued speaker, printed with a thicker rear web than the moulding
- Guide block for a packing machine, remade in PETG-CF after the OEM part was withdrawn
Materials
What we would normally print this in
PETG HF
£16.00/kgThe usual replacement material: tougher than the original moulding in most cases, and tolerant of warmth and damp.
ASA
£19.00/kgAnything that lives outdoors: roof fittings, aerial brackets, marine and yard equipment.
ABS
£17.00/kgParts near a motor, a heater or an engine, and anything that needs solvent bonding.
PETG-CF
£32.00/kgGuides, blocks and brackets that carry real working load in a machine.
Not sure which applies to your part? Compare all nine materials or describe where the part will live and what it has to survive.
3–5 working days once the design is agreed
Express brings it down to 2–3 working days, for 35% more.
From £30
minimum order: most clips, catches and brackets land here
£30 minimum, no VAT
Invoiced on completion, 14-day terms for account customers.
Questions
One-off & replacement parts: what buyers ask
No: most of this work starts from a broken part rather than a file. Post the original or send photographs next to a steel rule, and we measure and model it.
Modelling is charged separately at an hourly rate with the hours agreed before work starts, and the model is yours afterwards. For a straightforward clip, catch or bracket it is usually a small number of hours.
Yes. There is no minimum quantity: only the £30 order minimum, which reflects the fact that a job takes a similar amount of a person's attention whether it produces one part or five.
It is often worth ordering two while the machine is set up. The second part costs very little on top and saves the whole cycle when the first one eventually fails again.
Frequently stronger, because we can thicken sections and add radii that a moulded part could not have, and because we choose the material for the failure you actually experienced rather than for moulding cost.
Sometimes not, and we will say so. A printed part is weaker across its layers than along them, so a component carrying significant load in an awkward direction may need machining or moulding instead. That is a conversation before you pay, not after.
Anything safety-critical, load-bearing above a person, or used as a lifting point. Anything that has to be certified. Food-contact and medical parts, because layer lines cannot be reliably cleaned and we cannot certify either use.
Also anything above about 90°C in continuous service, and anything that infringes a live patent or registered design. If your part sits near one of those lines, ask. You will get an answer the same day.
The rest of what we do
Other services
The four other things we do, and where each one is the better answer.
- 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 - 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 - 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 - £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 per hour
Next step
Send the file and get a price in a minute
Drop in an STL or 3MF and the estimate is worked out in your browser, from your geometry, at your quantity. Nothing is uploaded unless you choose to send it with an order.
Instant estimate. We confirm the price once we've sliced your file.