Iterate in days
Rapid prototyping in Folkestone and across Kent
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.
- Turnaround
- 3–5 working days as standard, 48 hours on express
- Price
- From £30
- Files
- Yours, and confidential
What this is
Rapid prototyping: what you are actually buying
The cost of a design decision rises every week it goes unchallenged. Tooling quotes, supplier lead times and stock commitments all assume the geometry is right. Printing the part first is the cheapest way to find out that it is not.
Send the file in the morning and, in most weeks, the first iteration is on the plate that day. You test it, change the model, send the next revision. A prototype loop that used to take a fortnight through a large bureau runs in days here because there is no order queue between your file and the machine.
We print early iterations in PLA, where a fit check costs a few pounds, and move to PETG, ABS, ASA or a carbon-filled filament once the geometry has settled and you need to know how the part behaves under load, heat or sunlight.
Every revision is printed at the same orientation, layer height and material unless you ask otherwise, so a difference you see between revision three and revision four is a change you made, not a change in how it was printed. Settings are kept on file for the life of the project.
FDM holds roughly ±0.3 mm. That is fine for form, fit, clearance, ergonomics and function on most assemblies, and it is not fine for a precision bearing seat. We will say which of those you are looking at before you order.
Who it is for
Product designers, design engineers and technical directors who have a CAD model and a decision waiting on a physical part.
What you get
- First iteration usually on the plate within one working day of the file arriving
- Same orientation, layer height and material across revisions so results stay comparable
- Express 48-hour turnaround when a design review will not move
- Material change once geometry is settled, to test real load, heat and UV behaviour
- Files are never shared, never reused and never sent to a third party
What we need from you
- An STL, 3MF or STEP file, or a sketch and dimensions if the design is still on paper
- What the part has to do, and what it mates with
- The date the design review or the customer meeting actually is
- Whether this iteration is about form, fit or function: it changes the material
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.
File in, checked the same day
Day 0Send an STL or 3MF and you have an estimate in about a minute; send a STEP or a native CAD file and you have one by the end of the day. Either way the geometry is opened and checked by a person before we quote: thin walls, unsupported overhangs and non-manifold errors all get flagged in that first reply rather than discovered later.
Orientation and material agreed
Day 0–1For a first iteration we default to PLA at 0.2 mm layers, because it is cheap, fast and dimensionally the most accurate thing we print. We will tell you if the geometry means that choice will mislead you: a snap fit checked in PLA behaves differently from the same feature in PETG, and it is better to know that before you test it.
First iteration on the plate
Usually day 1In most weeks the first revision is printing within a working day of the file arriving. There is no order queue between your file and the machine, which is the entire reason a prototype loop runs faster here than through a large bureau.
Revisions run against the same recipe
2–3 days eachEvery subsequent revision is printed at the same orientation, layer height and material unless you ask otherwise, so a difference you see between revision three and revision four is a change you made. Settings stay on file for the life of the project.
Material change once the geometry settles
Final iterationsWhen the shape is right and you need to know how the part behaves under load, heat or sunlight, we reprint the settled geometry in PETG, ABS, ASA or a carbon-filled grade. That is the point at which a prototype starts telling you something about the finished product.
Example jobs
Work of this kind we have taken on
- Sensor enclosure taken through four revisions in nine days until the connector cut-out cleared
- Handle printed at three diameters so the client could choose by feel rather than by drawing
- Snap-fit lid stepped in 0.1 mm increments to find the interference that actually held
- Mounting plate proven in PLA, then reprinted in PETG-CF for on-vehicle testing
Materials
What we would normally print this in
PLA Basic
£14.00/kgEarly iterations. Cheapest, fastest and the most dimensionally accurate: a fit check costs a few pounds.
PLA Matte
£15.00/kgThe iteration you put in front of a customer or a board. Looks finished with no sanding.
PETG HF
£16.00/kgOnce the geometry has settled and the part needs to survive handling, heat or a week outdoors.
PETG-CF
£32.00/kgFinal validation of a load-bearing part, where stiffness and impact both matter.
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 as standard, 48 hours on express
Express brings it down to 2–3 working days, for 35% more.
From £30
minimum order: a palm-sized first iteration in PLA
£30 minimum, no VAT
Invoiced on completion, 14-day terms for account customers.
Questions
Rapid prototyping: what buyers ask
In most weeks, a file that arrives in the morning is printing that day and ready the next. Standard turnaround is 3 to 5 working days; express is 48 hours and adds 25%; next working day is available subject to what is already on the plates.
The honest constraint is the queue, not the machine. If you have a fixed design-review date, say so in your first message and you will get a straight answer about whether it is achievable rather than an optimistic one.
Not through a discount, but through the setup. The file check, orientation decision and slicing are done once and carried forward, so a second revision of the same part is quoted from the same recipe with no repeat setup.
Where revisions genuinely get cheaper is quantity: if you need three variants of the same bracket, printing them together on one plate costs far less than three separate jobs, because labour is charged per plate rather than per part.
About form, fit, ergonomics, clearance and assembly order: yes, reliably. FDM holds roughly ±0.3 mm, which is enough to prove that a lid closes, a connector clears and a hand fits.
About the finished mechanical behaviour: only if it is printed in a material and orientation that represents the production process. A printed part is anisotropic and a moulded one is not, so we will tell you which conclusions from a printed prototype are safe to carry into production and which are not.
The instant estimate measures your file inside your own browser, nothing is uploaded, so you can price an unreleased design without sending it anywhere.
When you do send a file it is used to make your parts and for nothing else: never resold, republished, reused or added to a portfolio. Files are deleted once the order and its reprint window close. You do not need an NDA to get a quote, and if your process requires one, send it and it comes back signed.
The rest of what we do
Other services
The four other things we do, and where each one is the better answer.
- 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 - 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 - £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.