People regularly write to me: \u201chow much does it cost to print this thing?\u201d And they\u2019re often surprised that the cost can be halved just by changing a couple of settings. The price of 3D printing doesn\u2019t depend only on the size of the model. The material, infill percentage, orientation on the bed and wall thickness all affect the final amount.<\/p>\n
I decided to collect the tips that really help clients save. No loss of quality, no tricks. Just a sensible approach to ordering.<\/p>\n
The simplest way to save is not to overpay for a material you don\u2019t need. PLA costs from 5 UAH\/g<\/a>, PETG from 6 UAH\/g: for parts without heat or load, PLA is enough.<\/p>\n If the part will sit on a shelf indoors, won\u2019t heat up and won\u2019t be out in the rain, PLA is quite enough. Recently a client wanted to order an electronics enclosure in PETG. I asked why. It turned out the enclosure would sit on an office desk. We switched to PLA and saved him 320 UAH on a single order.<\/p>\n PETG is needed when a part works outdoors, near a heat source or has to carry loads. There\u2019s more about the difference between the materials in the comparison of PLA, PETG and TPU<\/a>.<\/p>\n Infill is the internal structure of a part. 100% is solid plastic. 20% is a light lattice inside. Many people order 80\u2013100% \u201cto make it stronger\u201d and then keep the part on the desk as a pen holder.<\/p>\n For most decorative items, 15\u201320% infill is enough. For functional parts, 30\u201350%.<\/p>\n A concrete example: a headphone holder, 18 cm tall. With 80% infill it weighs 95 g and costs 475 UAH (PLA). With 20% infill \u2014 52 g and 260 UAH. The holder is still strong, and there\u2019s zero difference in use. Read more about how infill affects strength in the article on wall thickness and infill<\/a>.<\/p>\n How a part lies on the printer bed determines how many supports it needs. Supports are extra plastic printed under overhanging parts and cut away afterwards.<\/p>\n It happened once: a client sent a bracket model. In one orientation the printer generated 30 g of supports. I turned the model 90 degrees, and the supports dropped to 8 g. A saving of 22 g of plastic, which is 132 UAH in PETG.<\/p>\n If you don\u2019t know the best orientation, don\u2019t worry. I always check and suggest the best option before printing.<\/p>\n If you need several parts, order them together. The printer can print several objects at once on one bed.<\/p>\n Also, if you\u2019re ordering a prototype and plan to print the final version later, say so straight away. The first prototype can be made with thinner walls and minimal infill to check the dimensions.<\/p>\n The best format is STL or OBJ. STEP is fine too. Don\u2019t send screenshots or photos of a drawing on paper.<\/p>\n The quality of the STL file matters too. If the model has errors (open edges, intersecting polygons), I spend time fixing them. There\u2019s a separate guide<\/a> on how to prepare the file properly.<\/p>\n A 1.2 mm wall is already strong enough for most PLA parts. A 3 mm wall is for cases where the part is really under pressure. Extra thickness means extra grams and extra money.<\/p>\n An example: a 10\u00d710\u00d75 cm storage box. With a 2.4 mm wall it weighs 68 g (340 UAH in PLA). With a 1.2 mm wall \u2014 41 g (205 UAH). And for storing small items on a desk, you won\u2019t notice any difference in strength.<\/p>\n A client ordered a set of mounts for an LED strip, 6 pieces. The first quote: PETG, 60% infill, 2 mm wall. One part weighed 14 g. Six pieces \u2014 84 g. 504 UAH in total.<\/p>\n After discussion: the mounts would be indoors with minimal load. We switched to PLA, 25% infill, 1.2 mm wall. One part weighed 7 g. Six pieces \u2014 42 g. 210 UAH in total.<\/p>\n A saving of 294 UAH. The parts have now been working for three months without any problems.<\/p>\n Send the STL file through the form on the website<\/a> or by messenger. I\u2019ll work out the cost, suggest the best settings and give you an exact price. The quote is free. Check our prices<\/a> for a guide.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Why can the same part cost different amounts? People regularly write to me: \u201chow much does it cost to print this thing?\u201d And they\u2019re often surprised that the cost can be halved just by changing a couple of settings. The price of 3D printing doesn\u2019t depend only on the size of the model. The material, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":346,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-490","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-guides"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/3dprint.lviv.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/490","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/3dprint.lviv.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/3dprint.lviv.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/3dprint.lviv.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/3dprint.lviv.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=490"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/3dprint.lviv.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/490\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":589,"href":"https:\/\/3dprint.lviv.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/490\/revisions\/589"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/3dprint.lviv.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/346"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/3dprint.lviv.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=490"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/3dprint.lviv.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=490"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/3dprint.lviv.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=490"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Tip 2: reduce the infill percentage<\/h2>\n
Tip 3: orientation of the model on the bed<\/h2>\n
Tip 4: combine orders<\/h2>\n
Tip 5: send the right file<\/h2>\n
Tip 6: don\u2019t make walls thicker than necessary<\/h2>\n
A real example with prices<\/h2>\n
How to place an order?<\/h2>\n