Industrial Quality Rapid Prototyping
A fast, flexible, and cost-effective way to transform your digital designs into tangible prototypes
3D printing for prototypes
Harness the power of our state-of-the-art 3D prototyping service to bring your designs to life. Partner with 3D People to reduce costs, accelerate development, and produce compelling presentation tools.
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✔ Express parts for rapid prototype development
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✔ ISO 9001 certified process
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✔ Made in our UK factory
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✔ Pay later with a credit account
Use 3D printing for
Prototype Verification
Utilise 3D printing to test and refine designs before final production. Our models provide tangible feedback, ensuring alignment with your vision while cutting down costs and time-to-market.
Functional prototypes
3D print prototypes that work as they should in real-world scenarios. Validate functionality, durability, and user interaction to ensure your design’s practical success.
Aesthetic models
Produce stunning 3D prints that capture every nuance of your design. Ideal for presentations, marketing visuals, or any scenario where aesthetics take center stage.
Accelerate your prototying process
Benefit from our express 3D printing service to fast-track your product development. Turn around design iterations faster than ever before. For the earliest dispatch date, ensure you place your order before 2pm.
Fast, precise & reliable
Express printing
Get your components swiftly with our expedited service, cutting down traditional wait times.
Durable materials
Utilise robust materials that withstand the rigours of testing, ensuring your prototypes maintain integrity and performance under demanding conditions.
Reliable finishes
Choose finishes that not only elevate aesthetics but also enhance performance. From the deep black of our Dye to the smoothness of Vibro Polishing.
Popular materials for prototyping:
PA12 Nylon (SLS)
+ Colour dye
Embellish your SLS parts with vibrant colour, enhance the tactile feel and increase resistance to dirt and scratches. Elevate your projects with a wider selection of vibrant and diverse colours.
PA12 Nylon (MJF)
+ Vapour smoothing
This resilient thermoplastic offers outstanding mechanical properties, enhanced by Vapour Smoothing. The process yields a smooth, sealed surface with a deep black finish, achieving a quality close to injection moulding.
Ultrasint TPU01 (MJF)
Flexible and durable thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU) in 88A Shore hardness. Offering excellent impact resistance, energy return, wear performance, and tear resistance.
PA12 Nylon (SLS)
+ Colour dye
Embellish your SLS parts with vibrant colour, enhance the tactile feel and increase resistance to dirt and scratches. Elevate your projects with a wider selection of vibrant and diverse colours.
PA12 Nylon (MJF)
+ Vapour smoothing
This resilient thermoplastic offers outstanding mechanical properties, enhanced by Vapour Smoothing. The process yields a smooth, sealed surface with a deep black finish, achieving a quality close to injection moulding.
Ultrasint TPU01 (MJF)
Flexible and durable thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU) in 88A Shore hardness. Offering excellent impact resistance, energy return, wear performance, and tear resistance.
Success story:
Zeal Lifestyle mobility aids
The development of the Zeal mobility aid was complex and required numerous series of functional prototypes during the iterative process that had to meet demanding requirements.
Zeal handles
Material: PA12 Nylon (SLS)
Finish: Vapour smooth
Rapid prototyping Service FAQ
How do I get a prototype manufactured?
3D printing is often used to make prototypes throughout the design development stages of a product. A 3D printing service can be used to make functional and visual prototypes of products that have been drawn in 3D CAD. 3D People offer CAD design services as well as 3D printing.
My prototype requires specific material properties, where can I find data-sheets on 3D print materials?
3D People use a careful selection of 3D printing materials to offer a range of working properties. The datasheets for these materials can be found on the material datasheets page
What is the difference between 3D printing and rapid prototyping?
Rapid prototyping and 3D printing are names for the same process. Rapid prototyping is an older term given to 3D printing technologies as until recently, prototyping was the main reason to use the technology. Due to advancements in the technology, we can now manufacture end use parts which is why we often use the term 3D printing or additive manufacturing.
Can I 3D print a prototype for a crowdsourcing campaign?
Yes, 3D printing is frequently used as a method to quickly produce prototypes and raise funds on crowdfunding platforms such as Kickstarter and Indigogo. Whether the requirements are for a visual prop to help explain an idea or for a fully working prototype, 3D printing can be a quick and easy solution.