Craftcloud distinguishes itself from competitors by offering price comparisons of many metal 3D printing service providers and technologies, with plenty of choices for LPBF. With a TrustPilot rating “excellent”, you’re sure of getting a good deal at Craftcloud, which doesn’t charge any overhead fees.

• User-friendliness: The Craftcloud website features a step-by-step workflow where you can upload your CAD files in a variety of formats and obtain multiple offers for your LPBF prints. The website is simple, uncluttered, and easy to navigate.
• Material selection: A sufficient variety of materials for most applications is available, including stainless steel, titanium, and aluminum. Given the great number of service providers that can be accessed through Craftcloud, you’re sure to find the best materials for your specific application.
• Printer pool: The wide range of partners enables a virtually unlimited pool of printer resources, meaning you have more choice of what machine prints your parts. Since LPBF 3D printers have such a wide range of capabilities, including resolution, building volume, and surface roughness, you’re sure to find the right machine for print.
• Post-processing: Craftcloud leaves post-processing to the printing partners, so machining and finishing processes are always done according to the customers’ requirements.

Craftcloud by All3DP

Get metal parts SLM 3D printed at the most competitive price!

Based in Belgium and the US, Materialise, known for its 3D printing software, offers both a rapid prototyping service and on-demand additive manufacturing for volume production. Both options offer metal.

Its self-service online portal called i.Materialise enables you to upload your part, pick your metal, and receive it in the mail. For a little more support and information, there’s the Materialise portal that features an automated check for the 3D printing suitability of your part and optional consultation with engineers. Their services are structured by industry, having set up a department for each major client group, including medicine, optics, and jewelry.

What’s particularly great about Materialise is the amount of information they provide in advance. They share a lot regarding the technology used for each type of metal, the maximum sizes of objects that can be printed, their estimated delivery times, useful tips on how to design the 3D model, and much more.

The company also provides several business integration solutions, like manufacturing partnerships and white-label integration. This makes it easy for your firm to partner with Materialise to provide parts and services for your customers under your own name. If you sell your own digital 3D models, there is even an integration partnership that enables you to offer your customers a way to order a print of your models from Materialise, and you get a cut.

• User-friendliness: Their intuitive website offers instant pricing after uploading CAD files. They share detailed technical specifications and capabilities of their printers, and their material datasheets let you know exactly what material properties to expect from your DMLS 3D printed part.
• Material selection: Materialise offers the essential printing materials, including stainless steel, aluminum, titanium, and Inconel 718.
• Printer pool: Materialise has a fleet of EOS machines with printer volumes as large as 500 x 280 x 345 mm, which is on the larger end of what most LPBF printers can handle!
• Post-processing: Apart from the standard options, a variety of finishes are offered, including glass-bead blasted or corundum blasted parts. Alternatively, hand-polishing is also available.

Sculpteo (a part of the BASF group) originated in France and has an additional manufacturing plant in San Francisco, Calif. They also have various offices in other European countries. Although they primarily focus on Europe and the US, Sculpteo does provide worldwide shipping.

Their services include a design studio wing that can help you take your part from napkin sketch to production. They also offer laser engraving and one interesting benefit is that their parent company BASF is also the maker of the most popular metal filament material used in extrusion metal 3D printing. If this is the economical metal technology you’re looking for, Sculpteo would arguably have the most expertise on hand.

Sculpteo serves every industry, but they particularly highlight the automotive, medical, and eyewear sectors.

Sculpteo also has an extensive learning and education library and blog. It provides useful, up-to-date information for both beginners and 3D printing experts. The company also offers design consulting, 3D modeling, simulation, and production services.

An assortment of material options and industry-standard EOS machines have earned Sculpteo excellent reviews for their printing services. Sculpteo offers DMLS through Craftcloud.

• User-friendliness: You can upload CAD files and obtain quotes from their easy-to-use and informative website. Particularly helpful is their guide on pricing and delivery times, which explains the pricing behind prints and how users can save money by optimizing their orders.
• Material selection: Sculpteo offers aluminum, titanium, and stainless steel as options for metal printing. The website contains material-specific design guidelines and property comparisons which may be useful for designers unsure of which material to select.
• Printer pool: Sculpteo uses EOS M290 and M280 printers for their LPBF printing service. These are two of the most popular 3D printers in the mid-size category, offering excellent resolution and part performance.
• Post-processing: Sculpteo offers a polishing option for its stainless steel material. They also include a useful and detailed description of any added lead time required for post-processing.

Minnesota-headquartered Protolabs makes their claim to fame with speed. The company promises very short lead times. They also have a digital quoting platform, which provides not only instant quotes but also design analysis — to make sure what you want to print is printable. Back in 2021, Protolabs joined forces with the online manufacturing platform Hubs, which has greatly enhanced its production capabilities.

Although Protolabs doesn’t provide 3D modeling services, if you have questions after the online quotation process, their expert engineers will walk you through your material and design choices, but this option is for companies that already know exactly what they’re looking for and want the convenience of a user-friendly online platform.

In addition to 3D printing, the company offers CNC machining, injection molding, and sheet metal fabrication services.

• User-friendliness: The Protolabs website requires registration and a login before one can get a quote. The complete ProtoQuote system makes communicating and approving design revisions and quotations significantly easier!
• Material selection: Materials include stainless steels (17-4 PH, 316L), aluminum, Inconel 718, cobalt chrome, and titanium.
• Printer pool: Protolabs offers EOS machines with a maximum build volume is 400 x 800 x 500 mm.
• Post-processing: With CNC machining and CNC surface finishing as additional capabilities, you can expect no less than a professionally finished part from your design.

Fathom is one of the largest 3D printing-focused contract manufacturers in the US with 12 manufacturing centers across the country. Fathom has 12 DMLS printers, making it one of the largest service bureaus for this metal additive manufacturing technology.

The engineering and design team at Fathom is a group of experts with a wide range of digital manufacturing experience. You can contract these engineers to to support your in-house design team throughout the product development process from prototyping to production.

Fathom provides extensive know-how on designing for additive manufacturing with an affinity for applying additive in unique ways that address cost, time and geometry constraints of traditional processes, according to the company.

• User-friendliness: The Fathom website provides a quote in 30 seconds and has both an easy file upload and consultation to help you pick the right technology and materials.
• Material selection: Materials include aluminum, maraging steel, stainless steel, and titanium.
• Printer pool: Fathom offers EOS machines with a maximum build volume is 400 x 800 x 500 mm.
• Post-processing: Abrasive blast (grit and ceramic), shot peen, optical polish, electrochemical polishing, abrasive flow machining (extrude hone), and electroplating.

Founded in 2013, Xometry has become one of the world’s largest online 3D printing service using a nationwide network of manufacturing partners. It provides instant quotes for many projects filtered by production method, material, and lead time. Beyond 3D printing, Xometry offers a wide range of pro-manufacturing services like CNC machining, sheet metal parts, injection molding, supply-chain solutions, and services you need for high-volume production.

When it comes to 3D printing metal parts, Xometry has the most common technologies in store, namely metal binder jetting and direct metal laser sintering. Material-wise, you get a broad choice of materials like stainless steel, aluminum, titanium, Inconel, or copper, with a variety of finishes.

• User-friendliness: Xometry’s website enables you to upload your CAD model for a quick quote but for projects with large value or quantity, a manual quote is required. A Xometry rep will get back to you in a few days.
• Material selection: We like Xometry for it’s range of services, but material selection in DMLS is its weakness. Only aluminum and stainless steel are available, but that should cover most projects.
• Printer pool: Xometry relies on partners for 3D printing which ensures that you always have printers available and your project is completed quickly.
• Post-processing: For finished, Xometry offers standard support removal, plus media blasting, CNC machining, and polishing.

The Steel Printers is a young European company specializing in 3D printing with metal, leveraging laser powder bed fusion to produce precision parts. They focus on industries, such as aerospace, automotive, and medical sectors. The company aims to streamline manufacturing, reduce waste, and enable the creation of complex designs that are challenging to achieve with traditional metalworking methods.

Rather than an upload-and-order operation, The Steel Printers offer more bespoke solutions. Local teams will work closely with you to produce prototypes and finished parts to your exact application. Although they do have an instant quote service.

Earlier this year, the company announce the centralization of its metal 3D printing production in Asturias, Spain, with four high-capacity EOS M400-4 machines.

• User-friendliness: There’s a new instant quoting engine that enables you to get a good sense of your project costs before you even reach out to the company.
• Material selection: As the name implies, materials include steel.
• Printer pool: The Steel Printers have machines at locations across the EU rather than a central facility.
• Post-processing: Post-processing options indluce machining, stress relieving, and surface finishing.

Based in Germany, FKM has been a service provider for 3D printing since 1994. They are an official EOS contract manufacturing partner and boast a fleet of 16 metal DMLS machines. Their medium and large metal printing systems, including those with multiple lasers, are optimized in terms of their speed and performance. The large 3D printing systems are used for 3D printing jobs with large components or series parts.

• User-friendliness: The FKM website is only in German and doesn’t offer any type of instant quote because they’re aimed at serious industrial metal fabrication.
• Material selection: FKM offers the standard 6 materials for LPBF: stainless steel, aluminum, titanium, Inconel 718, copper, and cobalt chrome.
• Printer pool: FKM offers 2 small, 10 medium, and 4 large LPBF machines from EOS.
• Post-processing: A wide range including removal of support structures, sandblasting, refining and finishing, hardening, assembly, and inspection.

Another industrially-oriented service provider is 3T Additive Manufacturing in Berkshire, UK. Boasting an extensive printer park and the ability to develop new materials and processes, 3T provides prototyping and production services to aerospace, defense, medical, and automotive industries.

The company’s larger EOS M400 printers and post-processing equipment make it an attractive option for printing large or challenging designs. 3T is another company that uses exclusively EOS machines.

• User-friendliness: 3T’s website allows you to upload your CAD model, but you probably won’t get much further without personal contact with their engineers. The website lets you know that 3T is geared towards industry, but also caters to the modelmaking and consumer segment. A nice touch is an introduction to the 3T team members who you might interact with, giving their website more warmth and personal interaction than with other companies.
• Material selection: A wide variety of materials is available for printing at 3T , including maraging steel, titanium, copper, and two different aluminum alloys. Clients will be spoiled in their choice of high performance and specialized materials here.
• Printer pool: 3T has a seriously impressive machine park, including 12 EOS M290s and EOS M400 machines for larger builds. Not only does this show how seriously they take their business, but it also sets 3T apart from the pack when it comes to the quantity and quality of their 3D printers.
• Post-processing: Availability of vibratory polishers, CNC mills, and a vacuum furnace makes 3T the standout choice for metallurgically-challenging materials or designs. Despite being a lesser-known name, 3T definitely has the hardware to turn 3D printed parts into finished products.

Founded in 2011, BLT serves the metal additive manufacturing market primarily in China, but they deliver for international clients as well. BLT has established itself, particularly in the aerospace industry, delivering monthly parts for such giants as Airbus since 2021. All in all, the company has clients in Asia, Europe, and the US.

With its proprietary printers, BLT offers metal laser powder bed fusion and a slew of additional services, including design consultation, testing, and quality assurance.

Because BLT is a metal 3D printer maker as well as a print service provider, the have expertise in their machine’s capabilities and the ability to alter the machine to your needs if required. The company offers some of the largest metal 3D printers ever made, so naturally, volume is no problem for BLT.

The company’s larger EOS M400 printers and post-processing equipment make it an attractive option for printing large or challenging designs. 3T is another company that uses exclusively EOS machines.

• User-friendliness: BLT’s English-language website doesn’t even mention it’s 3D printing service so we couldn’t call it user-friendly. You’ll need to contact the company directly for your metal part needs. BLT focuses on volume parts.
• Material selection: BLT makes it own metal powders for its machines but those may not be the only powders on its print service mentu.
• Printer pool: BLT has an impressive machine park consisting of it’s own machines in various sizes. One full factory is just for small parts while another full factory is for large parts, then post-processing is managed in another facility on the BLT campus in China.
• Post-processing: BLT offers a wide range of polishing, milling, and inspection services for all metal parts.

One of the most common reasons companies turn to metal 3D printing is to create a replacement of a metal part that’s no longer available to order. For this, reverse engineering is often the only way to create a 3D printed part when you don’t have a digital file of the original.

On a broad level, reverse engineering is the act of dismantling an object to see how it works. On a practical level, reverse engineering is measuring a physical object and then reconstructing it as a digital 3D model, which can then be 3D printed or manufactured another way.

Although we won’t go into all of the details here, know that many companies, including some mentioned above (Craftcloud, Materialise, and Sculpteo) specialize in creating a digital model from an existing part. First the original part is 3D scanned, then that scan file is manipulated in computer aided design software to exactly match the original or introduce enhancements or improvements. You can find a list of top design companies in our guide, “The Best 3D Printing Design Services.”

If you’d like to know more about how the reverse engineering process is conducted, check out the article linked below.

From Part to Model

Reverse Engineering Parts With 3D Scanners & Software

Before you jump at metal 3D printing, you should ask yourself one vital question: do you really need your part printed in metal?

You may have always used machined metal parts for a certain application in the past, so it only seems reasonable that you should go for metal with 3D printing as well. However, that’s not always true. Often, an engineering-grade plastic part can provide similar or even better functionality, while at the same time cutting down part weight and manufacturing costs. Plastic is often cheaper than metal, after all.

Only an expert additive manufacturing engineer can make the call on what would be the best material. This is why partnering with a 3D printing company that provides in-house design and engineering consultation is so valuable. They will be able to tell what the most suitable material for your application is.

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Not only that, a full-service design and printing company can guide you through the entire process. You only need to have your part concept, and they can advise you on the best design, material, and post-processing options. If they offer services such as iterative design and topography optimization, they might very well be able to produce a more durable and cheaper part out of materials you didn’t even consider.

That said, it might be that you actually have a decent bit of metal 3D printing experience. Maybe you’ve used several printing services, or even used to have a printer of your own, and you know exactly what you need. In such a case, you can safely opt for a printing service that offers less comprehensive additional services. This can often bring the printing cost down as the company doesn’t have as many experts on its payroll.

Practically all of the printing services listed above provide at least some kind of design consultation, and a few also have extensive material guides and learning resources available. It’s a good idea to start by reading up on what they’re saying about your application. And when in doubt, you can always simply contact a couple of services about your project. They will be ready to help you, and if they’re not, you will know that one wasn’t the right partner for you.