Xometry’s 3D printing service offers 7 unique processes and dozens of industrial-grade materials to tackle any job. To reduce the costs of 3D printing parts (without sacrificing speed and quality), product designers and engineers should understand where the major cost drivers are and how to mitigate them.
The two main cost drivers across all additive platforms are machine time and material cost. Machine time includes the time to fuse or join material to make the part as well as the time it takes the machine to warm up, transition to a new layer, and post-process before shipping. Material costs are directly associated with the material used when printing as well as any wasted and unusable material associated with the direct print.
The 5 tips outlined below are suggestions to help you save money when you get an instant online quote from Xometry.
Materials used in 3D printing processes, such as nylon powder (SLS) or rolls of thermoplastic filament (FDM) are a main cost factor. Thankfully, additive manufacturing processes are very efficient because printers can either recycle some unused material (e.g. non-melted nylon powder that acts as support structure in SLS) or produce minimal waste material (e.g. FDM cartridges that only extrude enough filament to make the part and support structure).
Xometry’s quoting algorithm automatically detects how much material is needed to produce your CAD file, so finding ways to reduce the volume of your part is a great way to bring down the price.
One way to limit volume, but still preserve overall dimensions, is lightweighting. Creating pockets in designs will reduce material usage, making it more cost-effective to build. When creating a pocket, be sure to create an exit hole for un-sintered (SLS and DMLS) or support (PolyJet) material removal.
For FDM printing, changing the infill is a great way to reduce to reduce part volume and cost. Xometry offers three different infill patterns for FDM:
To learn more about infills and see visual comparisons of each, check out our infills article!
A double cross-hatch pattern provides increased rigidity while retaining part strength
3D printers produce parts on a layer-by-layer basis, fusing or bonding one cross-section at a time until the whole object is formed. For powder bed fusion processes, such as SLS, HP Multi Jet Fusion, and DMLS, the machines melt layers of powder and then moves incrementally up to create the next level. For extruding/jetting processes, the material is ejected through a printhead nozzle. SLA and DLS processes balance layers and cure times. For every layer, which varies from 0.001”–0.013” in height depending on the process, there is a mechanical movement which can add a lot of time to a part’s build. Pairing the vertical movement, recoating of material layers, and even incremental automated printhead cleaning can add hours of machine time.
Minimizing the vertical Z-height of the part is a great way to keep printing costs down. Sometimes splitting parts is also more economical than increasing height. With a lower part height, the impact of the machine activity between layers is mitigated and the costs are focused more on direct material costs.
Xometry’s SLS, HP Multi Jet Fusion, FDM, SLA, DLS, PolyJet, and DMLS processes all use printers with various maximum build platform sizes. These are integrated into our AI-based quoting algorithms, which means that parts that can be built lying on their side (horizontally) tend to be more cost-effective than those that have to be built with their longest face in the vertical direction.
Here are some good “best practices’ lengths to keep in mind when designing your part for a particular process. Staying under these will generally ensure a lower-priced part. Another way to think about it is that if you stay under half the available platform size then you can get multiple parts on the build, allowing some overhead costs to be shared.
| Process | Recommended Z-height Limits |
|---|---|
| Selective Laser Sintering (SLS) Unfilled | Under 13” preferred, with build area up to 13" x 13" x 20" |
| Selective Laser Sintering (SLS) Glass-filled | Under 15” preferred, with build area up to 26" x 15" x 23" |
| HP Multi Jet Fusion (HP MJF) | Under 11” preferred, with build area up to 15" x 11" x 15" |
| Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM) | Under 16” preferred, with build area up to 36" x 24" x 36" |
| Stereolithography (SLA) | Under 16” preferred, with build area up to 29" x 25" x 21" |
| Carbon DLS | Under 3” preferred, with build area up to 7.4" x 4.6" x 12.8" |
| PolyJet | Under 7” preferred, with build area up to 19" x 15" x 7" |
| Direct Metal Laser Sintering (DMLS) | Under 5” preferred, with build area up to 9" x 9" x 9" |
Different 3D printing processes have distinct price points, which means choosing the processes that fall within your budget (without compromising part function) can help you minimize costs.
Xometry’s SLS or HP Multi Jet Fusion printing processes using Nylon 12 is nearly always the most cost-effective process to make plastic parts in bulk. This is mostly driven by the fact that SLS parts can be printed in a family build which allows many items to be made “free-floating” in the powder bed. This allows for quantity discounts to be applied to additional items of the same part as well as added unique parts in the same quote. For large flat parts, FDM ABS-M30 or ASA is the go-to process due to the platform’s capacity to build parts quickly with various materials, infill, and color options.
Our most cost-effective process for 3D printing metals is DMLS, specifically with Aluminum material. Complex parts can be created accurately without tooling, which reduces manufacturing lead times from months to days. We also recommend DMLS as an economical choice for a powerful alternative to metal casting in low volumes.
A bearing housing printed in two different materials. On left, PolyJet Clear, on right, DMLS Stainless Steel.
For more in-depth tips, watch this on-demand webinar, Selecting the Right 3D Printing Material, hosted by me, Greg Paulsen, Director of Application Engineering at Xometry.
It's about why materials matter and how to choose materials that meet your project goals and maximize cost efficiency. I also discuss the strengths and trade-offs of each additive manufacturing process at Xometry and real-life application examples.
