| Technologie | FDM | DUP | DLP & SLA | MJ & Polyjet | SLS | SLM & DMLS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tip | An affordable way to get rough prototypes, educational and hobby projects. | Budget friendly printing with resins, great for figurines, minis and scale models. | High-precision resin printing for medical applications and jewelry master models. | High-definition resin printing with multiple materials and color support. Provides accurate structure, texture and visual appearance. | Works best for low batch productions, snap-fit prototypes and mechanical parts. | Produces metal parts and components, suitable for replacements and rapid metal prototypes. |
| Average cost | $ | $$ | $$$ | $$$ | $$$ | $$$$ |
| Average turnaround* (including shipping) | 4 days | 8 days | 10 days | 10 days | 10 days | 15 days |
| How it works | Produces objects from string plastic or rubber, which is heated and extruded through a nozzle to form an object from the bottom up. | Uses LED lights and a masking screen to selectively cure UV resins. While similar to stereolithography, LED-based 3D printers are more prone to voxelization, resulting in parts with more visible layers. On the bright side, DUP printing is much quicker than common SLA. | With a more powerful and precise light source (projector in DLP and a laser in SLA) these technologies are more accurate and smooth. | Operates several nozzles to drop mix and combine UV resins with each layer instantly cured by the source on the printing head. | Using a laser fuses plastic powder grains layer by layer. This technology is most cost-efficient when many parts are nested and printed in one run. Parts are recommended to be post-processed or coated as they are highly porous. | Like SLS, uses a laser, however, not just sinters the powder grains but melts them together. This method allows getting complex metal parts and even pieces from precious metals. |
| Compatible materials | 100+ Plastics, rubbers, polyesters, polyamides, exotic and engineering composites | UV & Daylight Resins, Castable, Tough, Flexible types | UV Resins, Engineering, Dental, Medical, Castable and Flexible types | UV Resins, Wide range of properties available through combinations, matte & glossy finish possible | Polyamides, Rubbers and Nylon-based composites with special properties (esd-safe, medical, etc) | Metals |
* — an average value is presented, more accurate lead time is shown in the widget
More 3D Printing Methods
Simply upload your file(s) to compare 3D printing prices across different technologies and vendors. If you don’t have a 3D model, our widget will direct you to service catalog, where you can request a quote with the information you have on hand.
On Treatstock you can get Bonuses from using 3D printing or any other manufacturing service. Depending on a vendor’s offer, you will earn a certain number of Bonuses, which can be later used to cover your purchase.
You can get a 3D printing instant quote by uploading a file to our widget. It is calculating the cost of materials and work required to manufacture your parts, including support structures under the overhanging areas. Aside from the volume, the price may be influenced by excessive supports removal (lots of small pieces with lots of supports) or material changes in between the runs (many parts ordered in different colors).
It's the manufacturer's responsibility to destroy all digital copies of files contained in the order, including all derivative work and trace logs, after completing the order, or if the order is canceled. The second layer of protection, which also covers 3D models that are not published on Treatstock, is that we use an innovative system called Watermark 3D to automatically insert a secret watermark into all STL files downloaded by the manufacturer. The watermark, which is practically invisible and undetectable without the correct password, causes no structural changes to the design and contains information pertinent to a particular order and its manufacturer.
Our Terms & Conditions broadly cover intellectual property and private information safety for all users and orders that go through the platform. It serves as NDA for all the files and order information by default. However, if you need an additional document, it is absolutely possible to get that after you select a vendor.
Yes, we can 3D print STL and STEP formats straight away. For other CAD models you may need to proceed with a manual quote to get them printable first, however, we’ll do our best to help you get from an early stage design to a finished product as quickly as possible.
