About Layerworks 3D

Layerworks 3D is a small UK workshop that prints parts for people who need one thing made properly, not a thousand things made cheaply. One off replacements, prototypes that need two revisions before they are right, and short production runs where every unit has to match the last.

Why the quote includes the awkward truth

Most print services quote on weight and print time, take the order, and let you discover the problem when the parcel arrives. That is cheaper to operate and worse for you, because by then you have paid for a part with a 0.6 mm wall that snaps the first time it is handled.

Slicing a model shows those problems before anything is printed. Thin walls, overhangs that will need support somewhere you cannot reach, holes that will come out undersized because of how plastic behaves as it cools. We report all of it with the quote, at no extra cost, because telling you afterwards would be worth nothing to either of us.

How a job runs

You send a model, or a photo and some measurements if you have no model. Within one working day you get a fixed price, a material recommendation and a despatch date. Nothing is printed and nothing is charged until you say yes.

Parts that have to fit something else get a tolerance coupon first, which is a small test piece carrying the same joint at four different clearances on the exact settings your run will use. We find the fit that works before committing a full batch of filament to a guess.

Then it prints, gets inspected and photographed, and goes out tracked. If a part fails inspection it is reprinted at our cost. If something is wrong when it reaches you, tell us and it gets remade.

What we will not do

We do not print functional weapon parts, anything unsafe, or work that infringes somebody else's copyright or trademark. If you are unsure whether a model you have downloaded is licensed for commercial printing, ask and we will read the licence with you before either of us spends anything.

We will also tell you when printing is the wrong answer. Above roughly a thousand identical simple parts, injection moulding usually wins on unit cost even after tooling. Pointing you elsewhere at the right moment is worth more than one oversized order.