At the beginning on 2020 Print Farm Beta started construction. Within a month it started operating and was able to produce 10,000's of face shields during the height of the pandemic. It has continued to grow and produce parts at a rate of 1000's per week since. When fully complete Print Farm Beta will have over 800 3D Printers all producing parts on demand.

Print Farm Beta has been designed to truly scale up 3D Printing affordably. We have now reached a scale where 3D Printing is less expensive than injection molding up to about 50-100,000 pieces. But when factoring in warehousing, shipping, and lost inventory there are products that can never justify the up front cost of the mold. 3D Printing is the final option. But we are not stopping at production.

Print Farm Beta will be supporting a new era in manufacturing and product design. Today entrepreneurs can manufacture a product without the cost of molds and then sell it. We want to eliminate the need to even manufacture the product before it is sold.

It is hard to sell houses. It is a not a decision made quickly. When the customer leaves all they have is a flat floorplan to mull over. And you can't keep a version of every house available for walkthroughs. Combine that with the fact that some people just are not able to visualize 3D spaces very well, and you realize the need for a 3D model of what you are selling.

OK, so the value is pretty clear. 3D Printed Architectural Models improve communication and connection with the buyer. But how are they made?

We first off Slant 3D would need a 3D Model. Ideally your builder or architect can provide 3D models of a building in .STL, .OBJ, or .STEP. Not all architects or architecture software can provide the files for 3D Printing. That is why Slant 3D has an inhouse design team that can take your floorplans and drawings and convert them to a perfectly printable 3D Model.

If your inhouse folks have the ability they can see this article on creating Architectural 3D models for some tips. But do also contact your Slant 3D engineer for more specific information.

Once Slant 3D receives the 3D model then we will prepare it for printing. Our 3D Printing machine are limited in size. So for larger models the building will need to be broken into several pieces, that are printed individually and then slotted together later.

We may also edit some features so that they are manufacturable. This can include tweaking windows and the thickness of the walls.

Lastly if necessary we will work with you to create an removable roof so the inside can be viewed. Though it is perfectly alright to create an exterior-only architectural model. We can 3D Print either one.

That's all there is too it. Send us a 3D model and we can start printing.

Once the model is sent over and finalized we will quote production for you. Whether it be a single large model or thousands of showroom giveaways. Both are equally feasible.

​Hopefully this has cleared up some of the challenges with 3D Printed architectural models. Let us know if you have any questions.

One of the huge advantages of high volume 3D Printing is its ability to produce custom parts at scale without the cost of molds. This freedom allows for products to evolve during production, and reduces inventory holding requirements since parts can be made on demand.

This is especially true for parts in industrial settings. These types of parts include custom hardware like gears, rollers and handles. But here we are going to focus on custom electrical enclosures. Large Scale 3D Printing is able to produce custom electrical enclosures reliably and quickly using all types of materials.

Electronics enclosures cannot accommodate the millions of PCB designs that are created every year. Often certain custom boards are just placed into a generic box enclosure. While this can be affordable. It can compromise the longevity of the part, and diminishes the brand of the board inside. If possible every company would prefer to use custom enclosures. This way the enclosure can complement the board inside. Both on engineering specs and company identity.

But custom enclosures require custom molds. This leads to minimum volumes to amortize the cost of the mold. And the enclosure is obsolete as soon as the PCB is. 

3D Printing, on the other hand, allows just the right number of parts to be produced for what is sold. They can be made on demand as the parts are sold, so there is no inventory carrying cost. And as the PCB changes or diversifies the case can immediately be updated.

And of course with 3D Printing there is no molding cost. So for most simple enclosures 3D Printing is generally less expensive or at least matches the cost of molding.

The benefits if 3D Printed enclosures does not only extend to the new. Old systems can be revitalized. If an enclosure has gone out or production, or out of style, it can be quickly and efficiently recreated. Then it can be put back into to production without the startup and carrying costs that molding requires.

The process of injection molding is quite limited. Or at least with special materials, quite expensive. At Slant 3D we have worked with clients searching for ESD safe or even Carbon Fiber enclosures to be manufactured. Few molding systems can support the abrasive characteristics of these types of materials.

Molders very often specialize in only one material. Whereas 3D Printing is much more flexible. Literally we can print in rubbery materials, hardhat TPU, carbon fiber, and biodegradable, to name just a few. This allows clients to iterate and diversify while only have to establish and maintain one relationship rather than one for each SKU.

And then, within material, there is always color. Again with molding minimums play a roll. The distributed nature of 3D Printing allows clients to order 1000 parts, but make 250 of red, blue, yellow, and green.

All told 3D Printing is a way to improve efficiency with products that require a large number of SKU's. But it can scale to large volume. But really if you are making more than 100,000 pieces at a go then go get a mold.

But 3D Printing is able to produce many variants quickly and easily. Changing material, color, and very importantly geometry. And it is able to easily adjust to supply and demand. 3D Printing does not require an order of 100,000 pieces. 100,000 pieces that must then be shipped and stored. Instead, parts can be produced at a rate that meets demand. Less cash is tied up in inventory, and there is less risk for new products.

3D Printing is simply a more efficient process.

We are happy to announce Twist 3D Printing. A Fast and simple 3D Printing service for creating prototypes quickly and painlessly.

Twist is a project that we have been testing for a while now. There is no simple way to just order a 3D Printed part anymore. No place to just upload a model, pay, and get the model. Today you have to sign up, then create a profile, then pick through 50 settings, and then tweak things. We thought people should just be able to print something again.

Twist is a flat rate 3D Printing service. You can print any part, that fits in a 8x8x8 inch volume, for $29 with free shipping ($34 with expedited 2 day shipping).

And we have simplified it as far as we can. The only material option is Black PETG printed at a 0.2mm layer resolution.

PETG is a good plastic that can be used for functional applications, as well as cosmetic needs. The layer resolution is twice the thickness of a human hair. There is no reason to have a "draft quality" 3D print, we are just going to make a good 3D Print.

Any part order is 3D printed and shipped within 2 days. Making it a excellent fast solution for prototypes.

As time goes by we may add more colors and potentially other materials. But for now "You can have any color you want, as long as it is black." This allows us to create great quality 3D Prints on Demand for the same flat rate.

So Get a Part 3D Printed Today.

if you need more than one part prototyped or need high volume production of your prototype please visit our 3D Printing Quoting page.