Selctive Laser Sintering, Stereolithography, CNC Machining and Vacuum Casting

How quickly can you provide me with a quote?

This usually depends on the type of prototype or model you require. If it is a simple SLA, SLS or Vacuum Casting project, we can provide a quote on the same day. But for more complicated projects that require different methods and multiple parts, we may take a little longer to come up with a bespoke solution to your problem.

What file formats can I send my model in?

We prefer STL files for Rapid Prototyping and IGS files for CNC Machining. We can translate many other files types. Call us for further details.

We can’t send data via email due to confidentiality. Do you have any way that we can send our data to you, quickly, that is secure?

Yes. We have an FTP site, which means you can transfer data across the internet safely. The site is triple encoded and password protected.

Q We have a complex working assembly of parts which, when mass produced, will be made from different materials. Can you make the parts and assemble them with very close tolerances in materials that will be close to the production materials?

Yes. Providing you are able to give us a good understanding of what you want to achieve in the way it should be finished and how it will need to function.
 

Q Can I specify any SLA resin?

We currently have a choice of 4-5 advanced resins, some of which are only available in certain machines. Call us for further details.

Creating STL files for Rapid Prototypes

If you are going to create your CAD model in many small sections (shells) please ensure that each shell is a closed volume with no gaps or open ends, if you are working with surfaces, it is preferable to work in solids as these issues are normally less of a problem.   

This image shows inverted surfaces in red, which the RP machines do not recognize properly so will not build. The yellow lines are open edges, which again prevent the machines ability to workout a path to for the laser to follow. The image below shows a good file with no inverted surfaces or open edges.

Ideally we need a single shell like the previous image. We understand that this may not be possible for you to do but it must be understood that we have to get to this point before we can submit a model to build. We can help here with our software, which is specifically designed to work with the STL format. It does take time and therefore costs and also relies on your model being complete. It is much more time consuming if your model has multiple problems but if it is just many shells it will not incur too high a cost.

The image below is a typical multi shell model from an Architect. Each shell is good but there are 1840 of them that need unifying into one good shell, this should take at most a couple of hours to fix. If each shell had errors like the first image it could easily take a full day to repair.