Small FDM print jobs in Basingstoke: Bambu A1 and Creality K2

If you need one or two parts printed and you do not want to commit to buying a printer, that is exactly what this service is for. We run a small workshop near Basingstoke and take mail-in FDM jobs from anywhere in the UK. One bracket, a replacement knob, a batch of fifty cable clips — none of it is too small.

What we run

Two machines do the bulk of the work here.

The Bambu A1 is the small, accurate one. It sits on the bench and does parts up to 256 by 256 by 256 mm in PLA, PETG and PLA-CF. It is quick, the surface finish is clean, and the AMS lite means we can run up to four colours in a single print if you need a logo, a label, or contrasting accents on a part. It is what we reach for first on anything visible.

The Creality K2 Plus is the bigger one. Build volume is 350 by 350 by 350 mm, the chamber is enclosed and heated, and that lets us run materials the open A1 struggles with — ABS, ASA and PA-CF without cracking or warping. It is also our go-to for large single-piece parts where splitting and gluing would be obvious. The K2 has its own multi-material unit, so multi-colour and multi-material prints on the larger machine are also possible.

Between the two we cover most of what a typical FDM service needs to cover, with some honest gaps further down.

Small jobs are genuinely welcome

A lot of print services have a minimum charge that means a tiny part costs almost the same as a medium one. We do set a minimum, because the slicing, queueing and packing time is real, but it is pitched so that a small print is still a small bill. If you only need one part, send it. We would rather do the work than turn it away.

Batches are fine too. If you need twenty of the same clip, we can plate them up, set them running overnight, and you get a better per-part price than buying a printer to make twenty parts.

How to send us a file

The shortest path is to email us an STL or a 3MF with a short note about what the part is for.

1. Export your model as STL or 3MF. If you used Bambu Studio, Orca, Cura or PrusaSlicer, send the 3MF — it carries your orientation and any settings you have already worked out, which saves us guessing. 2. Tell us the material you want, or describe what the part does and we will suggest one. "Outdoor mount that will sit in the sun" gets a different answer to "decorative shelf trinket". 3. Mention colour if it matters. We stock the common ones in PLA and PETG. 4. Tell us the quantity and any deadline you actually have. A real deadline helps us schedule; a made-up one just means everyone is stressed.

If your part is something we can pull straight off Printables, MakerWorld or Thingiverse, just send the link. We will check the model first and tell you if there is a problem with it before we charge you to find out.

Materials we keep on the shelf

PLA is the default. It is cheap, it prints clean on both machines, and for indoor parts that do not get hot it is the right answer. Dark PLA softens in direct UK summer sun if the part is sitting in a car or by a south-facing window; for those, ask for PETG instead.

PETG is what we use for parts that need to flex a little without snapping, or live outside. Drone parts, plant pot holders, cable bushings, anything in a shed or garage.

PLA-CF and PA-CF (carbon-fibre reinforced) are options when you need stiffness — drone arms, jigs, anything that takes a load. The K2's hardened nozzle is what lets us run these without chewing through equipment.

ABS and ASA come out of the K2 only, because they need the enclosed chamber to print without splitting. Use ASA if it is going outside and you want it to still look like a part in five years.

If you need a colour or material we do not have on the shelf, ask. We can usually order in for a job, but the lead time goes up by however long the spool takes to arrive.

Sizes and what does not fit

The K2 takes parts up to 350 mm on each side. The A1 takes 256 mm. If your part is bigger than that, we can sometimes split it into two pieces that bolt or glue together — tell us the function and we will suggest where a sensible joint goes. If splitting is not acceptable, we are not the right shop for that print.

Very small detailed parts — anything with walls below about 1.5 mm, or features under half a millimetre — are at the edge of what FDM can do at all. If the part has a lot of fine detail, resin printing is genuinely the better process, and we do not run a resin printer at the moment. Honest answer: send it to someone who does.

What we cannot do

We are an FDM workshop. No resin (SLA, MSLA, DLP), no SLS, no metal printing. If your part needs to be food-safe in any serious sense — repeated washing, hot liquids, contact with raw meat — we will not promise that on a printed part. Printed PLA mugs are a meme that ends in regret.

We also will not print firearm parts, anything that is obviously a copy of someone else's commercial product, or items where the intended use looks like it could hurt someone. If you are unsure, ask and we will give you a straight answer rather than start the print and refuse it halfway through.

Pricing

We quote per job rather than per gram, because gram pricing punishes detailed parts and rewards lazy infill choices. The quote covers material, machine time, slicing, light post-processing (support removal, a quick sand where it helps) and UK postage. Send the file and we will come back with a number before anything starts. If the quote is more than you wanted to spend, no hard feelings.

When to mail it in

Email us through /contact.html with your STL or 3MF and a sentence about what the part is for. We come back within a few working days with a quote, the material we suggest, and any concerns about the model itself — overhangs, thin walls, orientation. Once you say yes, we print, photograph the finished part, and post it out tracked. If a print fails on our end, we re-run it; you pay for what arrives, not what we threw in the bin. One workshop, one tech, no call-centre middleman — you are talking directly to the person doing the print.