Draft fit check
PLA Basic at 0.28 mm layers and fixed 10% infill. A faster, lower-cost way to test form and fit, starting at £5.18.
Draft, Standard or Fine
Use Draft to check size, shape and fit. Standard is recommended for most finished parts. Fine uses 0.16 mm layers for smaller layer steps. All options have visible layer lines, as expected with filament printing.
Supports and surface finish. Parts with overhangs, or parts too large to print in their best orientation, need support material. We remove the supports, but they leave rougher marks where they touched the part, on every material. Filled materials like PETG-CF and PA-CF show this most. Your part arrives as printed: sanding, filing and other finishing are not included unless your quote says so. Where the finish matters, tell us in your order notes and we’ll let you know before printing if supports will affect a visible or sealing surface.
PLA Basic at 0.28 mm layers and fixed 10% infill. A faster, lower-cost way to test form and fit, starting at £5.18.
Move to Standard 0.20 mm quality once the design is proven. Choose the material, colour and quantity in the same instant quote, starting at £6.90.
Choose Fine 0.16 mm for smaller layer steps. It takes longer to print, and the quote includes that time. If surface detail is critical, ask Hark Tech to check whether this process suits your part.
Upload: STEP, STL or sliced 3MF Price: shown before checkout Delivery: posted across the UK
Expect to need the same part again? Start with a paid first batch and plan your repeats. See how a 3D printing Trade Account saves approved parts for one-click reorders and monthly batches. New accounts receive 10% off their first eligible print order over £30, capped at £25 and applied automatically. Looking for more detail? See how online 3D printing and UK delivery works, compare 3D printing materials, explore rapid prototypes, or learn about replacement parts. If a file is not ready, use the guides to repair a problem STL or export a sliced 3MF for instant pricing. If you do not have a printable file, CEEQ Design can create the CAD model and Hark Tech can print it.
Outside the instant quote
Choose the closest requirement and send the details. Hark Tech will confirm whether we can help and what the next step would be.
Yes. If a Hark Tech print is faulty or does not match its description, the customer can choose a free reprint or a full refund. This does not cover a customer-supplied design, scale, material or colour choice when Hark Tech printed exactly what was ordered. The full policy is at harktech.co.uk/returns.html.
Yes. Sliced .3mf files from Bambu Studio or OrcaSlicer get the same instant firm price as STL files, the slicer's embedded grams and print time are what we use, including multi-colour and multi-plate. Most UK print services bounce sliced 3MF to a manual quote form; Hark Tech prices them on the spot. In Bambu Studio or OrcaSlicer, slice your plates, then File → Export → Export plate sliced file (or Export all plate sliced files for multi-plate), and drop the result at harktech.co.uk/printing.html. Save Project As does not include slicer output, it has to be one of the Export-sliced options.
Yes. Download the model from its MakerWorld page (the 3MF file is fine as it is) and upload it at harktech.co.uk/printing.html for an instant price. Most MakerWorld 3MF files are priced on the spot; if one cannot be priced automatically you can send it for a free manual quote. Models from Printables and Thingiverse can be uploaded the same way, and many can be ordered straight from the model catalogue at harktech.co.uk/models.html.
Yes. Upload the STL, 3MF or STEP files at harktech.co.uk/printing.html for an instant price. Each piece must fit our 260 mm print bed, so full-size helmets and props are printed as separate pieces, the way most cosplay models are designed. If one STL holds several separate pieces, the estimator prices each piece on its own. Pieces are printed as supplied and arrive loose for you to glue, sand and paint. Blender users: export to STL first (File > Export > STL).
Yes, drop the .step (or .stp) file straight into the uploader at harktech.co.uk/printing.html and it is priced on the spot, just like an STL. There is no need to export or convert STEP to STL first; we convert the CAD solid to a print-ready mesh in-house while preserving the model dimensions. Hark Tech quotes STEP directly.
Standard pricing is £0.046 per gram of material plus £1.15 per hour of machine time, with a £4.60 minimum per print and a £6.90 minimum per order. Long prints carry a reprint-risk allowance on machine time (+15% at 2 to 4 hours per copy, +30% at 4 hours or more) and prints at 80% infill or more carry a 25% dense-print surcharge; both are included in the estimator price before you pay. Draft prototype quality uses faster 0.28 mm layers, fixed 10% infill, a 15% prototype discount, a £4.03 per-print floor and a £5.18 order floor. Bulk and lead-time pricing is calculated after upload. Eligible thin parts can use Royal Mail Large Letter. Small-parcel Tracked 48 and Tracked 24 rates apply when the complete order fits suitable packaging within 2 kg; parcel options and free-delivery eligibility come from the live postage settings. The calculator shows the firm print price before checkout.
The Standard order minimum is £6.90. Draft prototype orders start at £5.18 and are intended for economical size, fit and form checks. The live quote shows which minimum applies before checkout.
PLA Basic and PETG are usually the cheapest options. TPU has a £11.50 print-order minimum. PC (polycarbonate), ABS, ASA, Nylon and PETG-CF have a £46 print-order minimum; PA-CF has a £69 minimum. Stocked colours use the normal dispatch time; any filament marked Order in adds one working day. Availability and the adjusted turnaround are shown in the estimator before checkout.
PLA, PETG, TPU, ABS, ASA, polycarbonate (PC), nylon, and PETG-CF and PA-CF carbon fibre. The estimator shows live colour availability for each material. Stocked choices use the normal dispatch time; a colour marked Order in adds one working day. TPU and the engineering materials (ABS, ASA, PC and carbon-fibre-reinforced filaments) are printed in-house on our enclosed machine.
Typical dimensional accuracy is ±0.2 mm for standard FDM prints. For tighter tolerances (press-fits, threads, mating parts) we tune individual jobs and can usually hit ±0.1 mm. Tell us what the part mates to and we'll calibrate accordingly.
FDM 3D printing builds parts up in fine layers, so a printed part has a subtle layered texture rather than the dead-smooth finish of an injection-moulded original. This is normal for the process, not a fault. For most functional and display parts it looks great straight off the printer. Parts are supplied as printed: if you want a paint-ready or show finish, plan on light sanding, filler-primer and paint yourself. Tell us what the part is for and we will recommend the material and orientation for the cleanest result.
Parts with overhangs, or parts too large to print in their best orientation, need support material. We remove the supports, but they leave rougher marks where they touched the part, on every material. Filled materials like PETG-CF and PA-CF show this most. Your part arrives as printed: sanding, filing and other finishing are not included unless your quote says so. Where the finish matters, tell us in your order notes and we will let you know before printing if supports will affect a visible or sealing surface.
Hark Tech prints from supplied files and does not do original CAD modelling. Upload an STL, 3MF or STEP file for an instant price. If you do not have a model, CEEQ Design, a Basingstoke CAD and mechanical design studio, can create one through its own separate design service, and we print it once the file is ready. You can also choose a ready-to-print part from the model catalogue at harktech.co.uk/models.html.
Most Standard orders are dispatched within 2 working days, 4 at the latest. Express guarantees 2-day dispatch even when the workshop is busy, small in-stock parts on the rapid-prototyping lane paid before 1pm are dispatched the next working day, and Bulk dispatches in 10 to 14 working days for 20% off. Filament marked Order in adds one working day. Dispatch is when the parcel leaves the workshop; delivery time is additional. Your chosen turnaround and dispatch estimate are shown in the estimator before checkout.
It means we choose the filament colour for you from whatever we have in stock. To make good use of spare filament we sometimes print different parts of an order in different colours. This keeps your cost down and often speeds up dispatch, and it never affects the fit or print quality. If colour matters to you, pick a specific colour before ordering, as no-preference orders cannot be refunded or reprinted on colour grounds alone.