How big can a 3D print be in one piece?

Large-scale 3D printing means making a piece bigger than a desktop printer can. In filament, our largest single piece is 1 m × 1 m × 1.2 m, and resin, powder and metal each have their own limit, listed below. Anything bigger is printed in sections and joined into one piece.

Fused deposition modeling (FDM), desktop

Largest single piece: 360 × 360 × 360 mm, printed in our own studio.

Filament printing: melted plastic laid down one layer at a time. It costs the least for its size, though the layer lines show until the part is sanded and painted.

Fits in 360 mm? Get an instant price

Fused deposition modeling (FDM), industrial

Largest single piece: 1000 × 1000 × 1200 mm (1 m × 1 m × 1.2 m), the biggest piece we print in our own studio.

The same filament process on a bigger machine, for a piece that has to come out whole, with no joins to hide.

Reach out to us for anything near that size

Stereolithography (SLA)

Largest single piece: 1700 × 800 × 600 mm, in resin.

Stereolithography cures liquid resin with light, for a smooth surface and fine detail straight off the machine. The size depends on the resin: a standard ABS-like resin goes up to 1700 × 800 × 600 mm, most other resins to 1200 × 800 × 600 mm, and clear, flexible and black resins to 800 × 800 × 500 mm. Resin is brittle, so it chips where filament or nylon would bend.

Upload your part for a resin price

Nylon powder: selective laser sintering (SLS) and Multi Jet Fusion (MJF)

Largest single piece: 670 × 360 × 550 mm, in nylon powder.

Selective laser sintering fuses nylon powder with a laser into strong, working parts with no support marks, and Multi Jet Fusion (MJF) builds the same nylon with a binding agent and heat. The surface has a fine grain rather than a smooth finish. Two machine sizes take the large pieces, 670 × 360 × 550 mm and 550 × 400 × 500 mm, and smaller parts run on a 380 × 380 × 420 mm machine, so tell us the size and we confirm which suits it.

Upload your part for a nylon price

Selective laser melting (SLM)

Largest single piece: 420 × 420 × 450 mm, in metal powder.

Selective laser melting melts metal powder with a laser into a solid metal part, for when the piece has to be metal. It costs far more than plastic at the same size.

Reach out to us about a metal part

What can go wrong on a big print

Size magnifies every defect, so a large piece is designed and checked more carefully than a small one:

• Warping. The bigger the part, the more it shrinks as it cools or cures, and the more that shrinkage shows. A large flat resin piece, or a long thin one, can bow as it cures, and a wide filament base can lift at the corners. We orient the part, thicken or rib the thin faces, hollow a thick resin part so it cures evenly, and cure it flat.
• Sagging and leaning. A long unsupported span sags on a filament printer, and a tall resin part can lean while it cures. Supports, ribs and a slower print profile keep it true.
• Cracks and splits. A thick solid resin part can crack as it cures, and a thick filament wall can split along its layers when the part is loaded across them. Hollowing with drain holes, and orienting the load along the layers, prevent both.
• Joins that show. On a piece made in sections, a seam that is filled, sanded and painted disappears; a seam left raw does not, so plan the finish together with the split.

A person checks every large file before it prints, and every piece is checked before it leaves us. The problems hub covers each defect in detail.

See the common problems and how we fix them

Bigger than one print: made in sections

When a piece is bigger than any single print, we split the 3D model where the joins will be hidden or carry the least load, print each section, and bond them back into one piece. The seams are filled, sanded and painted, so the finished piece reads as one. The Glenfiddich stag antlers, 3.5 metres across, were made this way in lightweight segments, then painted by hand and hung over a mall atrium.

Send us the finished size and we'll plan the split