A printing service versus buying a printer
A single desktop printer is cheap and it is the right answer for a team that prints something most days and only ever prints one material. It stops being the right answer the moment parts are needed in quantity, in more than one material, larger than the machine, or on a date somebody else is depending on. The cost that decides it is rarely the machine; it is the hours of somebody's week spent tuning, failing and reprinting.
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What each one is actually good at
| Own printer | Printing service | |
|---|---|---|
| First part today | Yes, if it prints first time | No, it ships |
| Twenty parts by Friday | Unlikely on one machine | Routine |
| Materials available | Whatever that machine runs | 13 priced instantly, more on request |
| Largest part | The machine's build volume | Up to 500 x 500 x 500 mm |
| Who fixes a failed print | Somebody on your team | Not your problem |
| Cost of a part | Filament, plus the time | A price you see before you commit |
The honest version
Most engineering teams end up with both: a desktop machine for the fast iteration nobody should be paying for, and a service for anything that has to be right, large, repeated, or in a material the desktop machine cannot run. Deciding which job a given part is takes about ten seconds once the split is clear.
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