Updated 4 October 2026

9 checks before you order a 3D printed part

Most 3D printing services look alike from the outside. Nine checks tell them apart, and each one takes a few minutes before a file changes hands. They work on any supplier, so this page names none. Under each check is how 3Descu answers it, as one worked example to compare against.

Get an instant price Or skip the reading and see what your part costs.

The nine checks at a glance

1. An ISO certificate you can verify

A quality claim is worth something only when the certificate is published and names the company that actually makes the part. Look for the standard and its year, the certification body, a certificate number and a date, and check that the company on the certificate is the one on the invoice.

3Descu: an ISO 9001:2015 certified factory. The certificate is issued to TREIDESCUPRINT SRL by MC Management Certification, number C-MC 7828, and is published in full on the ISO 9001:2015 page.

2. A factory, not a broker

Some services pass orders on to other workshops. That can work, but then the quality system, the NDA and the person answering belong to a company that never touches the part. Ask who owns the printers and whose name is on the invoice.

3Descu: a factory. Every part is printed in Romania on the company's own 200+ printers, FDM and SLA, in one of the largest 3D printing factories in Eastern Europe. The invoice comes from TREIDESCUPRINT SRL, the company that runs the machines.

3. An NDA before the files

A drawing often shows more than the part: it shows the product the part belongs to. A mutual NDA belongs before the files are sent, not after.

3Descu: a mutual NDA on request, drafted by 3Descu or by your team, and signed fast once the text is agreed. The instant price needs no disclosure at all: the file is measured in the browser and nothing is uploaded to get it.

4. Reprint or refund, in writing

Ask what happens when a part arrives out of specification, and get the answer in writing before ordering rather than in a chat after delivery.

3Descu: a part that does not match the agreed specification is reprinted or refunded, in writing.

5. The lead time on the quote

A price without a date is half a quote. The delivery date belongs on the quote itself, before ordering, and it should include the courier leg to the destination.

3Descu: the instant quote shows the price and the delivery date for the destination in under a minute, with no account. Printing runs seven days a week, so production days are consecutive and only the courier leg follows a working week.

6. Honest material data

A printed part does not have the properties of the spool it came from. A tolerance or strength table copied from a filament data sheet says little about the part, so ask which figures were measured on printed parts.

3Descu: each of the 13 materials has its own page with working classifications rather than figures borrowed from a data sheet, and the design rules state what has not been measured. Where a part needs a figure, say so on the quote and it is measured on a real printed sample; a dimensional report is available on request.

7. A person who answers

Find out who replies to a question about a part, and when. A form that disappears into a queue is a different service from a person who knows the machines.

3Descu: a person replies the same business day, by phone, WhatsApp or email, and a free 15-minute call with the people who run the machines can be booked online.

8. Shipping to your country

Inside the EU, parts from a supplier in another member state cross no customs border. Check the courier transit time to the destination before ordering.

3Descu: parts ship from Romania, inside the EU, by tracked courier across the European Union, the United Kingdom, Switzerland and Norway. Transit after dispatch:

Production days come on top and are shown with the quote.

9. File retention with a date

Ask how long uploaded files are kept and when they are deleted. A promise without a date is not an answer.

3Descu: uploaded files are encrypted in transit and at rest in EU storage, and deleted 90 days after upload.

Where to start

The quickest check is the quote itself: upload a file and the price, the delivery date and the material options appear in under a minute, with no account and no sales call.

Get an instant price Upload a file and the price appears in under a minute.