Full bed: why several pieces at once are cheaper

Why it matters

The printer always prints one bed at a time. The warm-up, preparation and inspection are paid for once, regardless of whether there is one piece on the bed or thirty. The more pieces fit, the less of these fixed costs falls on each one. A similar principle of arranging shapes on a surface is called nesting.

The maximum size of a single part with us is 246 × 246 × 256 mm, and several small pieces fit on the bed.

That is why it pays to order a whole bed rather than a few pieces. With one piece you pay for the whole printer run, with a full bed the same run is split between all the pieces.

How it works in the calculator

After you upload a model we work out on the server how many pieces fit on one bed, and we calculate the price and the lead time from that. The price per piece can therefore fall in steps: until the bed is full, each additional piece adds less. Twelve pieces can come out better per piece than thirteen.

The scale, the dimensions and the necessary supports also feed into the number of pieces on the bed.

How to make use of the bed

• Order whole multiples. If you see that 12 pieces fit, order 12 or 24 instead of 13.
• Smaller dimensions. Shrinking by a few millimetres can add pieces to the bed, see scale.
• A sensible orientation. A part laid differently takes up less room, see orientation.
• One colour. Multicolour printing adds a purge tower, which takes up space.

A practical approach: upload the model, change the quantity and watch where the price per piece drops markedly. That is a sensible quantity for an order.

What it means for a run

For small runs, such as keychains or magnets, a full bed is the difference between a high and a low price per piece. You will see it in the calculator: change the quantity and watch the price. See also small batch production and lead time.