Why it comes cheaper
Every model you order is prepared, printed, cleared of support material and checked on its own, and that work is the same for a small part as for a large one. Five small parts ordered one by one pay for it five times. In the same file they are printed in one and the same print, and you pay for the material and the time they take together. The difference is largest for small parts, which otherwise each land on the lowest price.
That goes both for a model downloaded as several files, one per part, and for different things headed for the same place: all the clips for a car, all the hooks for a kitchen.
How to make the file in Bambu Studio
Bambu Studio is free and runs on Windows, Mac and Linux. You do not need a printer to use it. The first time, the program asks which printer you have: choose any in Bambu Lab's list with a 256 mm plate, such as the X1 Carbon or the P1S. It only decides how large a plate you see.
- Import your files: STL, 3MF, STEP or OBJ. They all land on the same plate.
- Lay each part with its flattest side down. Select the part and press F, and the program places it on the face you point at, or turn it with the rotation tool.
- Press A, and the program arranges the parts on the plate with space between them. The parts must not overlap.
- Keep to one plate. The parts have to fit within 256 × 256 mm, and none may be taller than 256 mm. If they do not fit, split them across two files and order two lines.
- Save the project as 3MF (File, Save Project As). That is the file you upload.
Other programs that save a 3MF with several parts work too, as long as every part sits on one plate and the file is saved in millimetres.
What the order page reads from the file
When you upload a 3MF from Bambu Studio, Order a custom 3D print online starts from the settings the project was saved with: material (PLA or PETG), layer height, infill and whether support material is used. If you have not changed anything, the parts get our standard choices, and you can change every setting on the page.
If the parts have different materials in the project, or one part is painted in another colour, the colours come along. We print with at most two colours in one print, and the page lets you choose which of our stock colours each colour becomes. How that works is in the guide 3D printing in two colours.
You see every part in the preview, with the dimensions and volume of the whole plate. The tools for turning the model turn the whole plate at once, so lay the parts right in Bambu Studio before you save. If you just want to see how the file turned out, open it in our STL viewer, which shows it in your browser without uploading anything.
Quantity and price
The quantity applies to the whole file. Order 3 copies and you get three sets of all the parts. If you need five of one part and one of another, put five copies of the first in the file before you save. Up to 20 copies of the file can be ordered straight away, and for more we send you a quote.
The price is worked out as for any model: material and time for all the parts together, including VAT, and you see it before you order. How it is worked out is in the guide What does 3D printing cost.
Common mistakes
- Parts that overlap grow into each other in the print. Let the program arrange them.
- A project with several plates does not upload the way you intend. Put every part on one and the same plate.
- Parts saved in inches or metres come in at the wrong size. Check the dimensions under the preview before you order.
- Every part in the file is printed with the same material, layer height and infill. Choose the settings for the part that needs them most, or put parts with different needs in different files.