3D Printed Jigs and Fixtures

If you do the same fiddly operation more than twice, a jig pays for itself. And jigs are close to the perfect use of 3D printing: one-off, shaped to a job nobody else has, and useless to anyone but you — which is exactly the kind of thing no manufacturer will ever make for you.

What people actually print

• Drilling guides. A block with hardened bushes or plain holes that puts the bit in the right place every time. Repeat hole patterns on cabinets, panels, chassis.
• Assembly fixtures. A cradle that holds a part at the right angle while you glue, screw or solder it, so both your hands are free.
• Welding and brazing fixtures. For positioning, not for the heat — the printed part holds the geometry, and comes nowhere near the arc.
• Go/no-go gauges. A quick physical check that a part is in tolerance without reaching for calipers.
• Soft jaws. Vice or chuck jaws shaped to an awkward part so you can clamp it without marking it.
• Alignment and spacing tools. Setting consistent gaps on shelving, decking, tiles, brackets.
• Sanding and routing templates. A profile you follow with a bearing-guided cutter.
• Marking templates. Drop it on, scribe through the slots, done.

Why printing beats making them the old way

Cost. A jig from a machine shop is a real invoice. Printed, most are a modest one, driven by size and print time rather than by hours of skilled labour. See how pricing works.

Iteration. The first version of a jig is nearly always wrong in some small way. Printing means version two is another afternoon, not another quote and another fortnight. If the jig is only ever going to be used a handful of times, "good enough on version two" is the right target.

Shape freedom. Curves, organic cavities, part-shaped pockets and internal channels cost nothing extra to print, whereas they are exactly what makes a machined fixture expensive.

No minimum quantity. One jig is a completely normal order.

Materials for tooling

• PLA is stiffer than people expect and dimensionally accurate, which makes it good for gauges and templates. It is the cheapest option and fine for a jig used indoors, occasionally. It will creep under sustained clamping load and it hates heat.
• PETG is the default for anything handled daily. It takes knocks without cracking.
• ABS/ASA if the jig lives somewhere warm, or near a heat source.
• Nylon or nylon-CF for jigs under real clamping force or continuous use — stiff and tough, at a price.
• TPU for soft jaws and anything that grips a finished surface without marking it.

Design notes that make a real difference

• Put a metal insert where a drill bit touches. Plastic wears fast against a spinning bit. A pressed-in steel bush turns a disposable jig into a lasting one.
• Orient for the load. Printed layers split more easily than they tear. We orient so clamping forces run along the layers rather than across them — worth reading our guide on how strong printed parts are.
• Design in the clearance. A pocket cut to the exact nominal size will not accept the part. Allow a few tenths of a millimetre — see tolerances and fit.
• Add a locating feature. A lip, pin or shoulder that only fits one way removes the chance of using the jig backwards.
• Walls over infill. For stiffness, extra perimeters beat a high infill percentage almost every time.
• Print a batch. Jigs get lost, broken and lent out. A spare while the machine is already set up is cheap — our small batch service covers this.

Where a printed jig is not the answer

• Machine tool work-holding under real cutting force. Mill and lathe fixtures taking a serious cut need metal. Plastic deflects, and deflection under a cutter is how parts and people get hurt.
• Anything in the heat-affected zone of welding. Positioning nearby is fine; contact with hot metal is not.
• Precision inspection fixtures. If you are checking to hundredths of a millimetre, printed plastic moves with temperature and humidity too much to be your reference.
• Production tooling running all day, every day, for years. Print it to prove the design, then have the proven version machined.

That last one is the pattern worth remembering: print the prototype jig, use it, find out what is wrong with it, and only spend money on metal once you know the design is right.

Getting one made

Send a sketch, a photo of the part the jig has to fit, or a model. If you have the part but not a drawing, measurements and photos are enough — we can design around them via our design help service.

Get an estimate · upload a file.