How to Get a Broken Plastic Part Copied and 3D Printed

When a plastic part breaks and the manufacturer no longer sells it, 3D printing is often the cheapest way to get a working replacement. The quality of the result depends almost entirely on what you can give us to work from.

What to send

1. The broken part itself, if you can post it. A physical sample is by far the best reference — we can measure it directly.
2. Clear photos from several angles. Include the front, back, sides and any mounting faces. Put a ruler in shot for scale.
3. Key measurements. Use a ruler or, better, a caliper. Hole diameters, spacings, thickness and overall size matter most.
4. How it fits and is loaded. Does it clip in, screw down, or take weight? This tells us the material and wall thickness to use.

What we do with it

We recreate the geometry as a 3D model, choose a material that suits where the part lives (heat, sun, stress), and give you an estimate. If the part is complex, our design help service handles the modelling.

What to be realistic about

A printed replacement copies the geometry, not necessarily the exact original plastic. For most brackets, clips, housings and covers that is completely fine, and the part can be as strong or stronger. We will tell you honestly if a part is a poor fit for printing — very thin, highly flexible, or safety-critical parts sometimes are.

Describe your part for an estimate.