Jigs & Fixtures
A jig turns a fiddly, line-it-up-by-eye job into one that comes out the same every time. Printing tooling in plastic costs a fraction of machining it, which makes a jig worth having even for a job you only do fifty times.
Serving South & West Yorkshire and nearby, and posting parts across the UK · Guide prices in seconds · No account needed
Get a jigs & fixtures estimate
Upload your file or describe the part. We review printability before confirming anything.
Common uses
- Drill guides and hole-position templates
- Assembly and glue-up alignment jigs
- Workholding fixtures and soft jaws
- Go/no-go gauges and check fixtures
- Router and saw templates
Designing a jig that repeats
Send the part the jig has to work on — a sample, or measurements and photos — and tell us the tolerance you need to hold. We design around positive location: a lip, a pin or a pocket, so the workpiece can only sit one way round. Where a drill bit or cutter touches the jig, a pressed-in steel bush takes the wear instead of the plastic.
What plastic will and will not hold
An FDM print typically holds around ±0.2mm, with a little more variation on holes and the first layer. That is fine for drilling, alignment, glue-ups and rough gauging. It is not fine for inspection tooling that has to sign off a part dimensionally — if that is what you need, a printed jig is the wrong tool and we will say so.
Wear, heat and honest lifespan
A printed jig is a consumable. Contact faces wear, and clamping forces will eventually mark them, so treat the file as the asset and reprint the jig when it drifts. PLA is stiff but softens near anything warm; for heat, sustained clamping load or a jig that lives on a machine, PETG or an engineering material is the safer pick. Tell us how often it gets used and we will choose accordingly.
How it works
Send your file or describe the part
Upload an STL, OBJ, 3MF or STEP file, or tell us what you need with photos and a few measurements.
Get a guide price
When we can read the geometry we estimate from it straight away — material, print time, supports and quantity all priced openly.
We check printability, then confirm
A person reviews orientation, wall thickness and supports, flags anything that will not print well, and confirms your final quote before any work starts.
Jigs & Fixtures — example prices
Worked examples on real models from our print library, priced by the same calculator that estimates your own part. Sizes span small to large so you can see how cost moves with the part.
| Example part | Size | PLA | PETG | ABS / ASA |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Drill Bit Stand (small) | 88 × 21 × 33 mm | £7.56 – £9.66 | £8 – £10.22 | £8.99 – £11.49 |
| Screwdriver Rack (6-way) | 70 × 48 × 30 mm | £11.74 – £15 | £12.41 – £15.86 | £13.93 – £17.80 |
| Drill Bit Stand (large) | 179 × 21 × 43 mm | £18.49 – £23.63 | £19.57 – £25.01 | £22.02 – £28.14 |
| Bench Hook | 150 × 45 × 80 mm | £40.54 – £51.80 | £42.46 – £54.25 | £46.54 – £59.47 |
Guide prices for a single unit, calculated from the measured geometry of each example model — not fixed quotes. Small parts land at or near the £0 minimum order, and per-unit prices fall with quantity. Your price depends on your own part, its material and its printability. How pricing works.
Example models for jigs & fixtures
Open-source designs from our print library that show the kind of part this service suits. View any of them for a full material and quantity price breakdown.
Corner Brace (large)
Control Knob (large)
Bench Hook
Corner Brace (medium)
These are open-source example designs (CC0) we publish to show what the process suits and what it costs — not a record of past jobs. Prices shown are examples in PLA.
Jigs & Fixtures — FAQ
How accurate is a printed jig?+
Around ±0.2mm on most features is a realistic expectation. Tell us the tolerance you actually need — if it is tighter than the process can hold, we will tell you rather than print something that misses.
Will a printed jig wear out?+
Yes, wherever a tool or a clamp touches it. That is normal — you reprint it. Steel bushes at drill points and a harder material where it matters both stretch the life out considerably.
Can you copy a jig I already have?+
Send the jig or measurements and photos of it and we will recreate it as a file, so you can reprint it whenever it wears rather than waiting on the original.
Can a printed fixture hold a part for machining?+
For light work like hand drilling, deburring and assembly, yes. For real cutting forces plastic flexes and we would not recommend it — a printed fixture is best kept to positioning, not resisting a machine.
How much does jigs & fixtures cost?+
There is no fixed per-item rate — price comes from how much plastic the part uses, how long it takes to print, how much support and finishing it needs, and how many you want. The example table above shows what real parts of this kind work out at. Upload your file for a guide price on your own part.
How long does it take?+
It depends on the size of the part, the queue and the material. Tell us your deadline when you enquire and we will tell you honestly whether it is achievable before you commit.
Can I order one of the models from your library?+
Yes. Every model in our print library is a design you can have printed — pick one, choose a material and quantity, and the example price on its page is your starting point. You can also download the file and take it elsewhere; they are all CC0.
Are my files kept private?+
Yes. Uploaded files go to private storage, are never made public, and are only used to quote and produce your job.
Worth reading first
Practical guides that help you get a better part and a more accurate quote.
Prototyping a Product: A Step-by-Step Guide
The route from a sketch to a batch you can sell — what each stage is for, what to test, and when to stop printing in PLA and start printing in something real.
How Many Prototype Iterations Should You Expect?
Three or four rounds for a simple part, more for anything with a mechanism. How to iterate cheaply — one change at a time, several variants per print — and how to know when to stop.
From Prototype to Production
What happens after the design is frozen — bridge batches, the point where tooling beats printing, the design changes that make moulding cheaper, and what a moulder actually needs from you.
Other services
Get a 3D print estimate
Upload your file or describe the part. We review printability before confirming anything.