A clip has snapped, a knob has cracked, a bracket has given way. The appliance still works perfectly, but it is unusable until that few grams of plastic is replaced. You looked for the reference at the manufacturer, and it no longer exists, or it is only sold as part of a complete sub-assembly.
That leaves remaking it by 3D printing. And immediately after, the real question: is it worth it? Here is how the price is built, line by line, so you can size up your own case before you even write to us.
The price sits on two lines, not on a label
A remade part has no catalogue price, because it exists in no catalogue. Its price is calculated from two measurable elements.
The material used. It is charged on the actual weight of the part. Material rates start at 22 €/kg for PLA, 26 €/kg for PETG, 35 €/kg for TPU and 65 €/kg for Nylon. A clip or a knob weighs a few grams, so on that kind of part material is rarely the dominant cost.
Machine time. This is how long the printer spends working on your part, charged at 7 €/h. It is the line that explains why two parts of the same weight can cost different amounts: a thin, hollow or highly detailed geometry takes longer than a simple volume of the same mass.
The mechanics are the same as for any on-demand print, and we broke them down in our article on what a 3D print costs.
Ballpark figures, by size of part
Across our on-demand printing, the observed ranges are these: a small part starts at around 15 €, a medium part falls between 40 and 50 €, and a large or technically demanding part goes beyond 120 €.
The vast majority of the repairs we handle land in the first category. A clip, an end cap, a knob, a hinge: these are low volume objects, printed in anything from a few dozen minutes to a few hours. The parts we are asked for most often are listed in our article on ten hard to find spare parts.
There is no minimum order: one part is an order. And if the same clip has failed at all four corners of a unit, additional identical copies come with a discount.
When the file still has to be created
This is the line that really moves a repair invoice, and it depends entirely on your starting point.
You have the 3D file. A model sourced legally, a manufacturer drawing, a file shared by a community: send it as STL, OBJ or 3MF, the three exchange formats we accept. There is nothing to model, so the price comes down to material and machine time. One useful reminder: you remain responsible for the rights attached to the files you send us, as some models are published under a licence that does not allow reproduction. On our side, your files are never shared or reused without your agreement.
You have the broken part, not the file. This is the most common repair scenario. The geometry then has to be recreated from what exists: photos with the measurements noted, or the part itself dropped off at the workshop in Vatimont. That modelling is a service in its own right, it adds to the price and appears clearly on the quote. A simple part and a complex geometry are not the same amount of work, which is why good photos from the start are worth the effort.
You have neither. Part lost, shattered, never found: we work from the measurements of the housing it has to fit. That is the same route as a new part designed from scratch, which we describe in getting a custom plastic part made.
Material follows the use, and the use follows the price
Picking the cheapest material is not always the cheapest choice. A part that breaks again is a second order.
PLA suits decorative or lightly loaded parts. PETG is the default as soon as a part has a job to do: clips, brackets, anything taking repeated effort. TPU is a flexible filament, kept for whatever has to bend, cushion or seal. Nylon is the technical material of the four, for the most demanding parts.
The reasoning fits in one sentence: tell us what the part does, where it lives and what it goes through, and the material follows. For the last two, our guide to TPU and Nylon goes into detail.
What gets added, and what does not
A repair part usually leaves the machine as it is, and that is normally fine: it is hidden, it does not need to be pretty. If it is visible, it can go through sanding followed by primer, the base coat that evens out the surface before painting, then hand painting and a matte, satin or gloss varnish. Every added step shows up on the quote.
For shipping, allow for tracked delivery within mainland France from 6.90 €, or free collection at the workshop in Vatimont, in the Moselle.
The right comparison is not the price of the part
A knob at 15 € can look expensive for a piece of plastic. Set against replacing the whole appliance, it becomes something else entirely. That is the whole logic of repair: the price that matters is not the one on the part, it is the one on what the part puts back into service.
There are cases where the answer is no, and we will tell you: a part under loads that printed plastic will not hold, a geometry beyond recovery, an appliance with other faults. A quote is also there for that.
Frequently asked questions
Is the quote free?
Yes, the quote is free and you get a priced answer within 24 hours.
How long before the part arrives?
Once the quote is accepted and paid, the part goes into production within 12 hours, Monday to Friday from 9am to 7pm. Production then takes 3 to 5 working days depending on complexity and workshop load.
Can you price it without seeing the part?
Not easily. Two sharp photos with a ruler or calliper in frame are usually enough to give a reliable figure.
What if I need several copies?
Additional identical copies come with a discount, since the preparation work is only done once.
Send the photos, we send the figure
The simplest route is to show us the part. Describe what you need on the workshop form with two or three photos, a measurement and the appliance involved: you get a priced answer within 24 hours, from a workshop in the Moselle.
For the full sequence of a repair, the plastic part repair page walks through the process. And if your part never existed rather than having broken, on-demand 3D printing is the place to look.