3D Printed Jigs and Fixtures: Custom Shop Tooling in Days, Not Weeks

A 3D printed jig or fixture is a custom shop tool built up in plastic layers instead of cut from metal. It does the same job the machined one did. It just costs less and arrives in days.

A jig guides a tool. A drill jig points the bit at the same spot every time. A fixture holds the part still while you cut, glue, sand, or test it. Plenty of shop tools do both jobs at once, so do not get stuck on the label.

We print them in PETG and PA-CF. Send a CAD file, a drawing, or the part the tool has to hold. Standard orders ship in 5 to 10 business days.

This page covers the buying side: cost, lead time, material, and how to send us a job. For the design side, read our guide to 3D printed jigs and fixtures.

PETG covers most jigs. Move up to PA-CF when the tool takes a beating or sits under load all shift. Here is the whole set side by side.

Watch the heat column on a shop floor. PLA gives up near 57 C, which is easy to hit next to a hot tool or a lamp. PETG buys you room at about 73 C. PA-CF holds stiff to about 140 C and is our strongest plastic. See the full materials page for the rest of the numbers.

Standard jig and fixture orders ship in 5 to 10 business days. Expedited service cuts that by about half.

A single test jig moves faster. One to ten parts ship in 2 to 5 days. Check the fit first, then order the set for every station.

PETG and PLA get an instant price the moment you upload. PA-CF goes to a person, who prices it within 4 business hours. Every part is made in the USA and ships inside the country.

You pay one flat price per jig. There is no tooling bill, no setup fee, and no minimum order. A shop that machines the same tool charges for setup and program time before the first chip flies.

Size and material drive most of the number. A small PETG drill guide sits at the low end. A big PA-CF nest costs more, since it uses more plastic and more machine time.

Order a set and each one costs less. The steps are 1 to 9, 10 to 49, 50 to 249, 250 to 999, and 1,000 and up. Your price holds for 30 days, so a PO has time to clear.

For a real number, upload the file at the instant quote, or read how our pricing works first.

Plan on about plus or minus 0.5 percent, with a floor near half a millimeter. That is typical for FDM, not a promise. We will not claim a number we cannot hold on every part.

Here is what that means in real terms. On a 100 mm jig, the drift is about half a millimeter. On a 20 mm feature, the floor rules, so it is still about half a millimeter.

That is fine for a part nest, a stop block, or a drill guide with a steel bushing pressed in. It is not fine for a slip fit you have not tested yet.

Two habits fix most of it. Flag the two or three sizes that really matter, and we hold those closest. Then print one test jig before the set.

Holes tend to print a touch small. Add clearance, or plan to ream them after. Our 7 design checks flag thin walls and small features before you pay. The glossary explains tolerance in plain words.

Yes. A CAD file is the easy path, but it is not required. Most shops that need a jig do not have one drawn yet.

Send a drawing and we build the printable file for a flat fee. That fee comes off your first print order.

Send the part the jig has to hold, or a photo with rough sizes, and we will measure and model it. Most tools built this way print in PETG or PA-CF. See custom parts for how that step runs.

Tell us three things with the job. Which part the tool grabs. Where the load or the clamp pushes. Which hardware bolts to it. We aim the layers at the load and size the holes for your screws.

Printed plastic does not replace every shop tool. Here is where it loses, so you do not learn it the hard way on the floor.

Use metal for weld fixtures. Plastic will not survive the spatter or the heat.

Use metal when a cutter can touch the tool, or when a clamp bites hard right on the jig body. Plastic gives under a steel clamp and the part shifts.

Press a steel bushing into a printed drill guide. Bare plastic wears out fast under a spinning bit.

Size caps at 220 mm on a side on our standard bed. A bigger tool splits into pieces that bolt together, or it moves to a large-format run. Ask and we will tell you which way is cheaper.

These examples show typical jobs, not named customers.

An assembly line needs a nest that holds one housing while screws go in. One PETG test part proves the fit. Then 24 more ship for the other stations.

A maintenance team prints a PA-CF drill guide for a repair that repeats each quarter. The file stays on the account, so the next one takes a click. That is the same flow our plant operations page walks through.

A shop stocks 30 small fixtures, 20 units each. No tool gets machined and no setup gets paid, so the whole set prints in one order. That is a low-volume production job wearing a different hat.