Frequently asked questions

Additive Edge is an on-demand 3D printing service based in Sharon, Massachusetts. We produce polymer, metal, ceramic and composite parts, plus printed PCBs, in-house and through a vetted network of manufacturing partners. You work with one team that handles the quote, the print and the quality check.

Additive Edge is based in Sharon, MA 02067, south of Boston. We serve customers across Massachusetts and New England directly, and customers worldwide through our partner network.

Both. We print in-house for day-to-day work, with full control over quality and timeline, and we extend that with a partner network for specialized equipment, exotic materials and extra capacity. Either way you have one point of contact, one quote and one invoice.

A single shop can only offer the machines it owns. Through Additive Edge you get access to 100+ machine platforms and 45+ materials, so the process is chosen to fit your part and not the other way around. The network also adds surge capacity when a deadline is tight.

We make functional prototypes, end-use production parts, jigs, fixtures and tooling, tight-tolerance parts, low-volume runs from tens to thousands, and bridge production while hard tooling is being built.

Both. Additive Edge produces test-ready prototypes and end-use components built to ship in your product, including low-volume and bridge production runs.

Our team has more than 10 years of experience in additive manufacturing, on both the customer side and the equipment manufacturer side. Read more about Additive Edge.

We do. Additive Edge applies one quality standard across every partner and coordinates sourcing, production, finishing and inspection, so you receive finished parts from a single accountable team.

Fill in the quote form with a description of your part, the material if you know it, the quantity and your timeline. You can also call 617-331-6266 or email david@additive-edge.com. We reply within one business day.

3D printed parts can cost from about $20 to a few thousand dollars. The material, the printer used and the size of the part drive the final price. Send us your part for an exact quote.

No. Additive Edge has no minimum order quantity and no minimum order value. Higher volumes lower the cost per part.

Lead times run from 2 business days to about 4 weeks, depending on material and quantity. We confirm your date with the quote.

You can request rush or expedited timing on the quote form. We confirm what is possible for your material and quantity when we send the quote.

We accept STL, STEP, 3MF and OBJ files, plus PDF drawings. Paste a Google Drive, Dropbox or OneDrive link into the quote form, or email the file to david@additive-edge.com and we will match it to your request.

Yes. Tell us what the part has to do and we suggest the process, material and machine that fit. We are not tied to one machine or one material, so the recommendation is driven by your part.

Yes. Additive Edge accepts purchase orders. Payment is due on receipt of the invoice.

Yes. We offer local pickup and delivery in the Boston area. Tell us which you prefer when you request a quote.

We don't require an NDA, but we are glad to sign one before you share files.

We review your request and reach out to align on design, fit and production intent. We then recommend a process and material, produce the parts, finish and inspect them, and ship them to you ready to use.

Yes. However many machines or partners a job uses, you get one quote, one invoice and one point of contact.

Additive Edge offers FDM/FFF, SLA, DLP and LCD resin printing, SLS, MJF and material jetting, binder jetting, metal laser powder bed fusion (LPBF/DMLS), bound metal deposition (BMD) and wire-arc additive manufacturing (WAAM). See the full list on our capabilities page.

Yes. We print metal parts by laser powder bed fusion (LPBF/DMLS), binder jetting, bound metal deposition and wire-arc additive manufacturing. Available metals include titanium, 316L and 17-4 stainless steel, H13 tool steel, copper, aluminum, Inconel 718 and Inconel 625.

We print in 45+ materials across five families: metals, polymers, composites, ceramics and specialty materials. That includes PEEK, PEKK, Ultem, nylon (PA6, PA12), TPU, carbon-fiber and glass-fiber composites, zirconia, alumina, silicone and foam. If you don't see the material you need, ask and we will help you find it.

Yes. Additive Edge prints high-temperature polymers including PEEK, PEKK and Ultem, as well as carbon-fiber and glass-fiber filled versions of PEEK and Ultem.

Yes. We print zirconia and alumina, which offer high-temperature stability, abrasion resistance and electrical insulation. They are used for tooling, wear parts and precision electrical components.

Yes. We print flexible parts in TPU, silicone and foam materials.

Yes. Additive Edge produces printed PCBs and additively manufactured electronics, and supplies Ataru, a high-temperature resin with low dielectric loss for RF and electronics work.

Both are powder-based polymer processes that need no support structures. The main difference is the energy source: SLS fuses the powder with a laser, while MJF uses a fusing agent and infrared heat. SLS produces durable, isotropic nylon-class parts. MJF offers fine feature fidelity and a strong surface finish for assembly-ready parts. Tell us about your part and we will recommend one.

Yes. Additive Edge can 3D scan and reverse engineer a part when no CAD file exists. Describe the part in the quote form to get started.

Yes. We provide design for additive manufacturing support to make parts printable, stronger and cheaper to produce.

Yes. Through our machine shop partnership we have access to 16 CNC machines for precision machining, hybrid workflows and metal finishing.

We offer machining, surface finishing, threading, assembly and painting, so parts ship ready to use.

Yes. Parts are verified in a dedicated metrology and inspection lab for tolerances, material properties and part quality before delivery.

Where a project requires it, production is routed to partners that meet ITAR, CMMC, ISO and AS9100 requirements. Tell us your compliance requirements when you request a quote.

Rizium is an engineering 3D printing filament based on a cyclic olefin copolymer (COC) blend reinforced with glass fiber (Rizium GF) or carbon fiber (Rizium CF). It prints rigid, near-isotropic parts with a clean surface finish and absorbs almost no moisture, so it does not need drying.

No. Rizium absorbs less than 0.01% moisture, so it is ready to print straight from the spool with no drying.

Rizium GF is glass-fiber reinforced and Rizium CF is carbon-fiber reinforced. CF is the stiffer grade, with a tensile modulus of 6.7 GPa against 3.6 GPa for GF, and prints in matte black. GF has slightly higher impact strength. Both share the same no-drying COC base.

For many parts, yes. Rizium has properties similar to nylon and comparable composites but is much easier to print: no warping and no drying. Its limits are heat and fuel. The heat deflection temperature is about 75°C, and it is not suited to hydrocarbon exposure.

Any FFF printer with hardened gears and a hardened nozzle. Rizium is 1.75 mm filament and prints with a nozzle at 220 to 260°C and a bed at 90°C.

No enclosure is needed. A rougher, textured build plate works best for Rizium.

Rizium GF suits functional prototypes, end-use parts, jigs and fixtures, drone and UAV frames, and cleanroom or lab parts. Rizium CF suits gears, structural brackets, robotic end-effectors, drone parts and tooling where stiffness matters.

Yes. Rizium holds its mechanical properties in sub-zero conditions and is UV stable, which makes it a good fit for drones and other parts used outdoors in the cold.

Avoid Rizium for automotive parts exposed to hydrocarbons such as fuel and oil, and for sustained use above its heat deflection temperature of about 75°C (GF) or 73°C (CF).

Rizium is a low-VOC material and does not require venting. Rizium GF and the COC base used in Rizium CF are GREENGUARD certified.

Rizium Support is a copolyester breakaway support filament made for the Rizium line. It is compatible with every Rizium filament, breaks away cleanly and is not water-soluble.

Additive Edge sells Rizium GF and Rizium CF in 500 g and 820 g spools, from $99, and Rizium Support in 500 g spools, in our online shop.

Yes. Send the part through the quote form and Additive Edge will produce it in Rizium GF or Rizium CF.

Ataru is a UV-curable high-temperature resin for SLA, DLP, LCD and MSLA printers. It has a heat deflection temperature above 300°C, high tensile strength and low dielectric loss.

Ataru high-temp resin has a heat deflection temperature above 300°C (ISO 75), which makes it suitable for high-temperature tooling, mold inserts and electronics. Additive Edge sells it in 1 L and 5 L volumes.

Bake Ataru parts in an oven at 200°C for 2 hours to post-cure them.

Ataru is used for high-temperature tooling and molds, RF and antenna components, additively manufactured electronics and functional prototypes where heat resistance, electrical stability and surface finish matter.

Yes. Ataru has low dielectric loss and a dielectric constant of about 3.1 at 1 MHz, which suits RF and high-frequency components.

Ataru is a low-viscosity resin compatible with SLA, DLP, LCD and MSLA resin printers.

Cured Ataru has a tensile strength of 65 MPa, a tensile modulus of 2.7 GPa, a flexural strength of 80 MPa and 5% elongation at break. These values are indicative.

Ataru resin has a shelf life of about 2 years.

Use Ataru Resin Cleaner, a post-print wash formulated for Ataru and similar high-temperature photopolymers. It is available in 1 L and 5 L containers.

Ataru is not recommended for long-term hydrocarbon exposure.

The shop sells Rizium GF and Rizium CF filament, Rizium Support filament, Ataru high-temp resin and Ataru Resin Cleaner. These are the same materials we use in our own production.

The online shop ships to customers in North and South America. If you are outside that region, request a quote and we will price your order separately.

Shop orders ship in about 3 to 5 days.

Additive Edge does not accept returns on shop materials. Contact us before you order if you have questions about a material.

Yes. Technical data sheets and safety data sheets can be downloaded from the Rizium GF and Rizium CF product pages, a safety data sheet from the Rizium Support page, and a data sheet from the Ataru page.

Usually, yes. Our network can source most engineering materials. Ask us through the quote form.

It is a white-label 3D printing partner program for machine shops. When a customer needs a part you can't machine or can't schedule, you send us the files, we print it, and you deliver it under your own name.

Nothing. There is no partnership fee and no minimum.

We send you our cost before any work starts, and nothing begins until you approve it. You set your own price with your customer.

No. You keep the customer relationship and deliver the parts under your name.

Geometries that can't be machined, such as internal channels, lattices, organic shapes and consolidated assemblies. Also overflow work during a long backlog, and materials a shop doesn't run, such as high-performance polymers, composites, ceramics and printed metals.

Yes. We sign an NDA on request.