How much does custom 3D printing cost in Malta?

Nobody wants to fill in a form to find out whether something costs €20 or €2,000. So here are real numbers, and — more usefully — an explanation of what moves them, so you can estimate your own job before you ask us.

Why is there no price list?

Because almost nothing we make exists twice. A price list works when you sell the same object repeatedly. At 3DOME Malta most jobs are a single item designed around one person, one boat, one clinic or one event, and the cost is dominated by how long the design takes rather than how much plastic it uses.

That is not evasion. It is the same reason a joiner will not quote a kitchen over the phone.

What actually changes the price?

Four things, roughly in order of how much they matter.

Design time. If you send a finished 3D file, we print it. If you send a photograph, a sketch or a broken part, someone has to model it first. That is the single biggest line in most quotes, and the one you have most control over.

Size. Print time scales with volume, not height. Doubling the dimensions of a piece makes it roughly eight times the material and eight times the hours on the machine.

Material. PLA is the cheapest and gives the cleanest surface finish. ASA costs more and is the right answer for anything that will live outdoors. The difference on a small item is a few euro; on a large one it is worth thinking about.

Finishing. A single-colour print straight off the machine is the baseline. Hand-painting, polishing, engraved bases and packaging are all real hours and are priced as such.

How much does a 3D printed bust cost?

A desk-sized single-colour bust of around 15 cm typically costs between €90 and €180 at 3DOME Malta. Larger display pieces, hand-painted finishes, multiple subjects sharing one base and engraved plinths all add to that.

Most of that price is modelling, not printing — which is why a second copy of the same bust costs considerably less than the first. If you are ordering for a family, order at the same time.

How much does a personalised gift cost?

Small personalised items — keyrings, charms, name pieces — typically fall between €10 and €35. Larger keepsakes and photo reliefs that need modelling from an image usually run between €45 and €120.

There is no minimum order. A single piece for a single person is a normal job, not an exception we tolerate, because there is no tooling to amortise. One costs the same per unit as one of ten.

Do larger quantities cost less each?

Yes, but not as dramatically as with injection moulding, and for a different reason.

With traditional manufacturing the mould is the expensive part, so unit cost collapses once you are past a few thousand. With 3D printing there is no mould, so the saving comes from spreading the design work across the run and from batching parts onto one print bed. Expect a meaningful drop from one to fifty, and a gentler curve after that.

The practical upshot: 3D printing wins decisively at low volumes and loses to injection moulding at high ones. If you need ten thousand identical items, we will tell you to go elsewhere.

What do you need from me to give a price?

Less than most people expect:

• What the object is, and what it needs to do
• Roughly how big it should be
• How many you need
• When you need it by
• A photograph, sketch or file if you have one

That is usually enough for a figure within one working day. If it is not, we will ask one or two specific questions rather than sending a form.

Will the quote change later?

Not once it is fixed. At 3DOME Malta the price is agreed before anything goes on a printer, and for statues and modelled pieces you also approve a render of the design first. Revisions at that stage are part of the process, not an extra.

What can change the number is you changing the brief — a larger size, a different finish, more units. Those get re-quoted before we proceed, not after.