Up to 10,000 parts directly through Snapfab. Beyond that, we'll talk about moving the program onto production-focused tooling so the unit cost stays right at higher volumes.
11 Frequently asked
Straight answers, no asterisks.
These are the questions engineers actually ask before kickoff — pricing & lead-time, tooling, part quality, and how the shop runs. Skim by category below. If your question isn't here, the team replies fast.
What it costs and when it lands.
Per-file pricing shows right below the quantity toggle in your order view. Per-part cost drops noticeably once you cross the MOQ — the tool's already paid for, so each additional shot is cheap.
A bit. The shop runs at roughly 500 parts per day per program on average, so larger orders extend the run accordingly. If you need parts in waves, ask for batch shipments at quote time.
What the steel can do, and how it changes.
Yes. Every Snapfab tool is cut from P20 steel, so anything you'd build with traditional production tooling — slides, lifters, collapsing cores, cammed actions — is on the table.
We flag every adjustment needed to make the part manufacturable and send modified CAD files back for your approval before tool kickoff. Nothing gets cut into steel until the geometry is signed off.
Any steel-safe change is supported — adding material to the part means removing it from the tool, which is straightforward. Weld-back changes (where we add steel back) are possible too, but we'll review case-by-case for feasibility before quoting.
Tolerances, gates, color, and the rules per tool.
The goal is dimensionally accurate parts. If a feature — thick walls, sharp internal corners, deep ribs — risks pulling out of tolerance, we flag it early and propose a fix before kickoff rather than learning about it at first-shot.
Parting-line mismatch on Snapfab tools is held under 0.1 mm. Where the parting line lands is set during DFM based on geometry, draft, and ejection.
By default our engineers place the gate to optimize fill, knit lines, and cosmetic surfaces. If part function depends on a specific gate location, call it out and we'll do our best to accommodate the request during DFM.
Pigments are blended per order in-house. Colors are held within a Delta E of 3 against the target — the standard commercial color-match spec. Send a Pantone, RAL, or physical reference at quote time.
No. Each tool is built around one polymer family and one shrink rate, so the steel sizes the cavity correctly. The exception is TPE / TPU — see the next two questions for what you can change inside a single tool.
Yes. Small flat fee per Shore-value change on the same tool. List the durometers you want in the order notes and we'll run them in sequence.
Yes. Small flat fee per color change. List the colors and the split (e.g. 100 Cobalt / 100 Stone) in the order notes.
Yes. Small flat fee per insert. Specify the insert type, size, and location in the order notes — we install and verify before shipment.
Where we are, how we run, what we're certified to.
All parts are produced and shipped from our Snapfab-owned facility in Dongguan, China. Owning the floor means we control the schedule, the quality process, and the IP perimeter end to end.
Decades of work with IP-sensitive customers shapes our setup. Enterprise-grade encryption on every communication channel and file handoff across all devices, plus restricted physical access to every area of the production facility — including shipping.
ISO 9001 for quality management, plus ISO 13485 for non-active medical devices. The same production operating system covers both — rapid tooling through production-grade output.
Have a part in mind? Skip the FAQ — get a price.
Drop your CAD on the Snapframe configurator and you'll see per-part pricing, lead-time, and material picks instantly. No sales call, no waiting on a quote.