Assembly jigs, drilling fixtures, go/no-go gauges, and alignment tools used to mean a two-week wait on a machine shop and hundreds of dollars per piece. Printed in the right engineering plastic, the same tool costs a fraction of that and is ready the next morning — and when the product it supports changes, you reprint a $20 fixture instead of re-machining a $600 one. For Rochester manufacturers, that turns shop-floor tooling from a capital decision into a same-week one — a shift the US national additive-manufacturing accelerator America Makes has been tracking across small and mid-sized manufacturers for years.
What we print
- Assembly jigs and fixtures to hold parts in position during gluing, welding, soldering, fastening, potting, or inspection — repeatable placement without a third hand.
- Drilling and routing templates with pressed-in hardened bushings where repeated tool contact needs wear resistance, so the holes land in the same place on part #1 and part #500.
- Go/no-go and profile gauges for fast pass/fail QC checks on the line — cheaper to print a set than to tie up calipers and a trained eye.
- Alignment tools, locating templates, and spacers for consistent placement of fasteners, labels, gaskets, and components.
- Soft jaws, nests, and custom grippers for vises, robotic end-effectors, and manual handling — conformal pockets that cradle an odd-shaped part without marring it.
- Trial and bridge tooling — prove a fixture design in plastic before committing to a machined production version, or run the plastic one until the machined one arrives.
Cost and lead-time comparison
The economics are the whole pitch here. A representative comparison for a mid-size assembly jig:
| Factor | Machined aluminum jig | 3D-printed jig (PETG/ABS) |
|---|---|---|
| Typical cost | $400 – $800+ | $15 – $50 in materials |
| Lead time | 1 – 2 weeks | Often next day; 3 – 7 business days for a batch |
| Design change | Re-machine or scrap | Edit the file and reprint |
| Weight | Heavy — harder to handle on the line | Light — easy to move and store |
| Wear surfaces | Inherently hard | Add pressed-in steel bushings/inserts where needed |
| Best for | High-cycle, high-load, tight-tolerance metalworking fixtures | Assembly, inspection, light-duty, and rapidly-evolving tooling |
For a line changeover that needs a dozen fixtures, the math gets lopsided fast — and the flexibility (reprint on a design change, iterate the ergonomics, hand a copy to a second cell) is worth as much as the cost saving. Rochester's manufacturing base has used printed tooling exactly this way; see our post on how Rochester businesses use 3D printing to save money. When you do need very high cycles or metal-on-metal contact, we'll tell you where printed tooling stops making sense.
Material recommendations
- PETG — tough, dimensionally stable, low-friction, and easy on the parts it holds. The default for most assembly and inspection fixtures.
- ABS / ASA — when heat resistance matters: fixtures near ovens, heat-staking, soldering, or in hot plants. ASA also handles UV if a fixture lives near a window or outdoors.
- Nylon (PA) — for fixtures that take impact, snap-fit cycling, or repeated flex; tough and fatigue-resistant. Available with chopped-fiber reinforcement for higher stiffness.
- Polycarbonate (PC) — when you need maximum stiffness and heat resistance in a printed fixture.
- TPU — for soft jaws, conformal nests, and protective pads that grip without marring.
- Hardened inserts — we press steel drill bushings, threaded inserts, and dowel pins into printed bodies wherever a wear or precision surface needs metal.
FAQ
How accurate are printed fixtures? FDM holds roughly ±0.2 mm (or ±0.2% on larger features); for locating surfaces that need to be tighter than that we design in adjustable elements, dowel-pin references, or pressed-in metal locators. Our guide to 3D printing tolerances covers what to expect and how to design around it.
Will a plastic fixture hold up to production use? For assembly, inspection, and light-duty work — yes, easily, often through tens of thousands of cycles. For high-load clamping or repeated metal-on-metal contact, we add inserts or recommend a machined fixture. We'll give you a straight answer based on the duty cycle.
What do you need from me to quote a fixture? A drawing of the part it has to hold (or the part itself), a description of what the fixture needs to do, and any critical dimensions. If the fixture needs to be designed from scratch, that's part of the quote — see design services.
Can you make several copies? Yes — once a fixture design is dialed in, printing a set for multiple cells or stations is straightforward and cheap (see small-batch production).
Turnaround
Most tooling ships in 3–7 business days; simple single fixtures are frequently next-day. Send us the drawing or a description of what the tool needs to do and we'll handle the rest.