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What "printed to fit" means
It is our tagline, so it should mean something exact. It means the piece is generated from your numbers, with a stated clearance, and remade if it misses them.
"Printed to fit" is easy to say and easy to stretch. Here is what we mean by it, in numbers you can check with a ruler.
Three parts to the promise
- Generated from your input. Not picked from three stock sizes. Your text sets the plaque width; your card size sets the tray cavity; your drawer sets the baseplate. The same numbers always produce the same piece.
- A stated clearance. Every measured product leaves a specific gap so it drops in without forcing. We publish the gap.
- Remade if it misses. If a piece does not match the numbers you entered, it is remade free. If your numbers were off, the remake is half price. That is the fit guarantee.
The clearances, product by product
| Product | What you give us | Clearance we leave |
|---|---|---|
| Card tray | Card size, sleeved or not, capacity | 1 mm each side for bare cards; 3 mm each side for sleeved, after adding 2 mm for the sleeve; 2 mm of spare stack length |
| Custom box insert | Inside length, width, insert height | 1.5 mm total on length and width, height as entered |
| Drawer baseplate | Inside width and depth | 1 mm total on each; bins sit in sockets with 0.25 mm per side |
| Drawer divider kit | Inside width, depth, divider height | 2 mm total on width and depth; slots 0.3 mm wider than the divider |
| Card divider set | Card size | Sized to the card plus a sleeve margin, a few millimeters taller than the cards |
Why different numbers? Because the parts behave differently. A card deck needs room to slide but should not rattle, so bare cards get one millimeter. A box insert has to drop into a cardboard box that is never quite square, so it gets a bit more in total. A divider kit has to go into a wooden drawer that swells and shrinks with the seasons, so it gets the most.
How accurate is a print
Our printer holds outside dimensions to within a few tenths of a millimeter on small parts and about 0.3 percent on large ones, under a millimeter on a 250 mm insert. Every clearance above is bigger than that, so a piece made to your numbers fits your numbers even at the edge of the tolerance.
Height is the most accurate direction, because the printer builds in layers of exactly 0.2 mm. Walls are whole numbers of 0.42 mm lines, which is why a wall might be 1.68 mm rather than a round 1.6.
What printed to fit does not promise
- That your measurement was right. We fit the number you typed. If you measured the drawer at the rim and the floor is narrower, the piece matches your number and misses the drawer. That is the half price remake case, and it is why our drawer and game box guides exist.
- A press fit. Nothing we make is meant to be forced in. If you want a piece that grips, tell us and we will talk about it, but a press fit in cardboard or wood is a fit that fails in a humid summer.
- Fit to a thing we have not measured. "Fits your gear" products, which open in January, are fit tested on the real object before we list them. Until then, we do not claim a piece fits any specific branded item.
- Fit after heat. PLA softens at about 55 degrees Celsius. A piece that warped in a hot car no longer matches its numbers. See PLA in a hot car.
Text pieces fit too
For plaques and signs, printed to fit means the plate is generated around your words at a fixed letter height, with an even margin each side. A short name and a long one look like a set. The post on how a plaque is sized has the numbers.
How to check yours
Custom measured pieces ship with a slip showing the numbers you entered, and card pieces are made to the card size on your order. Measure the piece with a ruler and compare: it should be your number minus the clearance in the table. If it is not, email [email protected] with a photo of the ruler on the piece and we remake it.
Not sure what to order? Email [email protected] with your measurements and a sentence on what goes in it. A person answers on business days.