Professional 3D printing and 3D scanning training inside a working manufacturing workshop. Not a taster session — the real workflow, on the same machines we use for commercial clients.
The approach
There is a version of 3D printing education that stops at the machine. A file is downloaded, a button is pressed, something appears. It is a good demonstration and a poor education, because it teaches the one part of the process that is already automated.
We run it the other way round.
Our day job is consulting and manufacturing for commercial clients across the UK — offshore conservation projects, veterinary training equipment, parts for vehicles that no longer have a supplier. The training programme opens that same workshop, and the same professional equipment, to students aged twelve and up.
Capturing a real object with 3D scanning and turning a raw scan into clean, usable geometry — the skill that separates people who can only build from scratch from people who can reproduce, repair and improve what already exists.
Modelling from an idea and designing with manufacture in mind: wall thicknesses, overhangs and tolerances that decide whether a part succeeds long before it reaches a printer.
Orientation, supports, infill and layer height — and what each one trades away. This is where most self-taught learning stalls.
Why a part yellows in sunlight, softens near heat or snaps under load. Matching polymer to purpose instead of using whatever is loaded in the machine.
Post-processing to a standard someone would pay for. The least glamorous stage, and the one that separates a hobby print from a product.
Real constraints: a deadline, a purpose, a person who has to be happy with the result. Every commercial part we make starts here.
Neil Doherty was fourteen — the youngest recipient in the award’s history. Presented at the TCT Awards, the additive manufacturing industry’s leading awards programme, the Sanjay Mortimer Foundation Rising Star Award recognises a neurodivergent young person with the creativity and potential to shape the future of engineering.
He arrived as a complete beginner. Over three years he progressed to designing and selling his own products, which are now in use in local businesses — a harder test than any exam.
Ways to train
Every student we have taught started at zero. No prior experience, no equipment of your own, and no expectation that you already know what you want to make.
Individual mentoring at our St Austell workshop, paced entirely around the student. This is the format behind our strongest results — working directly alongside people who do this commercially every day.
Several students together at our headquarters. Small enough that everyone gets hands on the machines and their own questions answered, rather than watching over someone else’s shoulder.
Bring a class or STEM club to see a working additive manufacturing facility. Students watch commercial parts being produced and understand where these skills lead as a career, not a novelty.
Sessions delivered on your premises, built around your timetable and mapped to Design & Technology and Computing curricula. Useful where transport or scheduling makes a visit difficult.
What progress looks like
Neil’s three years with us, as an illustration of where the programme can lead. Not every student wants to compete nationally — but the path is open.
No prior experience of additive manufacturing, CAD, or the workflow connecting them. Nothing unusual about the starting point.
Training on production equipment rather than a hobby kit, covering the processes and material properties that decide which approach suits a given job.
Designing and selling his own products — now in use in local businesses. This demanded design judgement, a read on what people would actually pay for, and finishing standards that make an object saleable.
The youngest winner in the award’s history, recognised at the additive manufacturing industry’s leading awards programme, with a Prusa CORE One+ and a place among the SMF Stars.
Common questions
Get in touch
Whether you are a parent, a teacher, or a student ready to dive in — tell us what you are interested in and we will come back with availability and options.
