3D Printing
From rough test pieces to clean final parts. We match the printer, material, and settings to the job, not the other way around.
Now taking orders
Saskatoon · 3D Design & Manufacturing
From rough idea to finished part.
We're a Saskatoon shop with more than 20 printers. We design and print parts: one-off prototypes, replacement pieces, production runs, and the odd thing nobody else will make. Bring us an idea and we'll figure out how to build it.
- Owned and run in Saskatoon
- Design help included
- One-offs welcome
“We’ve been consistently impressed by their professionalism, reliability, and attention to detail.”
Chelsea Voinorosky Director of Technical Operations, LiORA by EMS - 20+ Printers A growing Saskatoon fleet for one part or a coordinated run.
- Saskatoon Owned and operated You work directly with the people designing and making your parts.
- One-offs Through repeat production Prototype once, refine the design, or reorder when you need more.
The problem
Getting one custom part made shouldn't be this hard
If you've ever needed a part that doesn't exist on a shelf, you know the drill: upload portals, minimum orders, and a long wait for something that might not even fit.
Weeks of waiting
Files go to a print farm two time zones away, the part comes back by courier, and if it doesn’t fit you start the loop again. A two-week wait per guess adds up fast.
Minimums you don’t need
Tooling and volume pricing make sense at ten thousand units. You need one bracket, or twelve enclosures, and suddenly nobody wants the job.
No CAD file, no service
Most portals need a finished, print-ready model before they’ll even quote. If all you have is the broken part and a good idea, you’re stuck before you start.
Services
Everything between idea and object
Bring us a napkin sketch, a CAD file, or the broken part itself. We'll take it from there. Reliability starts in CAD: we design parts for the process, so what comes off the printer works like a product, not a prototype.
CAD & 3D Design
No CAD file? No problem. We model from sketches, photos, hand measurements, or the worn-out part itself.
Rapid Prototyping
Print it, try it, tweak it, print it again. Cheap iterations now beat expensive surprises later.
Small-Batch Manufacturing
Need twelve of something, or twelve hundred? With 20+ printers running in parallel, short runs and standing orders ship without tooling costs, repeatable whenever you run out.
How it works
From concept to production
No mysteries: you'll know what your part costs and when it'll be ready before we hit print.
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Share your idea
Send a sketch, CAD file, photo, or the broken part itself. We’ll talk through what you actually need.
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Design & quote
We refine the design, suggest a material, and send a written quote. Nothing gets made until you’ve approved both.
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Print & iterate
Your part gets printed and checked. Need a tweak? Quick revisions are the whole point of prototyping.
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Delivery
Pick up in Saskatoon, or we ship it to your door anywhere in Canada.
Materials
The right material for the job
Stiff, flexible, heat-resistant, UV-stable: what a part is made of matters as much as its shape.
- Print farm
- 20+ machines running in parallel
- Max part size
- 340 × 320 × 340 mm (Bambu Lab H2S)
- Heat
- 350°C hotend · 65°C chamber
- PLA Crisp detail, great value Bambu Lab PLA in selected colours. Models, form-and-fit checks, and indoor parts; it softens in a hot car.
- PETG Tough & weather-resistant Bambu Lab PETG. Brackets, guards, and outdoor parts that get rained on or knocked around.
- ABS / ASA Heat & UV resistant Bambu Lab ABS and ASA. Under-hood parts and anything that lives in the sun; ASA holds its colour.
- TPU Flexible & impact-absorbing Bambu TPU plus ColorFabb varioShore, which prints soft or firm from one spool. Gaskets, grips, and seals.
- Nylon Engineering-grade strength Polymaker Fiberon and 3DXTech nylons. Gears, hinges, and load-bearing parts that see real wear.
- Carbon & Glass Fibre Stiff, light, rigid Carbon and glass-filled grades from Fiberon and 3DXTech. Fixtures, frames, and mounts where flex would ruin the job; glass runs tougher, carbon stiffer.
- PHA Microbially produced biopolymer Available for selected applications where its material properties and intended end of life make sense. Biodegradation depends on the specific formulation and environmental conditions.
- Specialty Filaments Wood-fill, glow, and more For parts where the look matters as much as the fit.
We stock selected colours across the full Bambu Lab line, plus engineering and specialty filaments from Polymaker Fiberon, 3DXTech, ColorFabb, and more. Not sure what your part needs? Tell us where it lives and what it puts up with, and we'll recommend the material.
And if the job calls for something printing can't do well, tens of thousands of identical units or tight-tolerance metal, we'll say so and point you at the right process instead.
How we compare
Where we fit next to the alternatives
Big online services and injection molding both have their place. Here's where each option does its best work, including the row where it isn't us.
Swipe horizontally to compare every option
| Attribute | Online print services | Injection molding | Prairie Prototyping |
|---|---|---|---|
| Design help from a sketch, photo, or worn part | ~ | ✕ | ✓ |
| One-offs welcome | ✓ | ✕ | ✓ |
| Short runs and standing orders, no tooling cost | ✓ | ✕ | ✓ |
| Talk directly to the person making your part | ✕ | ✕ | ✓ |
| Quick revisions between prints | ~ | ✕ | ✓ |
| Local pickup in Saskatoon | ✕ | ✕ | ✓ |
| Tens of thousands of identical parts | ~ | ✓ | ✕ |
| Best for | Print-ready CAD files | High-volume production | Ideas, prototypes, production runs |
Injection molding genuinely wins at volume: once you need tens of thousands of parts, the tooling pays for itself. Our job is everything before that point, and if your part has outgrown us, we'll say so and point you at the right shop.
What we make
Parts that earn their keep
Prototypes that prove an idea, fixtures that speed up a shop floor, and parts you can't buy off the shelf anymore.
- Functional prototypes
- Enclosures & housings
- Brackets & mounts
- Replacement parts
- Jigs & fixtures
- Models & displays
Customer work stays private unless we have permission to share it. Want to know whether we've built something like yours? Email us or send the details.
Kind words
What customers say
“LiORA has been working with Prairie Prototyping for over two years, and we’ve been consistently impressed by their professionalism, reliability, and attention to detail. They offer fair pricing and are always willing to work with us through multiple prototype iterations, even on tight timelines. Our products depend on precise tolerances to achieve watertight seals, and Prairie Prototyping has repeatedly delivered components that meet our standards. Their willingness to collaborate and commitment to quality make them an invaluable partner in our development process.”
Chelsea VoinoroskyDirector of Technical Operations, LiORA by EMSHave a part in mind?
Tell us what it needs to do.
A sketch, photo, CAD file, or the worn-out part is enough to start. We’ll help work out the material, process, and next step.
Questions
Questions we hear a lot
Straight answers to the things people ask before their first job.
What does a part cost?
Every job is quoted before anything gets printed. Price comes down to three things: material, print time, and how much design work the part needs. You’ll have the number in writing before we start.
How fast can I get my part?
Depends on the part, the material, and the queue, so your quote comes with a date. Tell us your deadline up front and we’ll be straight about whether we can hit it.
I don’t have a CAD file. Is that a problem?
No. A lot of jobs start as a sketch, a photo, or the worn-out part itself. We do the modelling, and the design time shows up in your quote, never as a surprise on the invoice.
What file types can you take?
STL, STEP, OBJ, and 3MF all work, and so do PDFs, photos, and hand sketches; we’ll turn those into a printable model first. The quote form takes attachments up to 8 MB, or email bigger files directly.
How big a part can you print?
Up to 340 × 320 × 340 mm in one piece on our biggest printer, a Bambu Lab H2S. Need bigger? We split the model into sections designed to bolt, snap, or glue together. And with 20+ printers running in parallel, quantity is rarely the bottleneck either.
Can you print watertight parts?
Yes. We developed an in-house finishing process that seals prints watertight, proven on parts a soil-sensing company has run in the field for over two years. If your part needs to hold water or pressure, say so in the quote and we’ll build for it.
Can you remake a part that isn’t manufactured anymore?
Usually, yes. We measure what’s left of the original, rebuild it in CAD, and where it makes sense we reinforce whatever failed in the first place. Safety-critical parts, like anything in a braking system, we talk through case by case.
Do you only work with businesses?
No. Shops and entrepreneurs keep the printers busiest, but plenty of jobs are personal: a discontinued appliance knob, a custom mount, a part for the boat. One-offs are welcome.
Is my idea safe with you?
Yes. Your files and designs stay between us, and nothing you send shows up in our gallery or on our social media without your okay. It’s why the gallery above is still mostly icons.
Do you ship?
Local pickup in Saskatoon is easiest. If you’re further out, we ship across Canada.
Got one that isn't here? Ask us directly. We'd rather answer it.
Where this is going
A production hub for the prairies
We're not just here to sell prints. We think the prairies should make more of their own stuff: every part produced here keeps money in the local economy instead of sending it somewhere it never comes back from. Distribution over concentration.
- Now
Local production
A 20+ printer farm in Saskatoon making goods here instead of an ocean away: prototypes, products, and standing runs for people who want a supplier they can drive to.
- Next
Closing loops
We can’t do this one yet: grinding and reprocessing gear is what we’re saving for. When we get there, scrap polymer gets reground into parts where recycled material is the right call. Less new plastic, more second lives.
- North star
PHA, where it makes sense
We print with PHA today for selected applications, but it isn’t magic. Biodegradation depends on the specific formulation and environmental conditions. Our goal is to expand its use as performance, availability, and end-of-life evidence improve.
About us
Built on the prairies, for the prairies
Getting a custom part made around here used to mean sending files across the country and waiting weeks. We're two people in Saskatoon who figured that should change, so we built the shop we wished existed.
Entrepreneurs testing a product, shops that need a fixture by Friday, anyone with a part that hasn't been made since the eighties: that's our kind of work. If it should exist, we'll help you build it.
What started as one printer is now a bank of more than twenty, running everything from one-off repairs to standing production runs. The machines have grown; the deal hasn't. You talk to the people who make your part.
Get a quote
Let's build your idea
Tell us what you're making. Attach a CAD file, sketch, or photo if you have one, and we'll come back with options and a price.