FDM: FDM is a 3D printing process that builds a part by melting a plastic filament and laying it down through a moving nozzle, one layer at a time.
FDM (fused deposition modelling) is the most common kind of 3D printing. The printer pushes a thermoplastic filament, such as PLA, PETG, ABS or nylon, through a heated nozzle, traces one layer of the part, moves up and traces the next. FDM is a Stratasys trademark, so many people call the same process FFF, fused filament fabrication.
What it means for the price
An FDM price is mostly machine time. Time grows with the volume of plastic laid down, the layer height, the number of walls, the infill density and any supports. Filament is cheap per gram next to the hours a printer is busy, so material is usually the smaller line. A fair quote also carries a setup charge per job and labour for removing supports and finishing.
Example: a bracket that uses 40 g of PETG and prints in 3 hours on a printer charged at €3.00 per hour carries €9.00 of machine time against roughly €1.20 of filament. These are example figures, not typical rates.
Common confusions
- FDM and FFF are the same process under two names.
- The time a slicer reports is an estimate too. A fast estimate from the part’s volume and surface area is close enough to quote from once it has been checked against real jobs.
Quotometry prices FDM end to end today. Read how FDM print time is estimated or see the FDM process page.
Go deeper: FDM print time estimation: why volume does not predict it