Frequently asked questions

Everything is made to order, so nothing ships the hour you buy it. Most pieces are printed, finished and on their way within 3–5 business days.

The 11" and 13" sizes take longer for the obvious reason — a 13" skull is many hours on the plate. Multi-item orders take longer too.

United States — Standard $8, Express $15, and free from $70.

Everywhere else — quoted live at checkout through USPS, DHL Express or FedEx, based on where you are and what is in the box.

Yes, worldwide. Rates are calculated at checkout.

Customs duties and import taxes are set by your own country and are not included in what you pay us. We cannot predict them and we cannot mark a parcel as a gift to avoid them.

A tracking link is emailed the moment the parcel is scanned.

If it has been more than five business days and you have heard nothing, email shopify@prinstey.com and we will tell you exactly where your print is — including if it is still on the plate.

If tracking has not moved for more than 7 business days, tell us — we will chase the carrier and, if it is genuinely lost, reprint your order.

Carefully. It is the thing customers mention most often without being asked.

Thin, detailed prints get padded and braced so the teeth and crests survive the trip. The parts most likely to snap are the parts that get the most packing.

Yes, and it is usually the cheaper way to do it. Multiple pieces share a build plate and a single box, which is why free shipping kicks in at $70.

Add the whole order to the cart rather than placing separate orders — separate orders get packed separately and cost you more.

If it has not started printing, yes — message us straight away and we will change the size, colour, or cancel it outright.

Once a print is underway the material and the machine time are committed, so get in touch as early as you can.

Sometimes. It depends entirely on what is already on the plates that week, so ask before you order rather than after.

It does happen: one custom prototype went from agreed quote to delivered in a single day. That is not the normal turnaround, but it is not a fantasy either.

Five, measured along the longest axis of the skull: 5", 7", 9", 11" and 13".

5" is a desk piece — it sits next to a monitor without taking the desk over.

7" and 9" are the most ordered. Big enough to read as a real specimen from across a room, small enough for a normal shelf.

11" and 13" are statement pieces. Measure your shelf first — people underestimate a 13" T. rex skull.

Eight: Bone, Gray, Black, Blue, Brown, White, Gold and Silver — nine on the Teratophoneus and Inostrancevia, which add Tan.

Bone is the one most people want and the one that reads as an actual fossil. Brown and White are the next most museum-like. Black, Gold and Silver stop looking like bone and start looking like an object — which is the point, if that is what you are after.

Most are modelled on real, catalogued specimens; a few — the Dilophosaurus, the Parasaurolophus and the raptor — are sculpted models, and their pages say so. The anatomy is where the anatomy should be, and the thin parts are thin — hollow where the real bone is hollow.

The Famous Specimens collection goes further: Stan (BHI 3033), Trix and AMNH 5027 are named individual fossils that sit in real museums, scars and pathologies included.

Most dinosaur skull replicas are a generic member of a species. These are specific animals.

Stan carries the puncture wounds and healed fractures he survived. That is not decoration — it is what was on the bone when it came out of the Hell Creek Formation.

Yes, in the same places the real skull is. That is deliberate: a solid block would weigh a great deal, cost more and look wrong.

It also means they are lighter than people expect when they lift one out of the box.

Sturdier than they look, but they are not toys. The thin areas — the ones that make them look real — are the ones to be careful with.

Lift the larger skulls by the cranium, not by the jaw or a crest.

Yes. PLA takes a plastic-friendly primer and acrylics well, and plenty of customers do exactly that.

If you plan to paint, order it in Bone or White — a dark base fights every coat you put on it.

No. They ship ready to display and sit flat on their own.

If you want it lifted or angled, the Display Stands & Décor collection is printed in the same workshop and the same materials.

Yes — that becomes a custom job rather than a catalogue order. Message us with the size you need and we will tell you honestly whether it is sensible at that scale.

Very small versions lose the detail that makes them worth owning. Very large ones get split, printed in parts and joined.

PLA. It is rigid, matte, and holds fine detail better than anything else at this size — which matters when the entire point is the texture of bone.

It is also the reason for the one real care rule: keep it out of a hot car. See Care Instructions.

Seventeen. Fifteen are priced instantly on Print My STL, from $1 — every one below except Wood-Fill and Glow in the Dark PLA, which are quoted by hand on the Custom 3D Print & Design page.

Everyday — PLA, Silk PLA, PETG.
Tough — ABS.
Outdoor — ASA.
Flexible — TPU.
Carbon fibre reinforced — PLA-CF, PETG-CF, ASA-CF, PA12-CF.
Engineering — PA Nylon, PC (Polycarbonate), PP (Polypropylene), ABS-FR (flame retardant).
Decorative — Wood-Fill PLA, Glow in the Dark PLA, Multicolour.

Resin is available too, but it is quoted individually rather than sold from a dropdown.

Around twenty stock colours — black, white, greys, silver, gold, beige, bone, brown, red, orange, yellow, greens, blues, purple, pink, transparent and natural.

Not on the list? Pick Other / custom colour and tell us what you want. We buy in new colours on request — allow a few extra days.

PLA — display pieces, models, anything where detail matters most. Over half of everything we print. Silk PLA is the same thing with a sheen.

PETG — parts that need to survive a knock or some warmth. Our second most-used material.

ABS — heat and solvent resistance. ASA is ABS that also survives sunlight, so it is the one for outdoors.

TPU — flexible. Gaskets, grips, bumpers, anything that has to bend and come back.

Carbon fibre grades (PLA-CF, PETG-CF, ASA-CF, PA12-CF) — stiff and dimensionally stable, with a matte technical finish. For brackets and mounts that must not flex.

Engineering grades — PA Nylon for gears, bushings, wear surfaces and snap fits; PC when it has to be as strong and heat-tolerant as we can go; PP for living hinges and chemical resistance; ABS-FR where flame retardance matters.

Not sure? Describe the job and we will tell you which one we would use.

Yes. There is a resin printer in the workshop alongside the Bambu Lab filament machines, with a wash and cure station.

Resin holds finer detail than any filament — it is the right call for miniatures and very small features. It is more work per part, so resin jobs are quoted individually rather than listed with a fixed price.

On close inspection, yes — this is 3D printing, not injection moulding. At arm's length on a shelf they read as surface texture on bone, which is why the skulls work so well as display pieces.

If you need a completely smooth surface, resin is the better route, and sanding and priming will get you the rest of the way.

Bigger than most people assume. Parts beyond a single build plate get split, printed in sections and joined — that is routine here, not an exception.

For scale: one custom job was a drone mould that ate 12 kg of PLA.

Yes, and it is the cheapest way to work with us. Print My STL prices your file the moment you drop it in, from its real size and the material it needs — from $1, no quote, no waiting.

Unusually dense or support-heavy parts get a revised quote before anything is printed, and a full refund if you would rather not go ahead.

Yes. Design, 3D scanning and reverse engineering are what Custom 3D Print & Design is for.

Send a broken part, a sketch, a photo with measurements, or just a description of the problem. That side of the business has delivered 115 projects so far.

The range is the point. A real sample from the last few months:

• Engineering — a car part scanned, reverse engineered and printed; a Honda Ridgeline antenna cover; PSU fan covers; vacuum adapters
• Homelab and PC — minirack mounts, NZXT front panels, CPU power unit covers, AIO covers, fan adapters
• Medical and scientific — a brain replica printed from an MRI scan, and a medical brace
• Cosplay and props — chest and abs armour plates, lightsabers, a Robin-style mask sized for a toddler
• Everyday — board-game organiser inserts, UNO card boxes, wall hooks, bike bottle holders, sharpening-stone storage

Many of them are pictured with the client reviews on the custom print page.

Five steps, no account required:

1. Tell us what you need — upload files, or just describe it
2. We reply with a price and a realistic timeline
3. You approve it and we invoice you
4. It gets printed, finished and checked
5. It ships, with tracking

Nothing is printed before you have agreed the price.

Often, yes. Send the broken part or clear photographs with measurements and we will model a replacement.

The car part on the portfolio is one of these: one side of a lower body trim piece was broken, so we 3D scanned its intact mirror twin, rebuilt it in CAD, mirrored it and printed the replacement in black PETG. See that job, start to finish.

Yes, including medical imaging. One completed project was a real brain replica printed from an MRI scan.

Scan data usually needs cleaning up before it will print — that work is part of the job, not an extra you have to arrange yourself.

STL, STEP, STP, 3MF, OBJ, GCODE, GCO, BGCODE, AMF, PLY, IGES, IGS, X3D, F3D, F3Z, ZIP and RAR archives, plus photos (JPG, PNG, HEIC, WebP) and PDFs.

If your file is not on that list, send it anyway and ask — the list covers what the upload form accepts automatically, not the limit of what we can open.

Attach them to the form on the custom print page — up to 20 files and 2 GB per message, no account needed. It notifies us the moment something lands, so you do not need to email separately to say you have sent it.

Have a model ready to print? Print My STL takes one file up to 500 MB and prices it on the spot.

An invoice is sent once the quote is agreed, payable by card or PayPal. Catalogue orders go through normal Shopify checkout instead.

Yes. Multiples of the same piece cost less per unit because they share a build plate — one job on the portfolio was 24 identical fan vents, another 24 shunt covers.

Email shopify@prinstey.com with the quantity and rough deadline.

Files you send are used only to quote and print your job — never resold, redistributed or published.

We may photograph finished work for the portfolio unless you ask us not to. If a job is confidential, say so when you send it and it stays private.

It depends on the design work involved. A straightforward print from your own file moves at normal catalogue speed; something that has to be modelled or reverse engineered takes longer, and we will tell you how long before you commit.

At the fast end, one prototype was printed and delivered in a single day — the client paid extra unprompted.

Keep it out of direct sun and out of hot cars — PLA softens in high heat, and a parked car in summer is the one environment that reliably ruins a print.

Dust it with a soft dry brush. Full detail on Care Instructions.

A soft dry brush — a clean paintbrush is ideal for getting between teeth.

Avoid acetone, alcohol and solvent cleaners. They attack PLA and will haze or soften the surface.

Not a PLA one, no. Sustained UV and heat will make it brittle and eventually warp it.

If you need something that lives outdoors, ask about PETG or ASA as a custom order — that is exactly the sort of job the custom service is for.

Email shopify@prinstey.com with a photo within 14 days of delivery and we will reprint and reship it at no cost.

This has happened before and it has always been put right — several of our best reviews exist because something went wrong in transit and got fixed.

Catalogue pieces in a standard size and colour can be returned within 14 days of delivery in their original condition. Return shipping is yours unless the piece arrived damaged or we sent the wrong thing.

Custom work — anything printed from your own file, design work, or a non-standard size, colour or material — cannot be returned, because it was made specifically for you. That is not a way of avoiding the question — see the damage answer above, and the one below.

Tell us. If the part does not match the drawing, measurements or scan it was made from, that is on us and we will re-cut and reprint it.

If the source measurements were wrong, we will still help you fix it — usually faster and cheaper the second time, because the model already exists.

One person, in Edison, New Jersey. Every message you send is answered by the person who prints, finishes and packs the thing you ordered.

That is why turnaround is measured in days rather than hours — and why nobody has to escalate your question to anyone.

Edison, New Jersey, United States. Domestic parcels are usually a few days; international depends on the carrier and your customs office.

Same workshop, same person, same prints.

Etsy is where a lot of people find us. This store is the one we actually own — every design, including the ones we cannot list there, and Print My STL priced up front.

Two places. The Etsy shop holds 4.89 stars across 45 reviews with Star Seller status, and the custom side has 35 client testimonials on the custom print page, each attached to the actual project.

The testimonials on this site are drawn from both.

Modelled or prepared, printed to order on our own machines, hand-finished, checked, then packed.

There is a longer walk-through with photographs on How It's Made.

Email shopify@prinstey.com, message 908-549-8512 on WhatsApp, or join the Discord.

We are usually around 10 AM – 12 PM ET and reply the same day. Full details on the contact page.