Places to get quality metal castings or prints

As the title says, this thread is about sourcing companies or methods for doing metal castings, prints and CNC.

I'll be up front and say this is an area I know very little about right now. I'm researching things now and figured why not use this to document the findings.

I've seen a few online companies that do (according to their websites) high quality 3D metal prints and that got me intrigued. I was thinking I would need to prototype my parts on my printer, and then send the part to someone and they would make the mold and cast it, but if this method provides quality parts, then all is needed is to develop the object, send the stl and they make the item and send it back. In theory that sounds great. I'm sure there are many people on here with a lot of experience in this area and can provide a lot of great input.

Most of the online companies say 'Instant Quote', but when you go to their site they want you to fill out a form, send them the file and then they will respond... not exactly what I call instant. Shapeways does provide prices immediately, but as we know Shapeways is usually more expensive than other places. I did find a company called i.materialise at https://i.materialise.com/en I've read some good reviews on them but would like some more information and first hand experience from someone before I order. I read their quality is good, but shipping is expensive and slow. Has anyone dealt with them before and can provide first hand experience with the service, quality and final costs?

I do my fair share of pewter castings, but never had the guts to attempt aluminum or steel casting.. those are things I leave to the professionals

Hoping someone will chime in on this as I'm curious as well if anyone does commission castings in aluminum or steel.

As far as shapeways goes, yes they are pricey and it is cheaper to print yourself but the parts I've ordered from them have always come in safe and well-packaged. I turn them with my prints 100%

Shapeways is pricey but the service is excellent with fast turn around. DavidF over at TheHomeFoundry.org does aluminum and brass lost wax casting. It's investment casting so it's for smaller parts. He's done several runs on car emblems for example. Cast iron is possible but a step up in difficulty compared to aluminum or bronze. A couple of folks do it for hire over at AlloyAvenue. Cast steel is even more difficult than cast iron and almost impossible in a hobby setup. You're better to go with Shapeways stainless steel 3d printing. None of it us cheap regardless of the method.

I found another place that has really good prices on doing metal castings and prints. I'm sure a lot on here already know about this, but for those that don't I really like all3DP.com for reviews and information on 3D printing. Just so happens they did a review with links to companies that do metal printing and they even have a page that you can upload your stl, choose the material, and get instant price quotes from various companies... including Shapeways! Right now I am prototyping a Golden Gun parts on my DLP printer and then I will get them done in gold plated metal once I get all the sizes and internals worked out. Next will be the Bond wrist dart gun from MoonRaker

https://print.all3dp.com/?utm_source=ca&_ga=2.195216046.326169565.1533853690-577317726.1524801844

I tried i-materialize and shapeways for now.
Prices can have change depending on maker, for example I made test for sterling silver golden gun box, from 400 to 1200 depending on maker.
What is good to know is shapeways price is net and i-materialize rough, adding vat in the end.
On metal casting especially silver but also brass, it seems i metarialize has a better price.
shapeways has fine detail plastic, not expensive for it's quality.
i materialize has titanium, clear resin and alumide, shapeways don't offer them, also i materialize has chrome plated brass.

Low temp casting like pewter is easily done by yourself. Metal prints,depending on size and complexity, get into the hundreds and thousands easily.
Molding and casting for high temperature is very labor intensive and requires also many hours for cleaning up and polishing. Steel is machined on CNCs to the specs after casting. Always serious commitment money wise.

Could someone check something on shapeways, the price for specific items?
It seems it's much cheaper for USA located customer than EU located.
if someone has interest in my golden gun project, we can make a deal by service exchange, he could purchase two sets, one for me I pay him, I remove the comission on design to make price as low as possible, and he ships me one set and buys other for him.
The price without my comission here is higher than price with comission there...