We've been after 100x drive bays to fit 2.5" SSDs into 3.5" bays, apparently there's a bit of a shortage of these and they go for around £10-15 each - the cheaper ones are out of position of where we'd want to mount the drive.

Got us thinking about 3d printers, you can buy one for around the same price as buying the bays retail.

Anyone have any pointers on whether buying a £1K 3d-printer is versatile enough, and/or whether there's decent UK providers who can custom print these?

These were more or less what we are after, two models due to different server setups
https://www.boston.co.uk/products/mcp-220-00080-0b.aspx

Since there might be further similar cases where having a 3d printer would be helpful, seemed like an idea worth entertaining rather than buying off the shelf.

I know very little about the actual operation of 3D printers but I have been watching the machines and userbase develop for a few years now.  FWIW, for the last year or so, the one that seems to be capturing a lot of marketshare is the Creality Ender series.

https://www.amazon.com/Creality-3D-220x220x250mm-Precision-Beginners/dp/B094Y1VK34

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Review in my recent feeds

Creality CR-30 3D Printer Review: Batch Printing on a Conveyor Belt | Tom's Hardware
https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/creality-cr-30-3d-printer

Cheers rc, didn't realise they went as cheap as that! Like yourself I don't know the inner workings of them.

Am guessing our requirements are fairly low end and may even be worth a punt on one of the cheaper models and giving it a go. Got me thinking about how quick it is possible to produce a bunch of the same thing.

Like everything else in the world, there is a /r

https://www.reddit.com/r/Creality/

Note the rabbit-hole in the right column.

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>quick

From my semi-ignorant observations, I'm guessing that each drive bay would take a day.  That's if everything goes as expected. (I see a good number of failures posted.)  Batch and large item production use that conveyor belt print bed.

Hold the phone, a 3d chocolate printer and developed in my home town: http://chocedge.com/

Found a nice UK-based printer that can give you a quote based on uploaded files, feels very 21st century!
https://midlands3d.com/request-quote/

Turns out these can be done for a fraction of the price of what's in retail: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:4163343

>3d chocolate printer

Nice! Bet that would get some good local trade for personal touch gifts 

>> chocolate printer

I just added that to my wedding directory!