Posting a part, funding it, tracking it, and what happens when something goes wrong. Read top-to-bottom or jump to what you need.
Commercial accounts are active immediately — there is no waiting on approval. You can look around before you spend anything.
Name, email, phone, password. Your account works right away — no vetting queue, no sales call.
Click the link we send you. If it doesn't arrive, check spam, then use “Resend verification link” on the sign-in page.
Browse the template library for common parts. Nothing is charged until you deliberately fund a job.
Upload your file or start from a template, set your requirements, then pay. Payment is held — it does not go to the shop yet.
Your job goes to the operator board. A shop with the right process and capacity claims it and starts work.
When the part arrives and it's right, you confirm. That is the moment the shop gets paid — not before.
The more precisely you specify a part, the more likely the first one is right. Everything below is on one form.
| FIELD | WHAT IT DOES |
|---|---|
| Your file | STL, STEP/STP, OBJ, 3MF, IGES/IGS or PDF. STEP is best if you have it — it keeps real dimensions rather than a mesh approximation. PDF is for drawings and notes alongside a model, not instead of one. |
| Process | How it gets made — FDM, SLA, SLS and others. If you're unsure, describe the part's job in the description and say you're open on process. |
| Material | What it's made of. Say what the part has to survive (heat, load, UV, chemicals) rather than guessing at a polymer name. |
| Quantity | How many. Cost per part usually drops with quantity, so post the real number rather than ordering one at a time. |
| Tolerance | How much dimensional error is acceptable, in mm. Only tighten this where it matters — a tight tolerance on a cosmetic part raises price for nothing. |
| Layer height / infill | Finish and strength. Leave them alone if you don't have a reason; shops pick sensible defaults. |
| Delivery window | Days you can wait. Be realistic — a short window narrows the shops that can take it. |
| Delivery address | Where the finished part ships. |
| Your price | What you're willing to pay. You set this yourself — there's no automatic quote. See the note below. |
You pay up front, but the shop is not paid until you confirm the part arrived and is right.
| WHEN | WHAT HAPPENS TO YOUR MONEY |
|---|---|
| You fund the job | Card is charged through Stripe. FORGE never sees or stores your card details. The funds are held — the shop cannot touch them. |
| While work happens | Still held. A shop that never delivers never gets paid. |
| You confirm delivery | The shop is paid. This is the only action that releases money. |
| You cancel early | Refunded automatically — see § 05 for exactly when you can. |
| Platform fee | 10–20% per job, taken out of the shop's payout. It is not added on top of your price — what you post is what you pay. |
Your order page shows where the job is. You can message the shop directly from there once it's accepted.
| STATUS | MEANING |
|---|---|
| PENDING PAYMENT | Posted but not funded. No shop can see it yet. |
| OPEN | Funded and on the operator board, waiting for a shop to claim it. |
| ACCEPTED | A shop has taken it. Files unlock for them at this point. |
| PRINTING | Being made. |
| QC | The shop is checking it — they submit photos and measurements. |
| SHIPPED | On its way. You get the carrier and tracking number by email. |
| COMPLETED | You confirmed delivery and the shop has been paid. |
| CANCELLED | Ended before completion. If it was funded, you were refunded. |
| DISPUTED | You raised a problem. Money stays held while we review. |
The honest version of your options, including where they run out.
| SITUATION | WHAT YOU CAN DO |
|---|---|
| Changed your mind | Cancel yourself while the job is awaiting payment, open, or accepted. The refund is issued automatically. |
| Work has started | Once a job is printing, self-serve cancel is off — material and machine time are committed. Message the shop, then contact us. |
| Nobody accepts it | It sits on the board. Cancel for a full refund whenever you like, or email us and we'll tell you honestly whether the price or the spec is the problem. |
| Part is wrong | Don't confirm delivery. Open a dispute from the order page — the money stays held while we look at it. |
| Part never arrives | Same — open a dispute. Payment cannot release without your confirmation. |
| Refund didn't arrive | Card refunds take 5–10 business days to appear. If it's longer, email us with the job number. |
Stated plainly, including the limits — you should know exactly what you're getting.
| Who can open them | You, the shop that accepted your job, and FORGE administrators. Nobody else — other shops browsing the board cannot download your files. |
| When access starts | The moment a shop accepts your job. Before that, no operator can open anything. |
| When access ends | When the job is completed or cancelled. A shop that finished your job in March cannot pull the file in June. |
| Logging | Every download is recorded — who, when, and from where. Blocked attempts are recorded too. |
| Storage | On our own infrastructure in Honolulu, outside the public web, with permission-checked downloads. Traffic is encrypted in transit. |
| What we don't do | Files are not encrypted at rest, and there is no per-job NDA product. Terms of service prohibit shops from keeping or reusing your files, but we'd rather you know the technical limits than assume more. |
FORGE is operated by Kapu Solutions Inc. out of Honolulu. We're small and in private beta, which means a real person reads these.
| CHANNEL | WHEN TO USE |
|---|---|
| Job message thread | Anything about a specific job — the shop sees it, and an admin can step in. |
| [email protected] | Pricing help, payment questions, a job nobody is taking, account issues. |
| [email protected] | Reporting a vulnerability or anything that looks like a security problem. |
| (808) 365-0692 | Time-sensitive issues during business hours, Hawaii time. |
Mailing address:
Kapu Solutions Inc.
1188 Bishop St, Suite 811
Honolulu, HI 96813