Mention the term 3D printing to a layman and they will conjure up images of some kind of picture which you run off the office photocopier and look at with special glasses.

But if that sounds far-fetched, then it is a practically prehistoric compared to the reality of the 3D printing process.

In effect, it has very little to do with printing at all, other than using a process that can be compared with how a printer reproduces an image on a computer screen.

The difference is that the image on the screen is transformed by the machine into a tangible model before your eyes.

Such technology has been used by major firms such as car manufacturers for some years.

But now it is becoming accessible to the man in the street as well as architects and designers who can see the benefits of having a model in their hands or on a display stand, as well as the virtual version on screen.

Nick Allen recognised the potential of the system and has started his own business, having invested £35,000 in the “printer” machinery which can bring what he describes as people’s “digital Meccano” to life.

The machine takes the computer aided design (CAD) image from the computer and then builds the model from resin or plastic with layer after layer being added down to a fraction of a millimetre until it is completed.

The advantages of this process over traditional model-making techniques are clear. 3D printing is cheaper, cutting costs often from thousands of pounds to hundreds and it is also far faster.

Mr Allen said: “It can take six weeks to wait for a mould to be made. But if someone sends me a file I can turn it into a model, sometimes in an hour.”

As a result, Mr Allen’s customers are those who would normally think long and hard before investing time and money in commissioning models.

He is targeting the “maker movement” — a growing number of people making their own models on computers in their bedrooms using free software such as Google Sketchup.

This allows them to create 3D designs which can be their ideas for buildings, vehicles or characters they have developed for computer games such as World of Warcraft.

As a result, they have their own model which they designed themselves and then produced as a one-off creation.

All they have to do is e-mail their design to Mr Allen and he turns their virtual creation into reality.

Mr Allen said: “I have a model of a model aircraft which was designed by an 11-year-old boy. It would have cost £10,000 to produce it conventionally, but I did it for £30.”

Another example is a model of the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield inserted into a specially cut-out book to use as a display for visitors to the theatre. That cost £200.

Mr Allen added: “I can do limited production runs but 90 per cent of my work is concerned with one-offs. I am doing a finger ring for a member of a hard rock band, which will be unique.

“That cost him £10 and he would have paid far more if he had bought a ring in a shop.”

Mr Allen, 27, studied product design at Salford University and engineering at Manchester University before moving to Oxford to work with Hallidays Hydropower run by Henry Reily Collins and his family, who converted Dandridge’s Mill, East Hanney, into state-of-the-art apartments featuring an Archimedean screw driven by the original mill race that develops power for the complex.

At the end of July, Mr Allen decided to follow his passion for 3D print and set up his own company, 3D Print UK, in Marston Street, Oxford.

He said: “It had become an obsession and that has not stopped.”

He works out of a shed inside the office building – a move which became necessary as his machinery was too loud for the neighbours. Needless to say, he has made a model of his slightly unconventional surroundings.

His first client was Isis Innovation, Oxford University’s knowledge transfer company which helps businesses spin out of academia into the commercial world. He helped produce a cross-section model of a solar panel.

Having established this side of the business, Mr Allen is keen to develop it further by creating a website known as Factory 2.0. This will involve designers uploading their creations to a website.

Anyone wanting a model can then have it made by Mr Allen who will then sell it and share the proceeds with the designer.

He said: “People who have designed things for years will now be able to sell their products for the first time.”

Another idea is to set up an online community of designers where people will be able to choose the designer most appropriate for their brief. Designers will also be star-rated for their services, much like eBay.