My Printer

  • Zellerfeld Partners With Volumental to Advance Custom-Fit 3D Printed Shoes

    Zellerfeld announced today that it is partnering with Volumental. Volumental’s foot-scanning solution will be used in Zellerfeld’s shoe 3D-printing platform. Volumental will receive an investment from Zellerfeld but remain independent. In the current setup, “Volumental’s in-store and online scanning experiences are fed directly into Zellerfeld’s 3D printing pipeline and allows each shoe to be printed to the specific contours of an individual customer’s foot.”

    Zellerfeld CEO Cornelius Schmitt said,

    “We looked at every credible 3D foot-scanning option in the world before selecting Volumental. It was the clear choice because the precision and accuracy of their scans are what custom 3D printing actually requires, and the experience, in store or on a phone, is simple enough that any customer can complete it. They have spent more than a decade building the fit technology layer the footwear industry needs. Partnering with Volumental lets us focus on what Zellerfeld does best: turning precise foot data into custom 3D-printed shoes at scale.”

    Studio Runner 3D printed shoe. Image courtesy of Zellerfeld.

    At the same time, Volumental CEO Alper Aydemir said,

    “Zellerfeld has built something the footwear industry has talked about for twenty years and never actually delivered at scale: shoes manufactured to your foot, not the average foot. For that to work, the foot data has to be right. Zellerfeld evaluated the entire field and chose us — that means a great deal to us. There is no better partner to make individually-fit footwear the default, not the exception.”

    The two firms say the partnership will make it easier to use foot-scanning data from both in-store and mobile experiences to manufacture custom-fit shoes. Volumental’s foot-scanning technology has already been deployed by various shoe firms, such as New Balance and Hoka, as well as large shoe retailers. The company has an easy-to-use suite of products that can narrow down your shoe choice or capture the right foot data.

    This partnership follows Zellerfeld’s recent investment of roughly $900,000 in Volumental. The company has amassed more than 66 million foot scans through a network of over 3,000 retail locations worldwide. If custom footwear is to become a mass-market product, a large database of foot measurements could be a significant competitive advantage. In that sense, data may prove to be just as important as the manufacturing technology itself.

    Zellerfeld, meanwhile, went from being the darling of 3D printed shoes for large luxury brands to a platform. You can upload and sell your design through Zellerfeld, showcasing a kind of YouTube-for-shoes approach. This platform approach means that Zellerfeld is trying to position itself as a key piece of infrastructure for a future digital shoe industry. If people switch en masse to 3D printed shoes, the biggest and most efficient platform for designers and brands is likely to be Zellerfeld. This could mean the best reach, the widest choice, the best economies of scale, and the lowest cost per pair. With Volumental on board, Zellerfeld hopes to make more accurate shoes that please customers.

    Havaianas Top Toe 3D printed Flip-Flops made with Zellerfeld. Image courtesy of Zellerfeld.

    The shoes so far look very futuristic, but some, like the Havaianas TopToe, for example, look very wearable, while prices are well within the range of higher-end offerings from retail brands. We do not yet know what position 3D printing of shoes will hold in the overall market. It could be a more efficient, less wasteful, more profitable way to make shoes. Or it could be a niche within a much bigger market that trudges on using the old ways.

  • China Now Has 29 Universities Offering Additive Manufacturing Engineering Degrees

    As China’s national college entrance examination (Gaokao) concludes, millions of students and parents are once again focused on university admissions and future career choices.

    Computer science, artificial intelligence (AI), and renewable energy remain among the most popular fields. Yet within the additive manufacturing (AM) industry, another trend is quietly gaining momentum: China is systematically building a new generation of engineers specifically trained for 3D printing. And this effort is happening faster — and on a larger scale — than many people realize.

    From One University to Twenty-Nine in Five Years

    In 2026, China’s Ministry of Education approved six additional universities to offer undergraduate degrees in Additive Manufacturing Engineering, including Beijing University of Technology, Northeastern University, Hunan Institute of Technology, Suzhou Institute of Technology, Wuhan Vocational University of Technology, and Sichuan Engineering Technical University.

    With these additions, the number of Chinese universities offering dedicated Additive Manufacturing Engineering programs has reached 29 nationwide.

    That growth trajectory is striking. When the major was introduced in 2021, only one institution, Xinxiang University, offered the program. Five years later, 29 universities have adopted it.

    The list now includes some of China’s most prestigious engineering schools, such as Harbin Institute of Technology, Northwestern Polytechnical University, and Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, alongside numerous regional and application-oriented universities. Proving this is no longer an educational experiment but the beginning of a nationwide talent-development strategy.

    3D printing laboratory at Xinxiang University’s School of 3D Printing, one of China’s earliest dedicated educational programs focused on additive manufacturing. Image courtesy of Xinxiang University.

    The Industry Moved First, Universities Are Catching Up

    The rapid expansion of these programs reflects a simple reality: China’s AM industry has grown faster than its talent pipeline.

    Over the past decade, Chinese 3D printing has evolved from a prototyping technology into a manufacturing technology.

    Metal AM is increasingly used in aerospace structures. Automotive companies are shortening development cycles through rapid production and tooling. Medical applications continue expanding through patient-specific implants and devices. Meanwhile, consumer 3D printing has experienced explosive growth, driven by companies such as BambuLab, Creality, Anycubic, and Snapmaker.

    Today, China is widely recognized as one of the world’s largest markets for both 3D printing equipment production and AM applications. But as the industry matures, a critical challenge has emerged. The shortage is no longer machines. It is people.

    Companies Need More Than Machine Operators

    Over the years, conversations with numerous AM companies have revealed that the challenge is not finding mechanical engineers, but finding engineers who truly understand AM. Modern AM professionals are expected to understand design optimization, material behavior, process parameters, simulation tools, software workflows, and, increasingly, automation and AI.

    In high-value sectors such as metal AM, aerospace components, and advanced materials, the demand for multidisciplinary talent is especially acute. In fact, many job descriptions now resemble what could best be described as “cross-disciplinary engineering” roles.

    Typical compensation levels reflect this demand. AM Process Engineers with a Master’s degree or PhD earn between RMB 20,000 ($3,000) and 40,000 ($5,900) per month. Metal AM materials and process engineers with one to three years of experience earn RMB 15,000 ($2,200) to 25,000 ($3,700) per month. Advanced process development, software, algorithm, and AI-related positions can command compensation equivalent to RMB 40,000 per month or more, often paid over 14 salary cycles. Entry-level operational positions at equipment manufacturers generally range from RMB 8,000 ($1,200) to 12,000 ($1,800) per month.

    Similarly, technical operators typically earn RMB 8,000–12,000 per month, while process engineers earn RMB 15,000–25,000 per month. Senior R&D, materials, and advanced engineering specialists can earn between RMB 25,000 and 60,000 ($8,900) per month.

    Yet despite these opportunities, many companies report difficulty filling positions. The problem is not a lack of openings, but a shortage of candidates with the right combination of skills.

    The Baiyun Winbo 3D Printing College in Guangzhou. Image courtesy of Baiyun Winbo 3D Printing College.

    China and the U.S. Are Taking Different Educational Paths

    Interestingly, China’s approach differs significantly from that of the United States.

    Most American universities have not established standalone undergraduate degrees in AM. Instead, AM is typically integrated into traditional disciplines such as mechanical engineering, materials science, aerospace engineering, and industrial engineering.

    Institutions including Penn State, MIT, Carnegie Mellon University, Ohio State University, and the University of Texas at El Paso maintain internationally recognized AM research programs. However, specialization generally occurs at the graduate or research level.

    The two countries are taking different approaches to AM education. In the United States, students typically build a foundation in disciplines such as mechanical engineering, materials science, or aerospace engineering before specializing in AM. China is increasingly training AM specialists at the undergraduate level through dedicated degree programs. One approach emphasizes research and specialization later in the educational process, while the other focuses on developing a larger AM workforce from the start.

    The 3D Printing Lab at Tsinghua (Qingdao) Academy of Arts and Science Innovation Research. Image courtesy of Tsinghua (Qingdao) Academy of Arts and Science Innovation Research.

    The Future of AM Depends on People

    After spending years in the industry, I have become convinced that the next major competitive advantage in AM will not come from machines, materials, or software alone. It will come from talent.

    Machines can be purchased. Software can be upgraded. Processes can be learned. But developing a truly skilled AM engineer takes years, sometimes decades. That is why the rapid emergence of 29 dedicated university programs may be more significant than the launch of any new printer platform. This is not simply an upgrade in technology, but the beginning of a new generation.

    Many observers still evaluate AM through the lens of technological breakthroughs. Yet from an industrial perspective, the more important question may be: Who is being systematically trained to drive the next phase of growth?

    As increasing numbers of students begin studying design for AM, materials science, process control, and digital manufacturing within dedicated university curricula, the industry enters a new stage of maturity.

    Five years ago, AM Engineering was offered by a single university in China. Today, it is taught at 29. Of course, the industry’s talent shortage will not be solved overnight. But China has moved quickly from treating AM as a niche specialty to making it part of formal engineering education.

    About the Author

    Xu Fanglei is an industrial designer, entrepreneur, and industry commentator focused on additive manufacturing and digital fabrication. He is the founder of SCRAT3D and 3D Printing Technology, one of China’s emerging media platforms covering the global 3D printing industry. Over the past decade, Xu has worked across industrial design, product innovation, and advanced manufacturing, while building connections between designers, manufacturers, researchers, and technology companies. His work explores the impact of 3D printing on manufacturing, education, consumer products, and entrepreneurship. Xu regularly publishes industry analysis and interviews, with a particular focus on developments within China’s rapidly growing additive manufacturing sector.

  • ORNL Origami Creates Large Foldable Structures

    Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) is using a hybrid 3D printing method to make foldable panels. At the Department of Energy’s (DOE) Manufacturing Demonstration Facility (MDF) at ORNL, researchers turned composite panels into foldable, durable structures.

    Researcher Steven Guzorek stated,
    “This pioneering method redefines advanced manufacturing by fusing material science with transformative design principles. By applying origami-inspired principles to hybrid composites, we are improving the efficiency and scalability of large-structure manufacturing and achieving forms unattainable with traditional additive approaches — advancing robust, cost-effective solutions for a broad range of applications.”

    According to ORNL, the process starts with fabric,

    “Such as nylon, glass fiber or resin-infused composite fibers, followed by an integration or bonding layer such as thermoplastic polyurethane for compatibility and adhesion. The reinforcing layer is then applied using deposited composite materials, including thermoplastic carbon-fiber acrylonitrile butadiene styrene for lightweight structural performance or thermoset formulations such as styrene-based or epoxy-based resins for enhanced stiffness, geometry control and durability….The materials bond at the molecular level, forming a strong connection between the grid and the outer layer.”

    I once tried to print TPU onto a T-shirt, but this did not work. But I did not know that I was so close to greatness. ORNL thinks this can produce large objects and could reduce manufacturing time by 95% and costs by 90% compared to traditional manufacturing methods. Oak Ridge has patented the process and wants to license out this innovation.

    Guzorek goes on to say that,

    “Our goal is to make this innovation scalable so manufacturers across industries can harness its potential. By broadening access to mold-free hybrid composites, we’re empowering manufacturers to explore new design possibilities and unlock entirely new applications for this transformative technology.”

    Integrated fold geometries and structural reinforcement patterns enable this origami-inspired composite to transition from a flat panel into a three-dimensional form. Image courtesy of Andrew Sproles/ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy

    As much as I’d like to think that ORNL is making 3D printable homeless shelters, it’s probably something else that’s going to be the output here. One obvious application is to make flexible insulation structures for rockets and aviation applications. Previous Space Shuttle heat blankets, enhanced with ceramics (Fibrous Insulated blankets), were used in fire protection and aviation. These blankets protected the Shuttle from heat and replaced the tiles that malfunctioned, causing the Columbia disaster. On some hypersonics, a flexible, reusable surface insulation layer made of Nomex is used along with lightweight phenolic ablation materials to protect the craft from intense heat. TPS (thermal protection systems) are to be a key part of future extended space missions. Research into nanodoped ceramic-polymer composites and advanced resins is also expanding rapidly. Current work in Multi-Layer Insulation (MLI) could really benefit from this.

    Foldable drones may seem fanciful, but this is another possibility. There’s an SBIR out for Juggerbot, which makes structures using material extrusion and then enhances them by jetting thermosets onto them. This is a super exciting way to make extremely lightweight structures. No more rivets, no more internal structures and skin, just one strong skin. Another possibility is to make IR-blocking structures. Kastinger, for example, makes HT4 a fabric that blocks IR cameras from seeing you or your vehicle. With drones all over the place, having large structures being made quickly to keep you from being seen seems like a great idea.

    Now imagine printing a large structure flat. We love flat structures because they’re fast and cheap to make. And then, with little print time, you fold it into a drone body or a wing shape. That would be super nice. That would allow you to make super-cheap structures super quickly. With our drone event upcoming, I’m thinking quite a lot about drones, so maybe you could do other things with this.

    Temporary structures are a considerable business and could be another target for this. Such structures could also find applications in offshore energy, wind power, and other large-scale infrastructure projects. I don’t know if we should 3D print room dividers or something like this, but this is one way to do it. Apart from this invention, more people should be thinking along these lines. With similar methods, you could make very large structures at very low cost. Years ago, Nervous System showed that by printing on pre-stretched fabric, you can effectively program a shape to emerge when the fabric’s tension is released. Coupling this with the ORNL approach could let you print a table faster, and then it can self-assemble. Combining this approach with DefeXtiles, you could even add a woven layer using under-extrusion to reinforce your print.

  • 3D Printing News Briefs, June 24, 2026: Name Change, Digital Foundry, & Yeast

    In today’s 3D Printing News Briefs, we’re starting with a formal name change for an African industrial technology company that’s a major user of additive manufacturing (AM) in the oil and gas industry. Then, we’ll move on to 3D printing for investment casting, and end with a interesting bio-based material for AM in architecture and interior design.

    RusselSmith Formally Changes Name & Transitions to Arridex

    The company formerly known as RusselSmith recently announced a formal name change to Arridex. The change, registered with the Corporate Affairs Commission of Nigeria, reflects a major expansion of its capabilities, as well as the industries it is now serving. Arridex was originally founded as an asset integrity company to serve the oil and gas sector in Nigeria, but it now operates across aerospace, defense, construction, maritime, and manufacturing as well. The organization has Pioneer Status in AM, which was granted by the Nigerian Investment Promotion Commission (NIPC), and it’s actually the first company that the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) qualified for AM deployment in the oil and gas industry. The formal name change also coincides with a major operational milestone for the company. West Africa’s first multi-technology industrial AM facility, the Arridex Omnifactory, was commissioned in Lagos this month, and offers a variety of AM technologies, like LPBF, SLS, CSAM, and FFF, for on-demand production of spares and industrial components.

    “The name RusselSmith defined what we were at the start. Arridex defines what we have built,” explained Kayode Adeleke, Group Chief Executive Officer of Arridex. “The dependency of African industry on fragile supply chains is a structural problem that this continent has accepted for too long. The Omnifactory is a concrete answer to the challenge of manufacturing sovereignty. Arridex is the name of the company built over two decades and raised intentionally to enable industrial resilience in Africa.”

    Addressing America’s Investment Casting Crisis with Digital Foundry

    DDM Systems, which specializes in ceramic 3D printing for investment casting, wants to address the investment casting crisis in the U.S. That’s why the ITAR-registered company has commercially launched its Digital Foundry platform, which is a vertically integrated approach to reduce casting lead times by eliminating tooling from the process. The platform combines three proprietary technologies: Large Area Maskless Photopolymerization (LAMP), which prints ceramic casting shells using patterned UV light; DirectPour, which delivers ready-to-pour ceramic shells with integrated cores to partners; and Scanning Laser Epitaxy (SLE), which enables direct 3D printing of single-crystal, equiaxed, and directionally solidified superalloy structures. DDM Systems says its Digital Foundry platform gets rid of 100% of upfront tooling costs, reduces scrap rates by about 90%, and delivers a 10x reduction in lead time for castings, with customers receiving precision metal castings in days, instead of months.

    “The American casting industry has been hollowed out over decades, and the consequences are now showing up in every major defense and energy program in the country,” said Dr. Suman Das, the Founder, President, and CEO of DDM Systems, and the Morris M. Bryan Jr. Chair Professor in Mechanical Engineering for Advanced Manufacturing Systems at Georgia Tech. “Our Digital Foundry is not a prototype or a concept. It is a production-ready platform that is already delivering castings for the U.S. Air Force, gas turbine manufacturers, and aerospace OEMs.

    “We built this technology over 15 years with DARPA and ARPA-E support specifically to solve the problem of a shrinking domestic casting base. The Digital Foundry does not replace foundries. It removes the tooling bottleneck that prevents foundries from responding to demand at the speed the defense and energy sectors require.”

    Researchers Develop Bio-Based Material from Yeast for Architectural Elements

    Researchers at Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden, have developed a new, entirely bio-based material from a somewhat unexpected ingredient: yeast. Credit: Chalmers University of Technology | Henrik Sandsjö

    A large amount of resource consumption and global emissions comes from the construction sector, and a research team from Chalmers University of Technology studied how industrial residual products can be used to make new materials that can increase circularity in architecture. The team developed a new bio-based material from baker’s yeast, which can be 3D printed and customized for architectural and interior design elements, like room partitions, wall systems, or sunlight protecting screens. In this case, yeast isn’t used for fermentation, but as a biomass. Heated yeast is combined with cellulose fibers from wood, alginate from algae, glycerol from plants, and water to form a 3D printable hydrogel. Pressure-based 3D printing, carried out at room temperature, is used to fabricate the architectural elements from the hydrogel, and no support structures or heating are required. The material is biodegradable, and the researchers found they can even adjust the formula to change its color, surface texture, and transparency. As they explain in their study, this material could eventually become an environmentally friendly alternative to plastics and synthetic textiles.

    “The future of architectural ELMs, or Engineered Living Materials, is very exciting, with great potential to customise them to perform a variety of functions. This could, for example, involve self-healing materials or materials that purify the air by neutralising harmful substances and pollutants,” said Malgorzata Zboinska, Professor at the Department of Architecture and Civil Engineering at Chalmers and leader of the study. “What we have achieved so far is an important first step towards establishing a completely new type of architectural material. You could say that we are laying the foundations for future developments that combine sustainability, functionality and design in entirely new ways.”

  • Fathom CEO Rush LaSelle on Why Additive Manufacturing Is Growing Up

    For years, the additive manufacturing (AM) industry promised to reinvent production. But as the technology matured, the real challenge turned out to be proving that 3D printed parts could be made consistently, meet industry standards, and work in real industrial applications.

    For companies like Fathom, the industry’s push toward real production has meant moving beyond the traditional “service bureau” model. Once known mostly for prototyping and digital manufacturing services, Fathom has spent the last few years becoming more of a manufacturing partner for aerospace, medical, and industrial customers where quality and consistency are just as important as innovation.

    I spoke with CEO Rush LaSelle after reconnecting with Fathom’s team during the AIAA SciTech Forum in Orlando at the beginning of the year. With years of experience in AM and contract manufacturing, including previous leadership roles at Jabil, AddUp, and 3DXTECH, LaSelle spoke about where industrial 3D printing is today, what the industry got wrong in the past, and where companies are finally starting to see real demand.

    Metal 3D printed demonstration parts on display at Fathom’s booth during the AIAA SciTech Forum in Orlando. Image courtesy of 3DPrint.com/Vanesa Listek.

    “It’s been an interesting 30 years for additive. But it’s certainly been a very interesting five years for industrial additive. Fathom is focusing more heavily on industrial applications where customers care less about whether something can be printed and more about whether it can actually perform reliably in the field,” said LaSelle. “We’re really more focused on manufacturing outcomes. It’s not just printing a part anymore.”

    That shift reflects broader changes happening across the AM industry. Over the last decade, many companies promoted 3D printing as a technology that would rapidly transform automotive production, aerospace manufacturing, and supply chains overnight. Some of those expectations proved premature. What companies like Fathom discovered, according to LaSelle, was that qualifying and producing repeatable industrial parts was far more difficult than early marketing materials suggested.

    “When I got into the AM space 15 years ago at Jabil, we believed what the manufacturers were telling us,” he explained. “We thought we could plug additive right into industrial manufacturing environments. What we found very quickly is that the properties are not the same.”

    That realization forced much of the industry into years of qualification work, process development, and post-processing refinement. According to LaSelle, AM is only now reaching a level of maturity at which manufacturers can reliably produce the repeatable outcomes that industries like aerospace and medical require.

    “We’ve just reached that level of maturation where we can deliver good outcomes the way we thought we could 15 years ago,” LaSelle said. That progress has changed Fathom as well. “What we are really more focused on is manufacturing outcomes. It’s not just printing a part anymore,” he said, adding that the company has increasingly focused on industrial applications that require engineering, quality controls, and production rigor. As a result, he believes the traditional service bureau label no longer reflects where the company is today. “I think service bureau has become a little bit of an antiquated term.”

    Instead, Fathom now focuses heavily on engineering support, manufacturing strategy, post-processing, machining, heat-treatment coordination, and qualification workflows for additive parts. The actual printing process, LaSelle argued, is only one piece of a much larger manufacturing challenge.

    “Lots of people can print parts,” he said. “What we’ve really focused on is the process around it. That includes design-for-additive support, understanding dimensional realities inside powder bed systems, managing thermal treatments, machining, inspection, and quality documentation. These are the areas where aerospace and medical customers increasingly need help. And those customers are growing.”

    Engineers working on drones. Image courtesy of Fathom.

    According to LaSelle, Fathom is seeing particularly strong demand in aerospace, medical devices, and metal additive manufacturing applications, especially DMLS.

    “For us, metal additive is one of the places where we just see there’s not enough supply to meet a very rapidly growing demand,” he said.

    The company is also seeing growing activity connected to drones and defense-related startups, an area that has accelerated significantly following lessons learned from the war in Ukraine.

    “The Ukraine war will have gone down in history as something that informed industry as much as warfare,” he noted. “They moved really fast, iterated on design, and found ways to manufacture at a quality level that most people wouldn’t expect. That speed has caught the attention of major defense organizations now trying to modernize their own manufacturing systems. Many startups are working in that space. They come to a company like ours and say, ‘We think we want to use a metal component for this part of our drone. We don’t know if it’s really feasible.’”

    Still, despite the growing momentum around AM, LaSelle stays realistic about the industry’s challenges. Certification and qualification remain major hurdles, particularly for critical aerospace applications. Powder bed fusion systems still involve significant variability, and many companies underestimate how much post-processing and quality management are required after a part comes off the machine.

    “Very few parts get printed and shipped,” LaSelle said. “Most metal parts still require machining, heat treatment, EDM work, support removal, and inspection before they become usable production components. In many cases, the complexity lies less in printing the part and more in proving it can consistently meet industrial standards. We get a lot fewer questions about ‘Can you print this?’” he explained. “And more questions about ‘Can you get this level of quality and mechanical property?’”

    So rather than presenting AM as a technology that will replace every traditional process, LaSelle described it as one tool among many, best suited for specific industrial problems where performance, complexity, or speed justify the cost. And cost is still very much part of the conversation.

    Fathom at AIAA SciTech Forum 2026. Image courtesy of 3DPrint.com/Vanesa Listek.

    “Everything’s expensive,” he admitted. “Machines remain expensive. Powders and specialty materials remain expensive. Skilled labor remains limited. And unlike CNC machining, which benefits from decades of scale and workforce development, additive manufacturing still lacks the same depth of industrial infrastructure. You have tens of thousands of people who can run a Haas CNC. You don’t have tens of thousands of people who can run an EOS printer.”

    That workforce issue, he believes, may ultimately be one of the industry’s biggest bottlenecks.

    “What’s really slowing the industry down is getting the best and the brightest minds and young people that want to come do this.”

    For LaSelle, manufacturing no longer resembles the outdated image many younger workers still associate with factories.

    “We’re so much cooler than that,” he told me.

    Indeed. After years of ambitious promises, AM is entering a new phase, one defined less by what might be possible and more by what companies are actually delivering today. The technology has definitely earned its place in manufacturing. Now comes the harder part: scaling it.

    Editor’s Note: The role of additive manufacturing in drone production, defense applications, and supply chain resilience will be discussed further during the Additive Manufacturing Strategies UAS: The Present and Future of Drone Manufacturing event on June 30, 2026.

  • Rheinmetall Uses Ducting Made with Minifactory for Challenger 3 Tanks

    Rheinmetall UK is using Minifactory Material Extusion as the primary production method for tank ducting on the Challenger 3 Main Battle Tank program. The Challenger 3 is the UK’s formidable main battle tank upgrade program, converting 148 Challenger 2 tanks into Challenger 3s. Some modified Challenger 2s are serving Ukraine well, described as accurate and firing 8 rounds per minute.

    Improvements to the turret, hull, armor, a new smoothbore gun, and a new complementary sabot round should update it and make it even better. The tank will also have a better Active Protection System, better engines, better sights, better air filtration, new fire control computers, and more. Generally, the new Challenger will get a lot more electronics kit than the 2, which first entered service in 1998 and was designed in the early nineties. A lot of that new kit requires ducting.

    MiniFactory air ducting.

    Rheinmetall UK is now exclusively making that ducting using ULTEM  9085 and the miniFactory Ignite. As we’ve seen in the Boeing case, where all current Boeing passenger aircraft have 3D printed ducts, ducting is an ideal use case for additive manufacturing. Boeing has used 3D printed ducting for years. The 787 Dreamliner became one of the best-known examples, as suppliers were able to combine multiple duct components into lighter, single-piece assemblies. Companies such as Nordam, Thermwood, and Stratasys have supplied 3D printed ducting for Boeing programs. Modern ducting is complex and often has to curl and curve in all sorts of ways. This means that parts need complex molds (or other processes) or must be made from many parts (requiring more tooling and more steps).

    What’s more, you then have to stick these parts together, which adds additional steps. And there are, as a result, new dependencies, “will my glue eat away my polymer,” or “how will my glue react in freezing temperatures.” More tooling costs and more parts to have on hand also increase complexity and the up-front investment in manufacturing. And you may have to make hundreds or thousands of parts to store them as spares. With additive, a complex part can be made in one piece and optimized for airflow, weight, or what have you.

    The miniFactory team.

    In this case, lead times were also an issue, as were evolving requirements. The latter is not often mentioned but is a daily reality on many projects. The company says the project saved money, enabled daily design changes, reduced tooling, and lowered up-front costs.

    Julian Wright, Technology Programmes Manager at Rheinmetall UK, said,

    “Additive Manufacturing is now the baseline solution for ducting manufacture in the Challenger 3 programme. The technology has enabled rapid design iteration, allowing us to implement design changes and produce replacement parts within a day. Beyond cost savings, the biggest benefits have come from reduced programme risk, improved cash flow through on-demand production, and the ability to continuously optimise both the product and the manufacturing process.”

    miniFactory’s Chief Development Officer, Riku Hietarinta, added,

    “The real success story is not the printer. The success story is that additive manufacturing is now delivering measurable value in production for one of the UK’s most important defence programmes. Success comes from understanding the customer’s challenges and building the right manufacturing solution together. When adoption happens the right way, the results speak for themselves.”

    The company is also seeing its 3D printers used more widely within the company and says that, for Rheinmetall UK, “additive manufacturing has become an increasingly important part of the company’s long-term manufacturing strategy.”

    Rheinmetall miniFactory on-site.

    I love this story so much because it’s actual manufacturing. Ducting is a good case, and many have known this for a long time. But perhaps being a bit boring, we don’t talk about it enough. It’s not boring; it’s very valuable for companies. The flexibility and costs of this are very beneficial. And as we can see here, things such as changing requirements are a reality, and in a mold-driven world (can we say moldy world?), they can wreak havoc on projects. With 3D printing, in this case, we free up money, lower investment, and reduce risk. This is a great example in an important application, and I hope that many more such cases will emerge.

    Images courtesy of Rheinmetall

  • ExOne Bets on Smaller Foundries with the S-Print Pro

    ExOne has released the S-Print Pro, a more affordable-than-usual compact system for foundries. The company hopes that this will make its system more accessible to new customers and to customers such as print services and pattern job shops. Compact, of course, in the context of this being an industrial binder jet solution. Installation space is still 12 m², and it’s built on the S-Max system.

    Build volume is 1,200 × 750 × 500 mm, layer thickness is 0.10–1.00 mm, and the printer can print one build per shift (approximately 8 hours). The machine has a furan binder with silica sand, CeraBeads, or silicon carbide; it has a 400 dpi resolution and weighs 4,000 kg while measuring 5,250 × 2,255 × 3,100 mm. So compact is relative to the usual behemoths in this class of system. CeraBeads are spherical beads made out of an aluminum silicate called Mullite. Back in 2020, ExOne announced that it would optimize its systems to work with these beads, made by Itochu. Cerabeads are said to reduce, in some cases, damage to sand casts during transport and storage while improving the surface roughness and overall smoothness of the final parts.

    Eric Bader, the CEO of ExOne Global Holdings, said,

    “The S-Print Pro is the product foundries have been asking us for: quality industrial sand printing in a system that’s affordable to acquire, install, and run. Since the ExOne and voxeljet merger, our teams have been focused on combining the best engineering, application knowledge, and customer insight to solve this real production challenge. This launch reflects that work — and our commitment to making industrial binder jetting more accessible to foundries worldwide.”

    The S-Print Pro. Image courtesy of ExOne.

    And Aldo Randazzo, Director of Application Management at ExOne, stated,

    “Most of the world’s foundries are small operations, many with fewer than 100 employees. They are the backbone of the manufacturing industry, yet industrial binder jetting has rarely been built for their scale or budget. We aim to close that gap with the new S-Print Pro.”

    The S-Print Pro buildplate and printhead. Image courtesy of ExOne.

    The printer uses the user-replaceable CoreBoost printhead and StepX surface smoothing, which should reduce stair-stepping and enable printing of more geometries. The company says that maintenance overall has been optimized to be simple and easy.

    This seems like a sensible move by ExOne; the company has to show stability, progress, and a focus on the long term. A lot of foundry operators are conservative and traditional, working with thousand-year-old processes. They’re unlikely to be swayed by gadgets and fly-by-night things. Showing a focus on the long term is important to them. A lot of the stuff they have usually lasts a long time. These players have traditionally been difficult to sway with 3D printing. So a more entry-level production machine lowers their risk and may shorten sales cycles while making them more likely to adopt the technology. True lab machines don’t really get used a lot in foundries since their parts are often bigger than the build volume. They also often lack productivity features, so they can’t really give them a true idea of what the technology can do. By having a reasonably easy-to-operate and implement machine, ExOne can give these firms a chance to try something out in actual production.

    This may let them build trust and also show that you’re thinking about the long term. So, generally, this is a good move toward building the firm’s future and the future of their relationship with foundries. Across the US, interest is growing in retooling, investing in, and expanding foundries. There are real opportunities in defense and beyond to tap into long lead times for parts. People have yet to collectively figure out how best to benefit from this backlog, but the money is now circulating among the opportunities. This system could be an excellent way for ExOne to benefit from this development.

  • ADDiTEC Demonstrates Material Freedom and Mission Readiness at JIFX 2026 with HYBRiD-X

    At the Naval Postgraduate School‘s Joint Interagency Field Experimentation (JIFX) in May, ADDiTEC demonstrated how advanced manufacturing can support the future of defense sustainment through its HYBRiD-X expeditionary manufacturing platform. JIFX is a quarterly collaborative event where innovators can safely test prototypes at Camp Roberts alongside military warfighters and government stakeholders, and offers a free opportunity to de-risk new technology ahead of major events such as RIMPAC.

    As part of a distributed manufacturing experiment supported by CAMRE and FLEETWERX, HYBRiD-X successfully processed multiple engineering alloys—including aluminum, stainless steel, and nickel-aluminum bronze—within a single deployable system. The demonstration highlighted a key advantage of the platform: Material Freedom. Rather than being limited to a single manufacturing process or material family, HYBRiD-X enables users to manufacture and repair a broad range of metal components using the material best suited for the mission.

    HYBRiD-X combines Liquid Metal Jetting (LMJ), Laser Directed Energy Deposition (LDED), and CNC machining within a compact containerized platform. This unique combination allows operators to produce, repair, and finish metal components using a single system while significantly reducing equipment footprint.

    The demonstration also showcased how Material Freedom directly contributes to Mission Readiness. In maritime and expeditionary environments, where space is limited and operational requirements can change rapidly, the ability to manufacture and repair components from multiple materials using a single deployable platform provides a significant logistical advantage. Instead of relying on multiple manufacturing systems or extended supply chains, operators can produce mission-critical components closer to the point of need.

    “For the expeditionary environments we are operating in, we need to manufacture flexibly. Since we do not know what part will be requested, we must account for this by providing systems that are multi-material compatible as well as multi-process capable, such as CNC additive and subtractive technologies,” said Chris Curran, CAMRE Program Manager.

    As the U.S. Department of Defense continues to advance distributed manufacturing initiatives through organizations such as FLEETWERX, the Naval Postgraduate School, and CAMRE, technologies that deliver both material flexibility and mission-ready manufacturing capabilities are expected to play an increasingly important role in supporting the warfighter.

    For ADDiTEC, the JIFX demonstration represents another step toward the future of expeditionary manufacturing—bringing production, repair, and sustainment capabilities closer to where they are needed most. The HYBRiD-X platform is believed to be the world’s first deployable manufacturing system to combine Liquid Metal Jetting, Laser Directed Energy Deposition, and CNC machining within a single containerized solution.

  • 3D Printing in Drones Could Reach $900 Million by 2034, AM Research Report Says

    For years, additive manufacturing has searched for applications where its advantages clearly outweigh the limits of traditional production methods. Now, according to a new report from Additive Manufacturing Research (AM Research), unmanned aerial systems (UAS) may be emerging as one of the industry’s most important opportunities.

    AM Research’s latest study, Additive Manufacturing Opportunities in Unmanned Aerial Systems 2026: Drones Market Analysis and Forecast, is the firm’s flagship report on the drone market. It estimates that the market for additive manufacturing in drones reached approximately $140 million in 2025 and could grow to nearly $900 million by 2034. The report examines the use of 3D printing across drone hardware, materials, and services, while tracking adoption by application, geography, and vendor.

    Drones have become one of the most important markets for additive manufacturing. Over the last several years, demand has grown across defense, public safety, agriculture, logistics, and infrastructure inspection. At the same time, 3D printing has become a way to make many of the parts used in these aircraft.

    In fact, drones are no longer just a prototyping market for 3D printing. According to the report, they have become the largest production application for low-cost 3D printers worldwide. More drone companies are turning to 3D printing not just for development work, but for manufacturing as well.

    One reason is economics. Many drones need to be produced quickly and affordably, making polymer-based 3D printing a natural fit. At the same time, the report states that metal additive manufacturing is beginning to gain traction for larger aircraft, particularly in propulsion systems and structural components with greater payload requirements.

    Defense is another big reason the market is growing. Military drones are now being produced in much larger numbers than they were just a few years ago, and governments around the world are investing heavily in both drone and counter-drone technologies. As demand rises, manufacturers are looking for ways to build and update systems more quickly, creating new opportunities for 3D printing.

    The report looks at companies from across both the drone and additive manufacturing industries. The list ranges from major drone manufacturers such as DJI, Skydio, General Atomics, and Quantum Systems to 3D printing companies including EOS, Stratasys, HP, Markforged, and Nikon SLM Solutions. According to AM Research, the market now has a mix of established aerospace firms, manufacturing suppliers, and startups developing new drone technologies.

    For AM Research, the report is the latest effort to track one of the fastest-growing applications. Authored by Scott Dunham, the study draws on more than a decade of market data and examines how 3D printing is being adopted across the drone industry, from small commercial platforms to larger defense systems.

    UAS report. Image courtesy of AM Research.

    UAS Additive Strategies Webinar

    AM Research will take a closer look at the trend during UAS Additive Strategies, a live webinar scheduled for June 30 at 11:00 a.m. ET. Drawing on data from the new report, the event will explore the companies, technologies, and trends shaping the future of additive manufacturing in drones.

    Speakers include Dunham, EOS‘s David Krzeminski, HP‘s Emily Levin, Stratasys‘ Conrad Smith, Firestorm Labs‘ Ian Muceus, General Atomics‘ Steve Fournier, Prusa Research CEO Josef Prusa, and other industry leaders, who will talk about market forecasts, new applications, and the opportunities ahead for 3D printing in the drone sector.

    Readers interested in learning more can register for the webinar at UASAdditiveStrategies.com. Also, additional information about the report, including a free sample, is available on the AM Research report page.

    UAS Additive Strategies 2026

    Could drones become 3D printing’s breakout application of the decade? Few sectors have embraced additive manufacturing as quickly as drones. From small commercial aircraft to military systems, 3D printing is becoming a very important part of how they are built.

  • Q5D and Molrix To Supply US Army With Harness Robots

    Q5D Technologies and Molrix will offer their advanced harness production manufacturing units to the US Army. One production cell will be used for the SkyFoundry project, while two further systems will be deployed to the US Army Materiel Command’s Tobyhanna Army Depot under a 20-month agreement. At the depot, they will be used for the maintenance and repair of existing goods.

    SkyFoundry is one of the Army’s efforts to accelerate the adoption of additively manufactured and autonomous UAS across the military. Many units are now not working on qualifying and selecting but rather on scaling production. This indicates a fundamental shift in which the US military itself is looking to scale up its own production. I suspect that they will learn a lot in the coming years about actually producing drones at scale under austere conditions. And I think that this will be a very valuable set of lessons.

    A Q5D automated wire harness manufacturing cell. The company’s robotic systems are designed to reduce wiring bottlenecks in drone production and defense manufacturing applications. Image courtesy of Q5D.

    Imagine just the prosaic things like filament drying and material management. One other prosaic thing is wire harnesses. These Christmas trees of wiring look decidedly low tech. And traditionally, people have made them further and further from where vehicles are being made. But, in the Ukraine war, for example, a few large truck firms had issues building trucks because this one seemingly simple thing, harnesses, were not being made. Q5D has developed a cell-based robot that can print traces and polymers and assemble these harnesses. If we are to 3D print drones at scale, a lot of these drones will have traces, wire harnesses, and boards that need some assembly.

    By automating this, the company could achieve more efficient production of these harnesses. You don’t want one soldier overseas to have to spend full time stringing together harnesses. I’ve done this work, by the way, when assembling printers, and it’s either mind-numbingly boring or kind of tactile zen, like pottery, depending on your mindset. But, either way, if you need to make 10,000 drones, which is what SkyFoundry wants to do, a simple manual operation can be a show stopper. Q5D can also print circuits, so that this functionality will become more prevalent in the future. Now, the company already wants to print and conformally mount the harnesses.

    Q5D Technology CEO Stephen Bennington noted,

    Stephen Bennington, CEO of Q5D. Image courtesy of Q5D.

    “Modern defence increasingly depends on the ability to manufacture, repair and adapt systems quickly. Our systems are designed to help reduce manufacturing bottlenecks, improve repair turnaround times and support more scalable sustainment capability across rapidly evolving production environments.”

    Q5D secured the contract through Molrix, a US-based engineering firm and integrator that resells and supports Q5D in the US.

    Van Sullivan, Molrix’s owner, stated,

    “Our partnership with Q5D brings advanced wire harness automation directly into U.S. Army production and depot environments. Molrix will provide on-the-ground installation, integration and operational support to help deploy these systems quickly and effectively across Army manufacturing and sustainment operations.”

    General Edward Daly, former Commanding General of the US Army Materiel Command, stated,

    “Defence readiness is no longer just about stockpiling equipment; it also depends on having the manufacturing capability to sustain and modernise systems as operational demands evolve. Advanced manufacturing and tactical-edge production are becoming central to military readiness and operational agility.”

    Q5D’s robotic wire harness manufacturing platform automates the production and installation of wiring systems for aerospace, automotive, and defense applications. Image courtesy of Q5D.

    This seems like a very valuable activity. If the US military is to make tens of thousands of vehicles, then manufacturing efficiency, manual labor reduction, and automation will be a real need. Things like post-processing, resurfacing, tapping, and fastening will be key areas to reduce. Maybe you don’t mind having an employee who conveys things all day or makes harnesses. In an overseas base, such a person would be super expensive. Q5D is working on something really crucial and boring here and automating it. And automating boring things is exactly what robots are good at. At the same time, Molrix seems crucial here, too. They understand the landscape, know many of the key people involved, and know how to work with the government. Having partners such as Molrix is key to selling in the US if you’re a foreign firm today.

    The intersection of additive manufacturing and drone production will be one of the topics discussed at the Additive Manufacturing Strategies UAS: The Present and Future of Drone Manufacturing event on June 30, 2026.