My Printer

  • 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.

  • AMPulse Asia: Major Funding Rounds Lead APAC 3D Printing Market Roundup

    The first half of June saw additive manufacturing activity across China, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, India, and Australia. Here are 15 developments worth watching, from TDK’s planned acquisition of Fabric8Labs to advances in healthcare, aerospace, construction, and consumer 3D printing.

    China

    Creality raises HK$1.272B in Hong Kong IPO, first consumer 3D printing firm to list on HKEX

    Creality (创想三维) listed on the Main Board of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange (ticker 3388) on May 29, 2026, becoming the first consumer 3D printing company to list there. The company issued 73,427,550 H-shares and raised approximately HK$1.272 billion in net proceeds. The offering was 3,829 times oversubscribed, and the shares opened at HK$33.88, about 80% above the IPO price.

    Creality’s IPO. Image courtesy of Creality via LinkedIn.

    Anycubic’s parent, Zongwei Liju, closes a Series B round of hundreds of millions of yuan

    Shenzhen-based Zongwei Liju (纵维立方), the company behind the consumer 3D printing brand Anycubic, closed a Series B round worth hundreds of millions of yuan, co-led by Guotai Junan Capital, Dachen, Challenger Capital, and South Korea’s Mirae Asset Group. The company said the capital will fund R&D and market expansion across its FDM and resin product lines. Separately, it launched the P1 MAX, a large-format resin printer with an 18.3-liter build volume, with sales beginning June 15, 2026.

    Yuding Additive Manufacturing completes IPO tutoring, advancing toward a STAR Market listing

    Yuding Additive Manufacturing Research Institute, a Beijing-based metal AM company founded by academician Wang Huaming and Beihang University, completed its four-phase IPO tutoring with Guoxin Securities (April 2025 to June 2026) and is now positioned to file for a listing on Shanghai’s STAR Market. It has raised capital across a Series A (about RMB 250 million at a RMB 1 billion post-money valuation), a Series B led by the Xiong’an New Area government platform (RMB 3.3 billion post-money), and a December 2025 pre-IPO round. Its metal AM work targets aerospace and defense applications.

    BMF develops ultra-thin 3D-printed dental veneers using micro-stereolithography

    Boston Micro Fabrication (BMF, 摩方精密) is developing ultra-thin 3D-printed dental veneers using its high-resolution projection micro-stereolithography process, integrating equipment, materials, process, and end-product manufacturing in-house. The company frames the veneers as a less-invasive alternative to conventional porcelain veneers.

    UnionTech secures a 120-machine bulk order and expands into metal 3D printing

    Shanghai UnionTech (联泰科技) secured two bulk orders totaling 120 systems: 100 SLA machines for service bureau Dongguan Fohan and 20 metal LPBF printers for Dongguan Huanya. UnionTech is also investing RMB 150 million in a dedicated metal 3D printing facility in Jinjiang, with mold maker Anyuan Molds as its first strategic partner.

    AI-to-3D software developer Tripo raises nearly US$200M

    Tripo, an AI text-to-3D and image-to-3D software developer (parent company VAST), raised nearly US$200 million in a round co-led by INCE Capital and a China Life-backed fund, following a US$50 million round led by Alibaba in March 2026; its reported valuation is around US$1 billion. Tripo also released the new-generation models Tripo H3.1 and Tripo P1.0, 8 K texture support, and a part-segmentation tool that automatically splits AI-generated models for 3D printing. Tripo makes software only, not printers.

    Japan

    TDK to acquire US metal AM startup Fabric8Labs for up to US$400M

    Japan’s TDK Corporation agreed to acquire San Diego-based metal AM startup Fabric8Labs in a deal valued at up to US$400 million. Fabric8Labs’ proprietary electrochemical additive manufacturing (ECAM) process deposits high-purity copper and other metals at room temperature, without the heat or vacuum of laser-based systems. TDK said the technology targets thermal management and power electronics components for AI data centers.

    UCSD Array. Image courtesy of Fabric8Labs.

    Serendix moves its 3D-printed construction business from R&D to mass production

    Serendix (セレンディクス), the Hyogo-based 3D printed housing maker, announced on June 15, 2026, that its 3D printed construction business has moved from R&D to mass production. The company delivered Japan’s first 3D printed home, “serendix10,” in 2022, and completed a 3D printed station building at Hatsushima Station on the JR Kisei Main Line with JR West in March 2025. It expects roughly 38 orders by the end of July 2026 and targets over 100 buildings within one to two years and more than 1,000 buildings a year within five years.

    A 20-metric-ton reinformed concrete frame. Image courtesy of Serendix.

    South Korea

    SeAH SST unveils 625XP, 718XP, and NiX XP superalloy powders for AM

    SeAH Superalloy Technologies (SST), a US-based subsidiary of South Korea’s SeAH Besteel Holdings, unveiled three nickel-based superalloy powders for additive manufacturing: 625XP, 718XP, and NiX XP. The company is targeting commercial production in the second half of 2026 at its Temple, Texas, plant, which is designed for 6,000 tonnes of annual superalloy capacity, and has signed an exclusive European distribution partnership with Remelt Sources.

    SeAH Wonju Plant in South Korea. Image courtesy of SeAH.

    Rokit Healthcare to begin human clinical surgery for kidney regeneration in July

    Rokit Healthcare (로킷헬스케어) announced on June 12, 2026, at the Korean Society of Nephrology conference, that it has received approval for an advanced regenerative medicine clinical trial and will begin human clinical trials in July 2026 for kidney regeneration. The procedure combines an AI-driven 3D bioprinting platform with robotic surgery to create an autologous omentum-derived cell patch, with the initial phase focused on safety evaluation. The company plans to seek approval for advanced regenerative medicine therapy in the fourth quarter of 2026.

    Rokit’s 4D bioprinting technology INVIVO. Image courtesy of Rokit Healthcare.

    Taiwan

    GIGABYTE unveils a metal 3D-printed motherboard prototype at Computex 2026

    GIGABYTE (技嘉科技) unveiled the X870E Aorus Infinity Next, described as the world’s first metal 3D printed motherboard prototype, at Computex 2026 in Taipei. The board uses an AI-optimized gyroid lattice structure for its chipset heatsink and M.2 cooler, which GIGABYTE says increases the cooling surface area by 44%, along with a 3D printed metal vapor-chamber cooling system. GIGABYTE presented it as a technology demonstrator and has not announced pricing or a release date.

    GIGABYTE Celebrates 40 Years of Milestones at COMPUTEX 2026 with Awards. Image courtesy of GIGABYTE.

    Hong Kong

    Peopoly launches the GIGA 800 large-format pellet 3D printer at US$15,000

    Hong Kong-based Peopoly launched the GIGA 800, a large-format pellet-extrusion (FGF) 3D printer priced at US$15,000 (EXW) with an 800 x 800 x 800 mm build volume. It uses a dual-zone screw extruder rated for 3 kg/hour and 400°C, runs open-source Klipper firmware with pre-configured Orca Slicer profiles, and is aimed at industrial tooling, composite molds, and large fixtures.

    Peopoly launched the GIGA 800. Image courtesy of Peopoly.

    India

    Agnikul Cosmos validates multi-engine clustering for its 3D-printed rocket engines

    Chennai-based space startup Agnikul Cosmos validated multi-engine clustering for its single-piece 3D printed Agnilet engines, synchronizing four engines with eight electric pumps and independent control algorithms during a static-fire test. The modular architecture is configurable from four to seven engines for mission-specific small-satellite launches. The company is targeting a maiden orbital flight by late 2026.

    Australia

    Hyperion Systems unveils ASTRA 460, the Southern Hemisphere’s first 3D-printed USV

    Hyperion Systems, working with marine architect Versatile Marine and autonomy provider Greenroom Robotics, unveiled the ASTRA 460, described as the Southern Hemisphere’s first 3D-printed uncrewed surface vessel (USV). The 4.6-meter hull will be produced in Henderson, Western Australia, using large-format additive manufacturing with recycled polymer, printed in about 40 hours, compared with four to six weeks for traditional methods. CEO Joshua Wigley said the company is provisioning for 10 units per month initially, with the capacity to scale to over 100.

    Luyten 3D launches ASCEND A27, a tower crane-mounted concrete 3D printer for structures up to 100m

    Australian construction-technology company Luyten 3D launched the ASCEND A27, the world’s first tower crane-mounted concrete 3D printer. The system has a 45-meter working radius, a 100-meter supported build height, and a 4.0-tonne crane load capacity, and can be erected in one to two days. It uses Luyten’s proprietary Ultimatecrete mix with AI-driven print-path generation, targeting high-rise residential, commercial, and infrastructure construction.

    Prepared by AMPulse

  • Phase3D’s In-Situ Monitoring Lands $2.9M in Oversubscribed Round

    The use of metal additive manufacturing (AM) for production at scale appears to be steadily increasing, as evidenced by recent announcements like EOS’s sale of 30 M4 ONYX systems to Beehive Industries. Beyond the near-term potential for added production capacity by experienced users like Beehive, the pace of this scale-up will depend on how quickly new users can effectively implement metal AM into their workflows.

    That, in turn, will depend on the trajectory of a combination of other factors, some of which are workforce development, qualification of materials, and quality control. Phase3D, maker of the AM in-situ monitoring (ISM) device Fringe Inspection and provider of its associated software programs, has a solution that can help the AM industry address all three of those needs.

    The Chicago-based startup just closed an oversubscribed, $2.9 million funding round, led by Quest Venture Partners of Palo Alto. Phase3D plans to use the funds to speed up its path to scaling Fringe Inspection, which uses structured light to identify potential failures as they emerge.

    Phase3D’s Fringe Inspection system projects structured light onto a build surface to measure geometry and detect deviations during printing.

    Fringe Inspection’s viability for widespread adoption is enhanced by the fact that it plugs directly into the printer and works with most industrial-scale metal machines, including PBF, MBJ, and cold spray. Additionally, Phase3D’s work with US military branches, including the US Air Force and the US Navy, as well as NASA, means it has been qualified for the same processes driving the current phase of the metal AM scale-up.

    In a press release about Phase3D’s oversubscribed, $2.9 million funding round, the founder and CEO of Phase3D, Niall O’Dowd, said, “We are excited to announce Phase3D’s completion of a pivotal funding round. We have raised capital to support the continued growth and increasing deployments of our flagship quality inspection product for metal 3D printing. This investment will catalyze faster adoption of real-time quality inspection for [AM], and we are very excited for the future.”

    Ray Farrell, incoming board member for Phase3D, said, “When the Phase3D opportunity came up, what stood out was the early customer traction. It’s special to have aerospace and automotive prime customers while simultaneously addressing top-level initiatives from the Air Force, Navy, and NASA.”

    It’s self-explanatory how Fringe Inspection can help the AM industry with quality control, and enhanced quality control helps with materials qualification by improving the repeatability and reliability of a given manufacturing process. So how can it help with workforce development?

    It’s expensive to train and staff workers in quality control processes, and when those processes move slowly, it becomes more difficult to deliver the parts that generate revenue to justify the expenses, including workforce development. That contributes to limiting industry investment, which, in turn, slows workforce development.

    On the other hand, if a standardized device makes quality control both easier and cheaper, it also makes it easier and cheaper to train the workers needed for that part of the manufacturing process. Also, the fewer workers needed for the quality control stage, the more workers that can be trained to operate the printers themselves, which is the biggest personnel bottleneck for the AM industry.

    None of this is to suggest that Fringe Inspection or improved quality control is a magic bullet: the point is that as AM continues to mature, its scaling trajectory will be more and more determined by technologies currently seen as peripheral to the printing process. But many of those technologies will prove to have been ‘peripheral’ solely at lower levels of adoption.

    Images courtesy of Phase3D