Somebody just ran an industrial powder bed 3D printer through the roughest water off the California coast in five years, and it worked. Expeditionary manufacturing company Firestorm Labs announced that its containerized xCell production cell printed more than 1,000 parts aboard the USS Essex, an amphibious assault ship, on the way to the RIMPAC 2026 naval exercise. The crew also built 12 small first person view drones on board, then flew them as practice adversary aircraft in a counter drone exercise.
If you make parts for a living, or you are waiting on a backordered part right now, this story is worth three minutes of your time. It says a lot about where manufacturing is headed: closer to the point of need, and much less dependent on a container ship from overseas.
A shipping container, a powder printer, and 12 foot seas
Firestorm Labs is not a printer manufacturer. The company packages HP Multi Jet Fusion printing equipment, power, and post processing into a deployable container called xCell, so a crew can design, print, and finish parts wherever the container lands. This was the first time xCell ran in a maritime environment. Waves reached roughly 12 feet on the transit, and CEO Dan Magy told Defense One the conditions were described as the roughest water off the California coast in the last five years. His takeaway was that the systems and machines proved, in his words, quite resilient.
The output was not trinkets. Along with the drone airframes, the team printed mechanical test components and repair parts the ship's crew needed underway. Every part made on deck is a part that did not have to be flown or shipped out across open water.
Why printing with powder on a moving ship is a big deal
Multi Jet Fusion builds parts in a bed of fine nylon powder. A carriage spreads a paper thin layer, jets a fusing agent where the part should be solid, and a heat source fuses that cross section before the next layer goes down. Gravity is the only thing holding each loose layer flat. That is why the 3D printing press had one big question about this demo, with Fabbaloo openly asking how a powder system keeps its bed level while a ship pitches and rolls. Nobody outside the company has published a full technical answer yet, but the result stands: the machines kept printing. Industrial 3D printers are proving far more tolerant of rough environments than most people would guess.
My equipment is down and the replacement part is backordered. Can someone just 3D print it?
Yes, in most cases a broken plastic component can be 3D printed and shipped within days, even when the original manufacturer quotes weeks or has discontinued the part entirely. The Navy's math aboard the Essex is the same math a plant manager or facilities team faces on land: a small out of stock bracket can idle a machine worth thousands of dollars a day. We handle this every week at DC Additive Pros. Send the part or a drawing through our Build and Ship service and we will quote it, print it in an engineering material suited to the job, and ship it from our Rockville, Maryland shop. If the part no longer exists in any catalog, our 3D scanning and reverse engineering service can recreate it from the physical object itself, cracked or worn examples included.
My parts need to survive heat, vibration, and salt air. Is 3D printing tough enough for that?
Yes, modern engineering polymers such as PEEK, ULTEM, carbon fiber nylon, and ASA are made for exactly these conditions, and picking the right material matters more than the printing itself. The nylon parts from the Essex demo were flying as drone airframes within days of being printed. On land, we reach for UV stable ASA for outdoor brackets, carbon fiber reinforced filaments where stiffness matters, and high temperature polymers for parts that live near engines, electronics, or steam. If your application sees serious heat or chemicals, look at our PEEK and ULTEM printing service: these materials keep their shape at temperatures that would turn ordinary plastics soft.
What this means for makers and engineering buyers
Three takeaways. First, point of need manufacturing has moved from slideware to practice. More than 1,000 usable parts produced under conditions no factory would accept is a real benchmark, not a demo reel. Second, the supply chain case keeps getting stronger. The Navy did this to avoid resupply across contested waters, and businesses are running the same math on ports, tariffs, and eight week lead times. Third, a note for makers: if a powder bed system can hold a flat layer in a 12 foot swell, your printer's sensitivity to a drafty window is a solvable problem. A basic enclosure and careful calibration go a long way.
One more note for hardware brands: we review 3D printers, filament, scanners, and accessories on this blog and put them through real production work. If you would like us to consider your product for review, email us at info@dcadditivepros.com.
Frequently asked questions
I have one broken plastic part and no CAD file. Can you copy and print it?
Yes. We 3D scan the original part, rebuild the geometry as a CAD model, and print a replacement, usually within about a week. Cracked or partial parts can usually be reconstructed as well.
How much does it cost to 3D print a replacement part?
Most small to medium replacement parts fall roughly between $20 and $150 depending on size and material, and quotes are free. One offs are welcome and the minimum order is just $20.
What 3D printing material should I use for outdoor or marine parts?
ASA is the usual answer for sun and weather exposure, with nylon or PEEK for parts that also see load, heat, or chemicals. We recommend a specific material with every quote based on where the part will live.
Can 3D printed parts really replace machined or molded parts?
For low volume replacement parts, fixtures, brackets, housings, and drone components, yes, printed engineering polymers routinely do the job. Very high load metal parts and high volume commodity parts are often still better machined or molded, and we will tell you honestly when that is the case.
DC Additive Pros is an independent 3D printing shop. We are not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Firestorm Labs, HP, or the US Navy. Third party names are used only to identify the subjects of this news story. Facts above are drawn from Firestorm Labs' public announcement and reporting by Defense One, Defense News, Fabbaloo, and VoxelMatters, verified August 13, 2026.