Filabot Launched a Benchtop Filament Maker: What In-House Material Control Means for Your Parts
Filabot EX3 combines extrusion, cooling, diameter monitoring, and spooling for custom filament. What that means for your parts.
Read More →The DC Additive Blog
Insights on additive manufacturing, high-temperature 3D printing, aerospace, medical, and industrial applications.
The Print Is Easy, the Finish Is Hard: What Electropolishing AlSi10Mg Lattices Means for Your Parts
A new study on electropolishing LPBF AlSi10Mg lattices highlights the hardest part of 3D printing: finishing surfaces you cannot reach. What it means for makers and engineering ...
Read More →
Lab Equipment Without the Minimum Order: How We Build Test Tube Racks and Custom Lab Gear to Order in the USA
Buying lab equipment for a small lab usually means case packs, long lead times, or flimsy imports. Here is how we build test tube racks to order in the USA, and how to get a cus...
Read More →
Ford Just Patented 3D Printed Suspension Parts With Brake Lines Inside: What the Hidden Channel Means for Your Parts
A new Ford patent describes suspension parts with brake fluid and coolant channels printed directly inside them. Here is why parts that cannot be made any other way are the real...
Read More →
Reusable 3D Printing Supports Are Real Now: Inside MIT's Water Soluble Support Interface
MIT researchers made 3D printing supports reusable by dissolving only the tip. Here is what water soluble support interfaces change for resin parts, surface finish and small bat...
Read More →
Copper Circuits on a Desktop 3D Printer: What Kupros' Cu29 Filament Actually Changes
Kupros' Cu29 all-metal conductive filament prints current-carrying copper traces on standard desktop FDM printers. We check the published numbers against bulk copper and lay out...
Read More →
Everybody's on a Peptide Now. Almost Nobody Has a Place to Put the Vials.
1 in 9 American adults is now on a GLP-1 — and behind the boom is a fast-growing community handling research vials with nowhere to put them. The 2026 made-in-USA guide to vial r...
Read More →
Carbon Fiber Nylon Is Stiffer, Not Tougher: What a New Impact Study Means for Your Parts
A new study on impact failure in 3D printed carbon fiber nylon shows stiffness is not toughness. What it means for print orientation, infill, and picking a material for parts th...
Read More →
US-Made 3D Printing Metal Powder Demand Just Jumped 63%: Inside 6K Additive's Record Quarter
6K Additive posted record Q2 2026 revenue of $7.1 million, up 63 percent year over year, on aerospace and defense demand for US-made metal powders. Here is what a domestic addit...
Read More →
Shaking the Print Bed Made PLA Parts Up to 15% Stronger: Inside the New Vibration-Assisted FDM Study
A new open access study in Polymers found that controlled low-frequency bed vibration improved PLA tensile, flexural, and yield strength by 8 to 15 percent and cut internal pore...
Read More →
A 3D Print That Finishes in 20 Seconds, With No Layers: Inside Utah's Single-Shot Holographic Method
University of Utah engineers built a holographic 3D printer that forms tough, seam-free microstructures in about 20 seconds in a single exposure, with no layers. Here is what it...
Read More →
The World's Largest 3D Printed Building Is Almost Finished: Inside Qatar's 40,000 m² School Project
A printer the size of an aircraft hangar, moved 15 times, just printed the largest 3D printed building ever: two schools in Qatar totaling 40,000 square meters. Here's what it m...
Read More →
2,625 Splints in Six Days: How 3D Printing Became Disaster Relief After the Venezuela Earthquake
After Venezuela's strongest earthquake since 1900, 97 workshops in 11 countries printed 2,625 orthopedic splints in six days. Here is the verified story, and what distributed ma...
Read More →⚙️
Wet Filament Is Quietly Ruining Your Prints: SUNLU's AMS Lite Heater Dries While You Print
SUNLU just announced the AMS Lite Heater, an add-on that dries filament while your Bambu Lab AMS Lite keeps printing, plus a US factory expansion. Here is why moisture is the mo...
Read More →
3D Printed Panels That Bend Wi-Fi Around Corners: Inside Aalto's Metacrystal Fix for 6G Dead Zones
Aalto University researchers 3D printed passive plastic panels that steer wireless signals around walls with zero electronics. Here is how metacrystals work, the numbers behind ...
Read More →
The Navy Will 3D Print Fighter Jet Patches in the Field: Inside the Plan to Cut F/A-18 Repair Time in Half
NAWCAD and FRCSW are flight-testing 3D-printed composite patches that could cut F/A-18 Super Hornet repair times by about 50 percent. Here is what the Navy's forward-deployed pr...
Read More →
3D Printing Instant Quotes Online: Upload, Price, Ship
Upload your 3D model, see an instant price, then we print it in your material and ship. $20 minimum order with free shipping, made in the USA. STL, OBJ, 3MF, PLY, and AMF get an...
Read More →
From Weeks to Six Hours: What a Military Lab's 3D Printed Test Fixtures Mean for Makers and Engineers
A U.S. military test center cut custom fixture lead times from weeks to about six hours with FDM 3D printing. Here is what on-demand jigs, fixtures, and scanning mean for makers...
Read More →
X-Ray Vision Comes to the Factory Floor: What Lumafield's New CT Scanners Mean for 3D Printed Part Quality
Lumafield's new Neptune Performance and Triton Performance industrial CT scanners bring fast X-ray inspection from the lab to the factory floor. Here is what seeing inside a par...
Read More →
Cameras Are Teaching 3D Printers to Watch Themselves: What Layer-by-Layer AI Monitoring Means for Print Quality
Two new June 2026 studies show cameras and AI building digital twins of 3D prints and catching defects mid-build. Here is what in-process monitoring means for makers and enginee...
Read More →
Tool-Free Investment Casting Goes Commercial: What DDM's Digital Foundry Means for Makers and Engineering Buyers
DDM Systems commercially launched its Digital Foundry, a tool-free investment casting platform that prints ceramic shells with UV light and promises castings in days instead of ...
Read More →
Open Bionics Fits the First Above-Elbow 3D Printed Bionic Arm: What the Hero Flex Means for Makers and Engineers
Open Bionics fitted the first full-length, above-elbow 3D printed bionic arm. Here is what the modular, custom-fit Hero Flex teaches makers and engineering buyers about additive...
Read More →
Holographic 3D Printing Just Got 70x More Efficient: What EPFL's Light-Based Breakthrough Means for Makers and Engineers
EPFL's holographic volumetric printing (TVAM) is now about 70x more efficient, growing whole objects at once inside a vial of resin using shaped light. Here's what the breakthro...
Read More →
Deep-Sea Sponge Inspires 187x Tougher 3D Printed Concrete: What Princeton's Breakthrough Means for Builders and Engineers
Princeton engineers used multi-material 3D printing and a deep-sea glass sponge to make concrete up to 187 times tougher. Here is what Architected Cementitious Composites mean f...
Read More →
Air Force Puts 3D Printed Microvanes on Every C-17: What $14M in Fuel Savings Means for Functional Parts
The US Air Force is adding 3D printed microvanes to every C-17, projecting about $14M a year in fuel savings. Here is what putting functional additive parts on a fleet aircraft ...
Read More →
Wave-Based Toolpaths Print Steep Overhangs Without Supports: What FDM's Newest Slicer Trick Means for Makers and Engineers
A new wave-based path-planning method lets FDM printers make steep overhangs up to 90 degrees with no supports, using only a slicer change. Here is what it means for makers and ...
Read More →
NIST's Laser-Stirring Trick Lets Metal 3D Printers Mix Alloys On Demand: What It Means for Engineering Parts
NIST researchers used laser stirring to let metal 3D printers mix alloys on demand mid-build. Here is what programmable-composition printing means for engineering parts and the ...
Read More →
ExxonMobil Cut Part Costs 42% With Metal 3D Printing: What a Refinery DED Win Means for Every Parts Buyer
ExxonMobil's Baton Rouge refinery cut part costs 42% and lead time from six weeks to under sixty hours by redesigning a titanium component for metal DED 3D printing. Here is wha...
Read More →
Wood Dust in PLA: What a New Study Means for Sustainable 3D Printing Filaments
A new study looks at adding wood dust to PLA for more sustainable 3D printing filament. Here is what the research means for print quality, strength, and whether bio-filled filam...
Read More →
4 Filaments, Hundreds of Colors: How Snapmaker's Full Spectrum Slicer Reinvents Multicolor 3D Printing
A community-built slicer that Snapmaker just brought in house lets makers pull hundreds of apparent colors from just a few filaments by stacking layers along the Z axis. Here is...
Read More →
Foaming Filaments Explained: How LW-PLA and PEBA Air Print Parts Up to 50 Percent Lighter
Foaming filaments like LW-PLA and PEBA expand as they print to make parts up to 50 percent lighter. Here is how active foaming works, where it shines for RC and lightweight buil...
Read More →
Flame-Retardant PPS Hits the Desktop: What Polymaker's UL94 V0 Glass-Filled Filament Means for Engineers
Polymaker's Fiberon PPS-GF20 brings UL94 V0 flame-retardant, glass-filled PPS to desktop FDM. Here is what it does well, the process limits that trip people up, and when a part ...
Read More →
Bambu Lab's $469 A2L Just Made Large-Format 3D Printing Cheap: Where Desktop Ends and Engineering Begins
Bambu Lab's new A2L brings large-format, multi-color 3D printing to $469. Here is what it does well, where its 300C single hotend stops, and when to step up to PEEK and ULTEM pr...
Read More →
Prototype First, Scale Later: US 3D Printing for Medical and Surgical Device Developers
Medical and surgical device developers can prototype and iterate with on-demand US 3D printing in PEEK, ULTEM 1010, and PPSU before committing to production tooling, with an NDA...
Read More →
Built for the Job Site: US-Made Custom Parts for Construction, the Trades, and Electricians
Contractors, tradespeople, and electricians can get custom and hard to find parts (brackets, conduit adapters, jigs, guards, and replacement tool parts) scanned, designed, and 3...
Read More →
How to Choose a 3D Printer for Engineering Polymers: A High-Temp Buyer's Guide
A no-nonsense buyer's guide to the hardware that actually decides whether a 3D printer can run PEEK, ULTEM, PPSU, and carbon-fiber nylon, plus when outsourcing beats buying.
Read More →
3D Printing in 2025: The Breakthroughs Quietly Changing What's Possible
From FDA-cleared 3D-printed PEEK skull implants to metal grown 20x stronger and aerospace quietly going additive, here are the 2025 breakthroughs that matter and what they mean ...
Read More →
How Additive Manufacturing Is Changing Everything: From Space Rockets to Surgical Implants
Additive manufacturing is transforming aerospace, medicine, and defense. Learn how 3D printing with PEEK and ULTEM is enabling space exploration, patient-specific implants, and ...
Read More →