3D Printer Market Q2 2026: Industrial Up 40%, Desktop Saturating
3D printer market Q2 2026: industrial revenue rose 40% on drones and rockets while desktop exports hint at oversupply. What CONTEXT's data means for buyers.
Kickstarter's $29M 3D Printing Wave: Color, Fiber, and Metal Are Now Desktop Problems
Four Kickstarter campaigns raised $29M for desktop printers in 2026 — funding full-color printing, continuous fiber, and metal LPBF at consumer prices.
Chinese Startup Targets the Metal 3D Printing Market That SLM Can't Reach
Suzhou Dewu Technology's pre-Series A closes on a high-precision metal additive process achieving 30µm wall thickness — and cuts post-processing costs from 70% of part cost to under 20%.
LightForce's 3D Printed Metal Braces: What the First Patient's 7.5-Month Case Reveals
Katie Doran's fully customized metal bracket treatment wrapped in 7.5 months — versus an 18-month projection with traditional braces. LightForce's first patient story is a benchmark for where orthodontic 3D printing is headed.
Metal-Base Is Building a Metal LPBF Printer for Under $10K — and It Has Beta Units Running
Metal laser powder bed fusion has required $200K+ machinery since inception. Metal-Base is shipping beta units at a fraction of that price. Here's what the democratization of metal AM actually looks like.
Walter Reed Gets FDA Clearance to 3D Print Patient-Specific Titanium Implants On-Site
Walter Reed's 3-D MAC unit is the first point-of-care institution cleared by the FDA to manufacture patient-specific titanium cranial implants in-house. What this means for 3D printing's role in advanced medical manufacturing.
Under $10,000 Metal 3D Printing Is Here: The Scrap Labs SCRAP 1
A SpaceX veteran's startup is selling a metal LPBF printer kit for $9,600. Two companies are now crossing the sub-$10K threshold simultaneously — here's what it means for the metal AM market.
3D Printing's Metal Problem: The First Steel Alloy Designed by AI From Scratch
Most metals used in additive manufacturing were designed for casting and forging decades ago. Researchers at Purdue and South China university used machine learning to design one that wasn't.
Virginia-Class Sub Gets Its First 3D Printed Metal Part
Portsmouth Naval Shipyard installed a 3D printed copper-nickel flange on USS Washington — the first welded metal AM part on an in-service Virginia-class submarine.
From Rolls-Royce Aeroengines to Desktop 3D Printing: An Duong's Bet
An Duong spent years 3D printing jet engines at Rolls-Royce. Now he runs Morethan3D, bringing that aerospace manufacturing knowledge into the desktop hobbyist market.
Aconity3D WireDED: Three Metals, One Build, No Machine Changes
Aconity3D's AconityWIRE system processes aluminum, stainless steel, Inconel, and titanium wire in a single build — without reconfiguring the machine. What this means for industrial metal AM.
Apple Is Already 3D Printing at Scale — and Pushing Further
Apple already prints Apple Watch cases and ports at 40M units annually. Mark Gurman reports the company is now working on aluminum AM for iPhone enclosures — at 220M units per year.