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The practical additive manufacturing news brief. What matters, what's hype, and what it means for builders.

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#28
October 2 · 25 min
BICO: The Bioprinting Pioneer That Bet on the Whole Lab
BICO began as CELLINK, the Swedish company that put bioprinters and bioinks on university benches, and grew into a lab automation group built on software, dispensing and robotics. Alex and Jordan cover the bioprinter lineage, the 2021 rebrand and acquisition spree, the whistleblower investigation and founder exit, the divestments and BICO 2.0 reset, and a 2026 leadership shake-up that put the founder back in the chair. They also ask whether 1% organic growth can carry a margin story toward a double-digit target.
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#27
September 25 · 19 min
Somebody Owns the Purge Tower: Stratasys Wins $27.6M Against Bambu Lab
A Texas jury finds Bambu Lab's X1, P1 and A1 printers infringe Stratasys patents on prime towers and bed leveling. Alex and Jordan dig into why the $27.6M figure is a midpoint, not an ending. Plus Bambu's first laser cutter, Creality's 'no purge waste' four-color crowdfunder, a two-ton WAAM steel die from ORNL and Boeing, a Hackaday support trick you can test this weekend, and an AI photo-to-CAD claim with no printed part behind it.
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#26
September 8 · 23 min
Divergent Technologies: The Hypercar Was Just the Demo
Alex and Jordan profile Divergent Technologies, the Los Angeles company behind the 3D-printed Czinger 21C that's now printing Tomahawk missile structures and aircraft fuselages. From a father-son hypercar project to a $2.3 billion defense manufacturing bet, this is a company trying to sell a factory model, not a printer.
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#25
September 4 · 20 min
The 30-Foot Question — UMaine's Printed Boat, Japan's Drone Deal, and Same-Day Crowns
UMaine launches its biggest printed boat yet — but is it a turning point or a bigger version of the same demo? Plus: Japan signs a production deal for printed interceptor drones, 3D Systems goes nuclear with Savannah River, SprintRay's FDA-cleared crown resin, a warping guide worth your weekend, and Bambu Lab patents that may or may not ever ship.
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#24
September 1 · 22 min
nTop: The Software Company That Thinks CAD Is the Bottleneck
Alex and Jordan profile nTop, the New York software company betting that traditional CAD, not printers, is what's holding back advanced manufacturing. From its 2015 founding as nTopology through NVIDIA's backing and a push into GPU-native simulation, this is the story of a geometry engine trying to become a platform.
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#23
August 28 · 19 min
The $2.3 Billion Signal — Defense Goes All-In on Additive
Ursa Major rides a $2.3 billion SPAC into the public markets while the Navy and Army push printing onto submarines, ships, and flight lines — but is it a structural shift or a very well-timed news cycle? Plus PrusaSlicer 3.0's preview, a filament cabinet that dries without heat, and a mystery company claiming an 80-printer drone farm that nobody can seem to find.
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#22
August 25 · 24 min
HP 3D Printing - The Inkjet Giant's Ten-Year Manufacturing Bet
Alex and Jordan profile HP's 3D printing business, from the 2016 Multi Jet Fusion launch with Nike and BMW watching, to a top-tier polymer AM position, a metal binder jetting push, and a decade-old question that still hasn't been answered: is HP's inkjet moat real? Plus the MJF 1200, Craftcloud, and what one reseller exit does and doesn't tell you.
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#21
August 21 · 19 min
A Texas Judge, a V8 Block, and Two Imaginary Dimensions
A federal court strikes down the ATF's ghost gun rule and Alex and Jordan untangle what it actually changes for people who print. Plus: Creality's suspiciously cheap four-color announcement, Bosch and Nikon SLM print a V8 engine block, a two-year-old Indian startup test-fires a printed cryogenic rocket engine, and IBM claims to have invented '5D printing.'
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#20
August 18 · 25 min
Creality - The Volume King Trying to Become a Platform
Alex and Jordan profile Creality, the Shenzhen company whose cheap, hackable Ender-3 put 3D printers on millions of desks. They trace the line from the 2014 CR-3 to high-speed K series machines, a nozzle-changing printer called KliTek, a filament recycler, an e-commerce platform, and the signals that Creality wants to go public.
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#19
August 14 · 21 min
The $1.4 Billion Question — Hadrian's Mega-Raise, Hyundai Goes All-In, and Bambu Teases a Laser
A record-shattering funding round for Hadrian lands with a curious lack of confirmation, Hyundai and Kia open a dedicated additive manufacturing center after 30 years of quiet practice, and Prusa refreshes its whole lineup for free. Plus: a QIDI Plus5 review worth reading, Bambu Lab's mysterious R1 laser teaser, and a 13-year-old in Utah who spent his summer printing a wheelchair for a toddler.
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#18
August 11 · 22 min
UltiMaker - The Open Desktop Pioneer Trying to Grow Up Industrial
Alex and Jordan profile UltiMaker, the company stitched together from two desktop 3D printing pioneers that's now betting on factories, defense, and an open materials ecosystem. From open-source roots and the MakerBot merger to the Factor line and the Bambu Lab squeeze, this is a look at whether a desktop legend can survive by going upmarket.
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#17
August 7 · 20 min
The Hospital Is the Factory Now — Walter Reed's FDA First
Walter Reed becomes the first hospital cleared by the FDA to print its own titanium implants, and Alex and Jordan dig into what it actually takes to turn a medical center into a manufacturer. Plus: Renishaw goes after supports in metal printing, $9 million against the defense qualification wall, a carbon-fiber trick for your desktop prints, and a Florida 3D-printed house that has the New York Post rolling its eyes.
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#16
August 4 · 20 min
Materialise: The Company That Bet on Software Before Anyone Knew Software Was the Bet
Alex and Jordan profile Materialise, the Belgian veteran that decided decades ago that the money in 3D printing wasn't in printers. From Magics and Build Processors to custom PEEK skull implants, they trace how a 1990 founding turned into a dual software-and-medical business, and ask whether a margin-first strategy can survive flat revenue.
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#15
July 31 · 16 min
Three Shutdowns and a Skull Plate — Additive's Sorting Week
3DEO, Fusion3, and BigRep all wind down in the same week that Walter Reed lands the first FDA clearance for a hospital-printed cranial implant. Alex and Jordan sort the survivors from the science projects, plus HP's mysterious high-temp printer, Prusa's nozzlegate, Sovol's seven-toolhead IDEX, and ChatGPT trying its hand at CAD.
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#14
July 28 · 22 min
3D Systems: The Old Guard Bets Everything on Mission-Critical Printing
Alex and Jordan profile 3D Systems, one of the oldest names in additive manufacturing, as it recasts itself around defense, healthcare, and dental production. From Figure 4 hearing aids to hypersonic metal parts and a Saudi joint venture, the hosts weigh a genuine strategic shift against lawsuits, revenue whiplash, and a leadership picture that's harder to see than it should be.
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#13
July 24 · 19 min
Square Footage Isn't Output — Velo3D's Forge 1 and the Defense Metal Boom
Velo3D opens a massive metal AM campus in Livermore while defense money floods into additive — but does a big building mean big production? Plus: aerospace giants gang up on the F135 engine, the Navy prints metal at sea, Polymaker's HT-PLA Pro talks a big game, and Apple hinge rumors get the hype treatment.
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#12
July 21 · 21 min
Prusa Research - The Open-Source Idealist at a Crossroads
Alex and Jordan profile Prusa Research: from RepRap roots and the beloved i3 MK2 to enclosed CoreXY machines, the INDX toolchanger, and a licensing pivot that has the maker community arguing. Can the company that built its brand on openness survive a commoditized market by becoming more closed?
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#11
July 17 · 16 min
The Shakeout Week — BigRep Sold, Würth Closes, and Desktop Metal Hits the Wall
Three companies exit additive manufacturing in a single week, and Alex and Jordan dig into what the shakeout actually means for anyone who prints. Plus: the Navy's at-sea printing exercise, BMW's refreshingly boring scaling blueprint, Prusa's INDX toolchanger, a free Blender tool for resin supports, and whether 'vibe coding' your CAD is a real thing or just a vibe.
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#10
July 14 · 22 min
Bambu Lab - The Walled Garden That Ate Desktop 3D Printing
We profile Bambu Lab, the company that turned 'it just works' into a market-leading strategy for desktop 3D printing. From the X1 Carbon to an integrated ecosystem, a Stratasys lawsuit, and an open-source backlash, we sort what's confirmed from what's hype - including a valuation rumor that does not survive contact with reality.
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#9
July 10 · 15 min
Bioprinting Goes to Orbit — and the 20-Second Miracle
Auxilium says it bioprinted kidney and liver tissue on the ISS — we dig into what that actually proves. Plus Venus Aerospace's $91M detonation-engine round, Framatome's nuclear WAAM center, DAIHEN and EOS on the materials front, a clever single-AMS color trick, and a University of Utah claim that objects can print in a single 20-second laser shot.
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