A brand new class is reshaping the additive manufacturing panorama: 3D printer farms powered by a whole bunch of low-cost materials extrusion machines. As soon as thought of unreliable and too costly for mass manufacturing, these techniques have now matured into a sturdy and worthwhile answer for serial manufacturing. The business has advanced considerably, making it viable for companies to deploy giant fleets of sub-$3,000 3D printers (at lower than the price of one industrial 3D printer) to provide sturdy thermoplastic elements at scale.
It’s unusual to assume which you could purchase 100 Prusa 3D printers for the price of 1 HP MJF machine. There was a time when filament extrusion regarded doomed: too gradual and unreliable, destined to get replaced by high-speed manufacturing processes like MJF. Now, the tables seem to have turned. However that’s the 3D printing curler coaster. We don’t know precisely when (although we are able to make guesses and projections), however the tables will flip once more. And once more. The one fixed factor is change.
Initially lumped into classes like SMEs or giant factories, these extrusion 3D printer farm corporations now type a definite group, mixing scalability with affordability. Their method echoes early experiments with 3D printer arrays however with one important distinction: right now’s machines are way more dependable, and the enterprise fashions are confirmed.
VoxelMatters’ new Polymer AM Market 2025 report focuses on this comparatively new additive manufacturing section, offering information and insights on filament extrusion for elements manufacturing, filament supplies consumption and quantifying the projected enterprise alternative.
Let’s discover a few of the pioneering companies driving this pattern.
Slant 3D
Primarily based within the US, Slant 3D is likely one of the most well-established printer farms. It was the primary “new era” 3D printer farm, transferring away from unprofitable enterprise fashions like these seen prior to now. Its founder and CEO, Gabe Bentz, is an lively advocate for utilizing 3D printer farms in serial manufacturing and offered the thought for this text (with the video under). He mentioned he solely wished to design and market 3D printed elements, however discovered current service bureaus too costly. So, he made a pivot and Slant 3D deployed the world’s largest 3D printer farm. The corporate now makes use of desktop 3D printers to make merchandise at scale. It operates a whole bunch of in-house machines, specializing in on-demand manufacturing of end-use elements. Their Print Farm Platform even permits companies to outsource complete product traces.
Misplaced Boys Lab
A Sweden-based innovator, Misplaced Boys Lab runs an enormous 3D printer farm inside its robotic manufacturing unit, Zeppelin. With over 150 industrial 3D printers, together with UV printers, and laser engraving machines, is arguably the biggest 3D printer farm within the Nordics. Misplaced Boys Lab makes a speciality of fast prototyping, end-use elements, and quantity 3D manufacturing — from single items to full manufacturing batches, with quick turnaround occasions and full-service product design and manufacturing choices.
Zellerfeld
Zellerfeld, a pioneer and chief within the new age of 3D printed footwear, grew from a store’s basement in New York Metropolis to an internationally profitable producer of (and market for) on-demand, totally 3D printed designer and personalised sneakers. After constructing its personal facility with 200 3D printers and the flexibility to provide a couple of hundred pairs, the corporate goals to scale its manufacturing surroundings to a number of thousand, as many as 5,000, 3D printers. Zellerfeld turned to the Fraunhofer Institute for Additive Manufacturing Applied sciences IAPT consultants to conceptualize the brand new infrastructure that may be the world’s largest additive manufacturing manufacturing unit.
Dancyn 3D Prints
Based by Dan and his spouse Cyn, this family-owned enterprise leverages dozens of 3D printers to provide high-quality, low-cost 3D printed elements and equipment, significantly for gaming and hobbyist communities. They use over 127 top-of-the-line 3D printers and meticulously choose supplies to ensure the sturdiness and element of every piece. Whether or not personalised residence decor, revolutionary devices, or one-of-a-kind items, each merchandise is crafted with the utmost care.
Out of Darts
Out of Darts operates a powerful Prusa printer farm that manufactures elements for custom-made Nerf blasters. Their story is a case research in how hobbyist-driven innovation can evolve right into a scalable enterprise. The corporate runs over 50 Prusa i3MK3s and Prusa Mini 3D printers for 3D printing Nerf mods. In accordance with founder Luke Goodman, “working this many printers has been an ongoing studying expertise. Checking out print schedules and timing alone took 10 months to get solidified.”
ZB Designs
ZB Designs gives a variety of customized and print-on-demand providers utilizing a fleet of extrusion-based printers. Their versatility makes them a go-to companion for small-batch client product manufacturing. ZB can also be a family-owned enterprise (husband and spouse). The corporate has scaled into a number of places from humble beginnings in a one-bedroom condominium. It’s effectively on its option to increasing its operations with a plan for over 600 high-quality 3D printers. This development displays a tremendous response from its prospects.
Prusa Analysis
Prusa doesn’t simply construct 3D printers—it makes use of them, too. With over 600 machines, its print farm is likely one of the world’s largest and is principally used to fabricate elements for its merchandise. The printer composition began as a mixture of Unique Prusa I3 MK3 printers and MK2S, with the addition of a magnetic mattress with detachable metal sheet plates, with new techniques added or changed on a regular basis. The farm operates 24/7. All the printed elements are comprised of PETG apart from the fan-nozzle shroud, which is comprised of ABS to resist larger temperatures. We use 2 kg spools to lower the frequency of filament spool modifications. Every printer can print a set of plastic elements for MK3 in 27 hours. Moreover, the farm consumes about 1 ton of filament every week.
Gantri
Gantri blends artwork and expertise, utilizing a proprietary 3D printer farm to create premium designer lighting. Their give attention to design-led manufacturing exhibits the inventive potential of low-cost extrusion. Extra typically, although, Gantri operates as a digital manufacturing platform that empowers design-forward manufacturers to create new merchandise with minimal threat, sustainably and in California. From a cutting-edge manufacturing unit in San Leandro, Gantri has innovated throughout the board—from {hardware} and software program to automation—enhancing the standard, end and scalability of 3D printing whereas sustaining its effectivity, velocity and adaptability. The outcome? The world’s first digital manufacturing course of able to producing distinctive, high-quality designer lights on demand.
Jinqi Toys
This Chinese language firm runs one of the vital productive printer farms globally, churning out over 30,000 3D printed toys day by day. It’s a testomony to the ability of scalable, extrusion-based manufacturing. Based in late 2023, Jinqi has quickly develop into a 3D printed toy manufacturing chief. “The variety of 3D printers [mainly Flashforge] within the manufacturing unit has quickly elevated from 500 originally of the 12 months to greater than 3,500 at current, and the variety of exported merchandise has surpassed 20 million for the reason that begin of 2024,” mentioned firm consultant Zeng Hao. He added that orders are already scheduled by way of mid-2025, and the corporate plans to broaden its fleet of 3D printers to 10,000.
What was as soon as an experimental setup is now a full-fledged manufacturing mannequin. These 3D printer farms exemplify how distributed manufacturing utilizing dependable, low-cost machines can meet industrial-scale calls for. Because the expertise matures additional, anticipate this section to broaden much more quickly, blurring the traces between prototyping and full-scale manufacturing.
Koobz
Final, so as of time, however not least, Koobz, a footwear additive manufacturing firm, has closed its Seed funding spherical, reaching a complete capital of $7.2 million. The Ventura-based startup is utilizing the fund to construct up its manufacturing capabilities, focusing on sneakers made in america utilizing AI, robotics, and 3D printing. Koobz plans to make use of the funding to maneuver into a brand new headquarters in Ventura, ending its early chapter of operations run out of a storage.
This new house will home its first MVP manufacturing unit, geared up with 800 industrial 3D printers and focusing on manufacturing of 200,000 pairs of sneakers by the tip of 2026. The spherical was led by Uncork Capital, with participation from Cake Ventures, Antler, V1, Karman Ventures, Pathbreaker Ventures, and Anorak Ventures. These buyers belief a imaginative and prescient the place superior manufacturing is crucial to America’s industrial future.
