State of the 3D-Fuel Union - Fall 2023

First, I’d like to thank all of our 3D-Fuel customers for continuing your support. I know that this last year has not been the consistent, reliable 3D filament supply that you’ve come to expect from us over the years. Thank you for your continued support. I want to let you know that we’ve gone through some choppy waters in keeping our materials in stock, but those challenges are largely behind us thanks to some changes that have been taking place in recent months.

The biggest change is our partnership with Essentium.

At 3D-Fuel we've always strived for high-quality filament but our ability to scale production, an engineering team, and our admin support were lacking. The partnership with Essentium addresses all of those points. 

This partnership has been in the works for nearly all of 2023. We now have all of the t’s crossed, the i’s dotted, and manufacturing has been underway at Essentium’s facility for the past few months.

Essentium is an advanced materials and hardware company that started around the same time as 3D-Fuel. It has its headquarters and production facility in the Austin, TX area with representation around the world. They have a reputation for extremely high-quality filament production and an extensive materials portfolio enabled by their in-house materials engineering team.

Together, we've been working hard to get all of your favorite products back in stock. You should see a much more complete set of inventory now available for purchase on our site. We're focusing first on colors of Pro PLA+ and Standard PLA+ in 1.75mm 1kg spools. We can produce other diameters and spool sizes on request (if you have a need, please email us), but until the 1.75mm 1kg spool inventory has stabilized, we'll only be doing 2.85mm and most 4kg spools on request.

In addition to 3D-Fuel products coming back into stock, we have added the entire Essentium materials portfolio to the 3D-Fuel site. 

Now you can purchase 3D-Fuel favorites like Pro PLA+ and amazing Essentium materials like high-temperature nylon with 25% carbon fiber, low friction flexible TPUs, ESD-safe filaments, and high-temperature materials like PEKK, PEEK, 9085, PPS-CF and many many more. We believe that this will be a game changer for businesses and individuals who have a need for a broad set of materials that can all be purchased in the same place.

We're also introducing a new material! If you've ever printed with our Pro PETG and loved it, get ready for something even better: Pro PCTG.

Imagine if you took Pro PETG and added greater impact toughness, better chemical resistance, and lower sensitivity to moisture all while maintaining the same printability of Pro PETG. That's Pro PCTG. On top of that, Pro PCTG is available in a dozen colors (and counting) including a MATTE BLACK! The matte black is an exceptional material that does an incredible job of hiding layer lines, leading to a part that almost looks injection molded.

Pricing stays the same. This is one of the goals of this partnership - to keep pricing where it is. As we continue to scale up manufacturing and get more products back in stock, we want to remain as competitive as feasible.

Our Fargo production facility has been completely shuttered. Inventory has been moved to the Austin, TX facility along with relevant pieces of manufacturing equipment. All other equipment has been auctioned off and moved out.

Along with that, the Fargo 3D Printing store has been closed but there is a new walk-in store in Austin: Austin 3D Printing Supply! Now that all of the manufacturing is at Essentium's facility, it made sense to open a walk-in store so that you can get all of your 3D printing materials needs taken care of in one place same-day.

We have a lot more in store for you over the coming months, but I hope that if you have one takeaway it's that 3D-Fuel is alive and kicking and is committed to serving your 3D printing needs.

Again, thank you.