Our look at the SPARKX i7 3D printer concludes with software, print results and final thoughts.
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Hands On With The Creality SPARKX i7 3D Printer, Part 2
Our review of the SPARKX i7 3D printer continues with a look at unboxing, assembly, calibration and operations.
Hands On With The Creality SPARKX i7 3D Printer, Part 1
We’ve been testing the Creality SPARKX i7 desktop 3D printer, and it’s quite a machine.
From Scrap to Print: How Recycling Is Reshaping 3D Printing
Charles R. Goulding and Preeti Sulibhavi look at the expanding role of recycling in securing materials for 3D printing, from America’s steel and aluminum scrap streams to copper, precious metals, plastics, and concrete.
Remote 3D Printing Through Opaque Materials Uses Focused Ultrasound
What if the printing head never had to reach the place where the object is being made?
Polymaker’s CymphoniK Creates Any Color With Pellets
Polymaker has long been known for their incredibly wide range of filament colors, and now they’re adding a pellet colouring system, CymphoniK.
VulcanForms Patents Steerable Laser Beams
Laser beam steering usually means moving something.
SprintRay Patent Turns Resin Printer Lighting Into A Replaceable Cartridge
What if the most troublesome part of a resin 3D printer could simply slide out?
The BMW Group’s Keys to Success: How the Company is Using Additive Manufacturing to Drive Toward the Future
Charles R. Goulding and Kate Esposito highlight how the BMW Group is leveraging cutting-edge additive manufacturing technologies to reduce costs, speed production, and drive the future of electric vehicle manufacturing.
X-Bow Patents Controllable 3D Printed Rocket Fuel
What if a rocket motor could change the way it burns after manufacturing?
SolidCraft, a Free Autodesk Fusion Clone
Autodesk had better look out: there is a clone of Fusion on the loose.
Build Your Own 3D Printer with 3D Print Rig
3D Print Rig is an open-source project that can visually build a 3D printer.
EOS Patent Uses A Carbon Monoxide Laser For Finer Powder Bed Fusion
EOS is proposing a very different light source for polymer powder bed fusion: a carbon monoxide laser.
Rebuilding Palisades: Can 3D Printing Solve Nuclear’s Legacy Parts Problem?
Charles Goulding and Ari Willick discuss how Holtec’s Palisades restart is exposing nuclear supply chain gaps that 3D printing may be able to fill.
A Powerful CAD Kernel Is Now Available For 3D Printing Developers
The hardest part of building a CAD application might have just become lot easier.
Voxeljet Patent Uses A Light Barrier To Prevent Recoater Crashes
A recoater crash is one of the more expensive ways for a powder bed 3D printer to have a bad day.
Unannounced Creality 3D Printer Appears in Slicing Software
Well, this is curious — a new, unannounced 3D printer appeared in Creality’s latest software release.
Design of the Week: Articulated Finger Extensions
This week’s selection are the Articulated Finger Extensions by MakerWorld contributor ShugyoPrint.
Researchers Develop Predictive Laser Control to Reduce Metal 3D Printing Defects
What if a metal 3D printer could adjust its laser before something went wrong?
Who’s The Biggest In 3D Printing, October 18, 2026
Once again we take a look at the valuations of the major 3D printing companies over the past week.
How 3D Printing is Quietly Reshaping Sports Medicine
Charles Goulding and Aaron Rofe examine how 3D printing is quietly transforming sports medicine by making braces, facemasks, and orthopedic implants faster, lighter, and more precisely tailored to individual athletes.
When Design Becomes Free, Part 2: What Happens to 3D Printing?
In Part 1, we explored the possibility that AI technology could eventually make 3D design effectively free.
When Design Becomes Free, Part 1: The Next Great Technology Revolution
Something rather interesting may be happening in the world of 3D design, and it reminds me of what happened 25 years ago.
Meshy Edit Lets Users Regenerate Selected Parts of AI 3D Models
Meshy announced something quite interesting: an editing feature.
America Makes Fuels Metal AM Growth with US$10.5M, 25-Supplier Defense Initiative
Charles R. Goulding and Preeti Sulibhavi consider how America Makes’ newest metal AM initiative is strengthening the U.S. defense supply chain and why participating companies may also benefit from valuable R&D tax incentives.
Snopes Has Investigated 3D Printing Claims for More Than a Decade
I noticed that there was a new entry in Snopes talking about 3D printing.
Bambu Lab Confirms S1 Handheld 3D Scanner for November Launch
Bambu Lab has confirmed they are releasing a 3D scanner.
Slant3D Launches SlantTools, a Library of Instant 3D Model Generators
Slant3D launched something interesting: SlantTools.
University of Maine Seeks More Patents for an Old 3D Printing Idea
Tilting a 3D printer’s build plate to eliminate supports is hardly a new idea.
Refining the Future: Why High Refinery Utilization Makes 3D Printing More Valuable Than Ever
Charles R. Goulding and Preeti Sulibhavi discuss how 3D printing can help America’s refineries navigate supply chain disruptions, accelerate maintenance, and turn domestic manufacturing into a competitive advantage.
Slicer-Independent Toolpaths Could Expand Non-Planar FFF Printing
FFF slicing has a very basic assumption built into it: every new layer should be flat.
Formlabs Launches US$699 Form Studio 1 Resin 3D Printer
Huge news from Formlabs today: they are introducing a new desktop resin 3D printer that is at a very affordable price.
Why is Prusa Selling Materials for Products They Don’t Make?
Prusa has launched a product that none of its own 3D printers can use.
Researchers Improve Commercial 3D Printing Technology And Seek Patent Protection
A Stanford and UNC patent describes a high-resolution CLIP printer using reduction optics, automated focusing and resin-flow modeling to produce microneedles and other microstructures at unusual speed.
Why the World’s Largest 3D Printed Building Is a Horse Barn
Charles G. Goulding explains why a record-setting 3D printed horse barn in Wellington offers a glimpse at how additive construction could reshape agricultural, industrial, and other large-scale buildings.
Soft Composite 3D Printing Tunes How Parts Move
Soft 3D printed parts have a timing problem.
Resin 3D Printing Ventilation Is Still Easy To Get Wrong
Resin 3D printers are easy to install. The ventilation for them isn’t as simple.
String Cubed Proposes Using Wet Filament to Protect Heat-Sensitive Materials
A startup company wants to purposely use wet filament.
GE Patent Uses Laser Flicker To Spot LPBF Defects
In metal LBPF, a laser can look perfectly healthy while the powder beneath it is not.
Can 3D Printing Help Build the Global Building Boom?
Charles G. Goulding looks at how 3D printing could deliver faster, more material-efficient construction for everything from wind-turbine bases and water tanks to bridges, seawalls and postwar rebuilding.
Lattice Structures Show “Double Anisotropy”
Equal density does not mean equal behavior.
Prusa Patent Shapes Nozzle Channels For Higher Flow
Prusa has patented a very unusual and possibly quite powerful hot end design.
Thermal Resistance of 3D Printed Parts Goes Both Ways
Thermal resistance is often spoken of for 3D print materials, but I ran into an unusual scenario involving temperature.
Helsing Moves to West Virginia With 3D Printing in Its Drone Manufacturing Strategy
Charles Goulding and Ari Willick examine how Helsing’s expansion into West Virginia signals a broader shift toward mass production of drones powered by additive manufacturing.
Design of the Week: Dining Table
This week’s selection is the astonishing Dining Table by maker Trey DeWolf.
Topology Optimization Needs To Know How Parts Will Print
A topology optimized part can be totally wrong.
Who’s The Biggest In 3D Printing, October 11, 2026
Once again we take a look at the valuations of the major 3D printing companies over the past week.
Tens Across the Board: How the University of Tennessee and Other Organizations are Fixing the Manufacturing Workforce Gap
Charles R. Goulding and Kate Esposito highlight the groundbreaking initiatives transforming manufacturing education and preparing the next generation of additive manufacturing professionals.
Is Bambu Lab Testing Multiple Retail Formats for Global Expansion?
Bambu Lab is one of the biggest producers of desktop 3D printers on the planet, but did you know they have a number of retail locations?
How Many Washes Does a Resin 3D Print Really Need?
I’m reading an interesting post about washing resin prints.
Could 3D Printing Change Habitat for Humanity’s Volunteer Model?
Habitat for Humanity is experimenting with 3D printed construction, but there’s an interesting question about where this might eventually lead.
How the Air Quality Crisis Is Accelerating the Next Generation of Filtration Technology
Charles Goulding and Lia Palumbo explore how increasing wildfire smoke and air quality concerns are driving innovation in filtration technologies. As demand for high-performance filtration grows, companies are investing in advanced materials, additive manufacturing, and research and development to improve advanced filtration systems.
Copper Turns A Biodegradable 3D Printing Blend Antibacterial
Researchers have found an interesting way to give a biodegradable 3D printing material a second job: fighting bacteria.
Study Finds Some 3D Printer Filaments Can Affect Skin Cells
Are 3D printer filaments toxic? It turns out they might be.
Bambu Lab Wins Patent Review After Stratasys Jury Victory
There’s been another development in the ongoing patent dispute between Stratasys and Bambu Lab.
Growth 3D Printing Pulls Shapes From Reactive Resin
This process prints by pulling a reaction out of a vat.
Will The Real Superalloy Please Stand Up?
Charles G. Goulding explores why the world’s latest “miracle” superalloys rarely replace steel overnight and how additive manufacturing is reshaping the path from laboratory breakthrough to commercial success.
Z Hop Setting Seems to Control FFF Surface Finish
A tiny slicer setting may have a big large effect on FFF surface quality.
California Enacts 3D Printing Law With Standards Requirement
The California proposed law to control 3D printers is no longer proposed: it’s the law.
Stanford Patent Proposes 3D Printing Through a Keyhole
What if the printhead could snake its way into the build instead of hovering above it?
Align Patent Uses Temperature To Tune 3D Printed Resin
What if changing a resin’s temperature could change the properties of the finished print?
Soaring to New Heights: How a Strategic Partnership and Additive Manufacturing Will Revolutionize Aerospace Engineering
Charles R. Goulding and Kate Esposito reveal how a transatlantic aerospace collaboration is combining cutting-edge defense innovation with additive manufacturing to redefine the future of airpower.
AI Robot Learns Post-Print Handling Eight Moves At A Time
A robot may eventually be able to handle routine 3D printing chores simply because you told it what to do.
Carbon Fiber Does Not Automatically Make FFF Parts Stronger
Carbon fiber filled filament sounds like an easy upgrade, but the reality is considerably messier.
Lynxel Teases LMS, a New Full-Color Resin 3D Printing Process
An entirely new full-color 3D printing process is about to launch.
Quadratic 3D Building A Volumetric Printing Platform
Quadratic 3D has been hiding in plain sight.
Xolo Patent Uses Messy Light Beams To Smooth Volumetric Prints
Volumetric 3D printing can be fast, but the light itself can leave fingerprints on the part.
If You Build it, They May Come: Lockheed’s Strategic Shift
Charles R. Goulding and Preeti Sulibhavi discuss how Lockheed Martin’s bold production strategy could foreshadow the next era of defense manufacturing, where additive manufacturing plays an increasingly strategic role.
Uniformation to Launch for Fully Automated Resin Printer
Now here’s a new take on resin 3D printing: full automation, on the desktop.
Padel’s, Ballers and 3D Printing Opportunities
Charles R. Goulding and Aaron Rofe reveal how the same 3D printing breakthroughs reshaping pickleball and tennis are poised to revolutionize padel equipment as the sport rapidly expands across the U.S.
A PETG Strength Predictions Dataset
A new PETG dataset and codebase looks to make FFF strength prediction more accurate.
Design of the Week: Futuristic Czech Church
This week’s selection is the Holy Trinity Church and Cardinal Josef Beran Community Centre by architect Zdeněk Fránek.
Bambu Lab’s WO Patent Burst Maps The H2D
A curious cluster of Bambu Lab patent applications has suddenly appeared.
Who’s The Biggest In 3D Printing, October 4, 2026
Once again we take a look at the valuations of the major 3D printing companies over the past week.
From Part Shortages to Smart Manufacturing: The Abrams Tank Gets a Digital Upgrade
Charles R. Goulding and Preeti Sulibhavi discuss how recent innovations from Honeywell, Pratt & Whitney, and the Army are creating new pathways to overcome legacy engine part shortages through advanced manufacturing.
OwlCAD Brings Built-In AI and MCP Connectivity to Cloud CAD
A new CAD option has appeared, and it’s all focused around AI capabilities.
BMW’s Latest 3D Printing Expansion is Really a 35-Year Story
BMW is investing further in additive manufacturing, and that seems like a normal thing to do.
A Cooler Way To Make Volumetric 3D Prints
Volumetric 3D printing has a heat problem, and researchers may have found a way around it.
Stratasys Patent Doubles Color Printing Drops Per Travel
What if a color 3D printer could print two layers at once without doubling its number of printheads?
Additive Industries Patent Splits Powder Beds Into Independently Controlled Zones
Additive Industries seems to want to make its LPBF print beds into a collection of smaller machines.
E3D Launches FlowCore Licensing Program
E3D announced a licensing program for their high-flow extrusion technology: FlowCore.
PrintHaus Turns Building Ideas Into 3D Printable Model Kits
There’s a browser app that lets you design a building and then figures out how to 3D print it.
Interface Geometry Can Save Multimaterial PLA Prints
It turns out that FFF printed dovetail joints are not always the strongest way to join multi-material parts.
Optimizing Optics: How Additive Manufacturing is Revolutionizing the Contact Lens Industry
Charles R. Goulding and Kate Esposito examine how additive manufacturing is making custom hard contact lenses faster, more affordable, and accessible for millions of patients.
LLNL Patent Replaces LPBF Rastering With A Digital Light Mask
LLNL is making a metal powder bed fusion machine print like an MSLA resin system.
PrintYourVehicle Could Eventually Make Real Car Parts Printable
There’s now a free 3D model site intended for car parts: PrintYourVehicle.
FCC Filing Reveals Creality Hyperfeed Resin Management System
We now have a revealing look at a possible new Creality product called “Hyperfeed”.
MX3D Facility Receives Highest DNV Additive Manufacturing Certification
MX3D announced the achievement of an important certification.
JPMorgan’s US$24 Million Shipbuilding Investment Could Create New Opportunities for Additive Manufacturing
Charles R. Goulding and Preeti Sulibhavi explain how renewed investment in U.S. shipbuilding is laying the foundation for a stronger defense supply chain powered by advanced manufacturing and industrial 3D printing.
Creality Patent Puts Internal Fins Inside A High-Speed Hot End
Creality wants to heat the middle of the filament instead of waiting for heat to work its way inward from the walls.
Is Bambu Lab Preparing a Standalone Handheld 3D Scanner?
There have been persistent rumours of Bambu Lab introducing a 3D scanner, and now there is some public evidence that the rumours are true.
Wondermaker Launches ZR Ultra Tool-Changing 3D Printer on Kickstarter
Wondermaker 3D has finally launched their tool-changing multicolor 3D printer on Kickstarter.
Monitoring FFF Printing Before Defects Become Permanent
Material extrusion often has a problem: the 3D printer can appear to be working perfectly while actually building a failed part.
IMTS 2026 Epilogue: Looking Back at a Show Where Manufacturing Came Together
After six articles and several days at McCormick Place, Charles R. Goulding reflects on the people, technologies and ideas that made IMTS 2026 a memorable manufacturing event.
A Differential Drive Could Make FFF Printheads Lighter
What if you moved the extruder motor off FFF printhead?