We’re starting off with defense in this weekend’s 3D Printing News Briefs, as Titomic was awarded a $5 million U.S.defense contract, and VulcanForms announced a partnership with Specter Aerospace for air breathing hypersonics manufacturing.Moving on, we’ve got automotive news from Hyundai and ExOne.
We’ll end with two news items from Snapmaker.Read on for all the details! Titomic Gets $5M Defense Contract for TKF 1000 Cold Spray System Titomic’s additive manufacturing technology.Image courtesy of Titomic.
Global advanced manufacturing company Titomic announced that its Titomic USA subsidiary was awarded a $5 million (AU$6.9 million) defense contract by the U.S.Air Force.Its goal is to supply, integrate, and commission a next-generation Titomic Kinetic Fusion (TKF) cold spray system at Tinker Air Force Base in Oklahoma City.
The turnkey system for the USAF will be built around the company’s TKF 1000 high-pressure cold spray platform, and will support depot-level manufacturing and sustainment applications, such as corrosion and wear protection, additive manufacturing, component repair, hybrid manufacturing, dimensional restoration, and multimaterial deposition.With delivery scheduled for Q3 2027, the cold spray system will integrate robotic automation, process monitoring, gas and powder management, safety systems, and real-time quality verification, all in one platform.Titomic USA will support the work from its headquarters in Huntsville, Alabama.
“With this award for the installation and commissioning of a TKF high-pressure cold spray system at Tinker Air Force Base, Titomic joins the capability suite of the largest U.S.Air Force MRO facility in the nation.The USAF’s selection of Titomic as its high-pressure cold spray vendor marks an important milestone in our growth within the U.S.
additive manufacturing market.We are delivering more than a machine – we are establishing a partnership and providing an integrated, production-ready manufacturing capability combining TKF technology, automation, process monitoring, installation and training, as well as ongoing support,” said Jim Simpson, Managing Director & CEO at Titomic Limited.“Deployments like this demonstrate the potential for cold spray to improve readiness, extend asset life and strengthen the U.S.
defense industrial base and warfighter readiness.” VulcanForms & Specter Aerospace Partner for U.S.Hypersonic Weapons U.S.companies VulcanForms, which develops advanced digital metal manufacturing technology, and defense technology startup Specter Aerospace have announced a strategic partnership to manufacture airbreathing hypersonic weapons at scale.
Their joint effort to speed up U.S.hypersonic manufacturing capacity is in response to increased demand for next-gen hypersonic munitions from Congress, the Department of War (DoW), and mission partners.Specter Aerospace has already been using VulcanForms’ metal 3D printing for hypersonic vehicle development, which lowers costs, speeds up design cycles, and enables a more resilient supply chain.
Now, the two will set up what they call a “first-of-its-kind” hypersonic manufacturing capacity, integrating capabilities from both companies—VulcanForms’ high-volume AM and Specter Aerospace’s leadership in building hypersonic missiles with the DoW—in order to develop critical munitions.They are working to develop a nationwide site evaluation for a future hypersonic weapons production facility, so the country can economically and securely scale manufacturing and all-up-round (AUR) integration of hypersonic munitions, cruise missiles, and interceptors.“The Defense Industrial Base 2.0 must be resilient.
VulcanForms is unique because it serves all industries, which has allowed us to learn and share faster with our customers.Partnerships that win embrace physical AI and leverage lessons from commercial industries,” said Matthew Rose, VulcanForms Executive Vice President.“Our north star is to bridge the digital and physical worlds.” Hyundai 3D Printing Full-Scale Auto Parts with ExOne’s High-Speed Sintering Last year, Anzu Partners combined industrial 3D printing leaders ExOne and voxeljet under one new parent company.
Now, ExOne Global Holdings has announced that South Korean automaker Hyundai is expanding its polymer 3D printing use with the installation of two ExOne VX1000 High-Speed Sintering (HSS) printers at the Hyundai Namyang R&D Center.Hyundai’s new Additive Manufacturing Solutions team supports pre-production and test part manufacturing, prototyping and small batch production for research, and sourcing long-lead parts that would otherwise need tooling.With a 1000 x 550 x 190 mm build volume, the VX1000 HSS is one of the largest polymer printers on the market, with 8,000 nozzles on its high-performance printhead that can rapidly print large-scale components, like complete door panels, for industrial customers like Hyundai.
To get the desired part properties for industrial applications like functional automotive parts, very precise temperature control is required, and the VX1000 delivers, enabling Hyundai to reduce time and assembly efforts.Additionally, both of the printers run from a single unpacking station and a central powder supply, and make their process data available in real time.“Hyundai is using High Speed Sintering exactly as we designed it, for full-scale functional parts,” said Eric Bader, CEO, ExOne Global Holdings.
“Keeping large polymer parts accurate and repeatable, print after print, is one of the hardest challenges in polymer 3D printing.We solved it, and that turns additive manufacturing into a tool automotive teams can rely on for real development work.” Snapmaker & Phateus Launch Co-Branded Hotend for U1 Printer Donald Wan, Chief Technology Officer at Phaetus, presents the Liber High Flow Hotend for U1.In the summer of 2025, Snapmaker launched the U1, a multicolor, tool-changing 3D printer that quickly became Kickstarter’s most-funded 3D printer project.
A year later, the Shenzhen company has teamed up with hotend specialist Phaetus to launch the jointly developed Snapmaker × Phaetus Liber High Flow Hotend for U1.This is a complete U1-specific extrusion module, pairing high volumetric flow and improved wear resistance, which makes it great for rapid prototyping and batch production.The Liber High Flow Hotend for U1 features a DLC-coated hardened-steel nozzle, as well as a seamless precision-machined heat break.
The amount of molten material a hotend can deliver per second is dependent on volumetric flow; the Liber Split-Flow Melt Channel on the co-branded hotend helps heat reach the filament core more efficiently by dividing the melt path into optimized channels, resulting in up to 87% higher volumetric flow.By making professionally engineered components from technology partners available to U1 users, Snapmaker is able to address more printing requirements.“U1 continues to grow with its users.
The growth of its accessory ecosystem is central to that vision.By combining Snapmaker’s platform engineering with the specialized expertise of partners such as Phaetus, we can respond to a wider range of user needs and continue adding value throughout the product’s lifecycle,” said Snapmaker’s Chief Operating Officer Mickey Ke.“This collaborative approach also reinforces what the Snapmaker brand stands for: products that remain adaptable, capable, and closely connected to real-world creative workflows.
The Liber High Flow Hotend is an important step in building that ecosystem and lays the groundwork for further collaboration around U1.” The Snapmaker × Phaetus Liber High Flow Hotend for U1 is priced at $34.99; you can purchase the Liber High Flow Hotend Bundle for $119, which includes four hotends.Snapmaker Space 3D Model Platform Enters Open Beta In other Snapmaker news, the company has announced the open beta of its Snapmaker Space platform for finding, sharing, and printing high-quality multicolor, multimaterial 3D models.The more advanced these types of toolchanger printers become, the more important it is for users to have access to well-designed and tested content.
Snapmaker created the Space platform to give makers better model choices, while also rewarding creators and communities for their models.Creator rewards are based on cumulative print time, as opposed to upload volume or downloads, which means people are less likely to mass-upload simple models.You can also earn points through model ratings and print-profile preparation; points do not expire, and can be redeemed for Snapmaker Store gift cards, which are valid for one year.
At launch, Snapmaker Space includes more than 2,500 models with U1 print profiles from new creators, established designers, and Snapmaker’s in-house modeling team.“Snapmaker Space extends our work from building machines and materials to supporting the content ecosystem that gives that hardware its purpose.Our objective is to make high-quality models easier to discover and to create clearer incentives for the people who design, test, and improve them.
For the broader industry, this reflects the growing importance of model quality and creator participation in translating technical capability into successful printing outcomes,” said Jade Wu, Director of Community Operations at Snapmaker.During this beta period, Snapmaker will work to expand the library of models, refine model submission and discovery, encourage broader participation, and use community feedback and operational data to evaluate the rewards framework.Subscribe to Our Email Newsletter Stay up-to-date on all the latest news from the 3D printing industry and receive information and offers from third party vendors.
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