The Great Rebirth
The Atomic Layers: 00301
Atomic Layer of the Week:
Ladies and Gentlemen of the Additive Manufacturing industry!
I am proud to announce the grand return of a legendary series that brought many of you here in the first place…
Atomic Layers are officially reborn!
For those who joined after June 2025 - a brief explanation:
from August 2024, I published a daily newsletter with several pieces of news from the AM industry
usually, it consisted of one main, leading topic and 3-4 short industry news stories and gossip
like most great things I’ve created in my life, this series came into existence completely spontaneously, without much deeper reflection… and yet it turned out that this very specific, highly tabloid-like format was a real bullseye, filling a certain gap in the AM industry sector!
unfortunately, the pace I had set for myself - publishing valuable content every single day - became very demanding after three hundred days in a row…
on top of that, in June 2025 I started working with Bambu Lab, which practically eliminated the physical possibility of publishing news on a daily basis.
So after 300 episodes, on June 2 last year, I announced the end of the series:
But well… half a year passed, and it turned out that I actually missed it a bit. Maybe not in such an intense form, but still.
So when I decided to end the AM Survivor series (which, for a change, had tired and bored me a lot), bringing Atomic Layers back to life felt like the most obvious choice!
Therefore, starting today - January 2, 2026 - I am relaunching Atomic Layers as a weekly series.
The Monday’ 3DP War Journal will lose its news section and remain only as the main article (which, anyway, was the only part everyone actually read).
Many people kept telling me that what they liked most about the series was this short, slightly sensational, and not always serious way of presenting the news.
A kind of tabloid for the 3D printing industry.
So when designing the new cover for the series, I went all in… Yes, I know - it’s very cringe, but that’s exactly the effect I wanted to achieve:
So, with that said, I invite you to read, comment, and I’ll see you again in a week. And the next week… and the one after that.
Oh - and Happy New Year everyone! 🎉
Atomic Layer from the Past:
8 years ago, Local Motors secured over $1 billion from partners ETS and Xcelerate to deploy its autonomous, 3D-printed Olli buses. The electric, AI-enabled shuttle aimed to transform public transit. Despite early innovation, including the Strati car, the company’s business model proved unsustainable, leading to its closure in 2022.
Read all:
News & Gossip:
We’re starting with a piece of news that’s already a bit outdated, but still very important: just before Christmas, Velo3D secured a $32.6M U.S. Department of War contract. The company will collaborate with the Defense Innovation Unit and the Navy to prototype and qualify 3D-printed metal parts for a major weapons system.
Just as a reminder - exactly a year earlier, Velo3D was miraculously saved from financial collapse by Arun Jeldi and his Arrayed Additive. The company underwent a deep restructuring and significantly changed its business profile. From being purely a manufacturing company, it also became a service provider, focused primarily on the defense industry.
Thanks to favorable policy and the current geopolitical situation, this strategy turned out to be a lifesaver for the company’s financial health, and the contract described above is a perfect example of that.
Yeah, a year ago things were really bad - but in 2025 they managed to get back on track. Let’s hope they don’t mess it up again like they did the first time…
More on: www.voxelmatters.com
Chinese company Qidi Tech has launched the Max4, a large-format FFF 3D printer. It features a 390 × 390 × 340 mm build volume, a heated chamber reaching 65 °C, and a 370 °C hotend. And, of course, it also comes with “AI monitoring” - because apparently no 3D printer can exist in 2026 without some form of AI slapped onto the spec sheet. The price is around €1,050.
More on: www.3printr.com
Bambu Lab, in collaboration with the well-known design brand SCRY, has launched the FORMISM studio. The result of this partnership is three series (ARC, PERSONA, X) comprising nine shoe models designed for self-printing. All showcased shoes were printed using Bambu TPU 90A filament. For your own prints, you can choose from a wide range of colors in TPU 90A or TPU 85A.
The default model size is EU 43. On the model page, you can click “Customize,” select your printer, and either directly choose your standard shoe size or enter precise foot measurements (length and width) to generate a perfectly fitted print file.
More on: www.makerworld.comJonathan Meyer, the longtime CEO of German company APWORKS GmbH, has joined Marble, a UK-based company that develops and operates high-speed autonomous drones and sensing systems for persistent maritime and ocean monitoring, delivering real-time intelligence to government and commercial customers. Meyer will serve as the company’s Chief Operating Officer.
Meyer was associated with APWORKS for over seven years, serving as CEO for the past four. He has been succeeded by Sebastian Lepa, formerly APWORKS’ Chief Operations Officer and Sales Application Engineer.
And finally, look who recently joined VoxelMatters as the new content writer: www.voxelmatters.com 🤔