We are developing our own filament. Not as a side project or a marketing exercise, but because controlling our material supply is a strategic imperative for a production print farm. After months of research, formulation testing, and production trials, we are ready to share where we are and where we are heading. This is a significant step in our mission to build a fully vertically integrated 3D printing operation right here in Quebec.
Why Make Our Own Filament?
When you run over 200 printers producing hundreds of parts per day, filament quality is not a nice-to-have. It is the foundation of everything you produce. Inconsistent diameter causes extrusion problems. Poor moisture control leads to surface defects. Color variation between batches means products that do not match. We have tested filament from over a dozen suppliers and while some are good, none consistently meet the standards we need at production scale.
Making our own filament gives us complete control over material properties, color consistency, and quality assurance. It also reduces our dependence on external suppliers and eliminates the logistics of importing filament from distant manufacturers. This is the same vertical integration philosophy we apply to our product design and manufacturing. Every collectible in our catalog of over 3,600 designs will eventually be produced with filament we formulated and manufactured ourselves.
The Quality Problem at Scale
Hobbyists can tolerate minor variations in filament quality. If a spool is slightly inconsistent, they adjust settings and work around it. At production scale, that is not an option. When dozens of printers are running the same model simultaneously, every spool needs to perform identically. A one-percent variation in diameter across a batch means some printers are over-extruding while others are under-extruding. Multiply that across a hundred concurrent prints and you have a quality control nightmare.
Color consistency is equally critical. If a customer orders two ducks in the same color, they need to match. If a licensed operator prints the same model using our STL files, the color should be recognizable as a 3DCentral product. Achieving this level of consistency requires controlling the colorant formulation, the extrusion process, and the storage conditions from production through to consumption.
Development Progress
Our filament development program started with defining specifications based on our actual production needs. We know exactly what diameter tolerance, moisture content, tensile strength, and flow characteristics produce the best results on our equipment with our print profiles. These specifications became the target for our formulation work.
We have completed initial formulation testing with a partner lab and produced several small-batch runs that meet our target specifications. These test batches have been run through our production printers alongside our current supplier filament for direct comparison. The results are promising: comparable or better print quality with more consistent color reproduction. We have also tested the filament across different printer models in our fleet to ensure broad compatibility.
Quebec Manufacturing
Our filament will be manufactured in Quebec. This is not just brand positioning. Local production means we can iterate quickly, maintain tight quality control, and minimize the environmental impact of material transportation. We are evaluating production partnerships with Quebec-based extrusion facilities that have the equipment and expertise to produce filament at the volumes we need.
Manufacturing locally also aligns with our broader philosophy of decentralized, sustainable production. The filament that goes into your collectible will have traveled a short distance from the extrusion facility to our print farm, not halfway around the world. Combined with our on-demand manufacturing model, this creates one of the shortest supply chains possible for a consumer product. Read more about our approach to sustainable manufacturing in our post on sustainability in additive manufacturing.
What This Means for Our Products
For customers, our own filament line means even more consistent quality across our product range. Colors will be more precise and more repeatable. Surface finish will be more uniform. And because we control the formulation, we can develop specialty filaments optimized for specific product categories. Imagine a silk-finish PLA tuned specifically for our fantasy figurines, or a matte-finish formulation designed to make our gnomes look like hand-painted ceramics.
For Commercial License holders, we plan to eventually make our production filament available for purchase. This means licensed operators can use the exact same material we use, ensuring their prints match our quality standards. It closes the last gap in the consistency chain between our production and theirs.
What is Coming
The initial launch will focus on PLA in the color range we use most frequently in our collectible production. This allows us to validate the production process with real-world usage data before expanding to additional colors and material types. Future plans include PETG for functional decorative pieces and specialty materials optimized for specific product categories.
We do not have a firm launch date yet because we refuse to release a product that does not meet our standards. When our filament is ready, it will be production-tested and validated across our entire printer fleet. We will announce availability on our blog, newsletter, and social channels. Until then, development continues. Visit our about page to learn more about our operations, or browse the shop to see the collectibles that drive everything we do.
