Nova Labs 3D Printing Storms Philadelphia
A Nova Labs Field Report 3D Printopia 2026
On September 26th and 27th, 3DPrintopia was held in Philadelphia for the first time, moving to Hall F of the convention center. 3DPrintopia is a show that ”brings together makers, engineers, students, innovators, families, and businesses from around the world to celebrate everything 3DPrinting.” It has been 3DPrintopia for two years, but is a follow-on of ERRF, the East Coast RepRap Festival, formerly held in Bel Aire MD.
Nova Labs has had a table every year to hang out with our distant 3d printing friends, track DIY 3d printing trends, and advertise the space to get some new members. This year we had Paul C, Sean H, Brian I, Jeff N and Mark S tending to the booth, with other Nova Labs attachees passing by for the same reasons. Even in Philadelphia, we met some attendees from Sterling who didn’t know about Nova Labs - so maybe we got some new members?
New this year, Sean made shirts for the booth crew so we’d sort of match sometimes - awesome addition to the camaraderie of the event. In all, we spent two and a half days in Philadelphia catching up with 3d printing from around the world.
Sanjay Mortimer Charity Trivia
Sean, Jeff, Mark and Paul joined Joel Telling, the 3D Printing Nerd, for his Ultimate Additive Quiz show in support of the Sanjay Mortimer foundation… and our team of Nova Labs Luminaries won! The victory selfie (below) shows the 2nd place team from Prusa, one of the leading 3d printing manufacturers. The Sanjay Mortimer Foundation “is a charity established to find and assist those with neurodivergent minds to realise their potential through Engineering and Making.” While they are located in the UK, they’re aligned with many of the programs and goals of Nova Labs.
Death Racers
We ran a Death Racer Repair station and helped keep some of them running - even giving out spare printed parts. Brian won something by jumping up a ramp like a Knight Rider. My new racer, Octocat, was a danger to all (including itself) but tentacles are cool, and longer tentacles are cooler. Getting your tentacles tangled in your tank treads is still a tiny bit cool! Jeff has a nice Nova Labs themed racer, Brian was running a new Battlestar Galactica racer
Cool Projects
Paul - The coolest project I saw was a 5-axis 3d printer, by Unlayered 3D - they’re selling the printer, but also wrote a 5-axis slicer to leverage its capabilities.
Maker Chips
Mark S once again made Nova Labs’ makerchip, and had an awesome prototype for a 10-piece expanding chip. Some of the more innovative chips at the event, they serve as a quick and fun advertising tool among the 3d printer community.
Prusa USA formerly Printed Solid
On the return journey, Jeff and Brian both had the opportunity to tour Prusa USA in their new location in Delaware, in this location they assemble printers for the US market, manufacture filament, print parts for US sold kits and do lots and lots of shipping.
We hope by further developing our relationship with Prusa USA that we can work to get a better deal for our members as we refresh our printer fleet in the coming years.
It was a lot of fun to see how many 3D printed contraptions they use to get work done in their facility. The Core one weighs about 50 lbs, so they have a number of flexible parts all lined up to make it easy to flip it over and load it into its shipping box.
On the topic of Prusa, Prusa and Bondtech had produced 1,000 “founders editions” of INDX, Jeff had purchased one and assembled it. We had Tommy from Prusa check out his work at the show. Tommy found nothing wrong with his build which was great news for Jeff, but it disappointed those of us who wanted to give him a gentle ripping over dinner.
Located in Fairfax, Virginia, just outside Washington, DC, Nova Labs is a membership-driven, all-volunteer makerspace founded in 2011 to empower our community to “Rediscover the Joy of Making Things!”
Our facility features classrooms, shared workspaces, business incubator offices, and shops equipped with everything from everyday tools to advanced fabrication equipment. Members enjoy 24/7 access and help manage the space by teaching classes, maintaining equipment, and inspiring creativity throughout the community.
As a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, Nova Labs also supports open-source development projects that benefit our local community and people around the world.
Address: 3850 Jermantown Road, Fairfax, VA 22030
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