3D Printing Primed for Production with Onyx

Strength, Precision, and Beauty

At Markforged, we don't just provide strong materials. While our CFF (Continuous Fiber Fabrication) materials are equipped and designed for high strength applications, we also devote a lot of energy to the look and feel of the parts you take away from the build plate. We aim to remove the multiple barriers between design and a final product by providing parts that look, feel, and act like a final product.

“Somebody once asked me why we put so much effort into how the printer looked and how it was built, and my answer was 'If we don't care about how our product looks, why would you believe that we're going to care about how your part looks?” - VP of Product Jon Reilly

Onyx brought us one big step closer to this goal. Its sleek, matte-black finish has enabled users to print parts that can go right to customers. Apart from its production-quality surface finish, the material is tough and strong enough to survive nearly anything - from combat robotics to industrial automation. Onyx can be printed by itself or with any of our CFF composite fibers for additional reinforcement for metal-strength, high quality parts.

Order a sample part to experience Onyx and our CFF reinforcement process.

3D Printing for End Use Applications

Alan Rencher, CEO of Media Blackout, has been using Onyx to 3D print parts and made to order equipment for his company: “We can make anything our customer needs: we can help them design something to make their workflow more efficient on set. Since we do a lot of low volume or one-off jobs, 3D printing is a great way to do that cost effectively...it’s pretty quick and it’s not as expensive as other manufacturing methods.”

Camera equipment is often bulky and heavy, so many of his parts need to be strong, sleek and light. “We make a lot of parts that need to be lightweight and very rigid....we have parts on which we need to eliminate vibrations or hold a certain amount of weight,” Rencher elaborated. “We saw that Markforged offered carbon fiber printing, and we thought that was a great way to go.”

With the surface finish of Onyx and the strength of carbon fiber reinforcement, custom equipment is easy for Media Blackout. Other manufacturing methods required lengthy amounts of processing, including machining, dyeing, or sanding, which took time away from other important projects Rencher has been working on. “The new material, it just looks like a finished product,” he explained. “It’s helping us make parts that are direct sale to market.” Onyx comes off the print bed ready to be sent to customers, saving time and costs associated with post processing.

Interested in learning more about Onyx and Media Blackout? Read the full story here, and order a sample part to see Onyx for yourself.