Earlier this month I had the opportunity to attend RAPID + TCT 2025 in Detroit. The event bills itself as “North America’s largest [for] additive manufacturing and industrial 3D printing” and among all the many Maker Faires, conventions, and similar events, it was by far the largest congregation of 3d printers and related technology that I’ve ever seen. And large was the key word, with some leviathan machines as big as (or sometimes doubling as) shipping containers dominating the floor as they churned out full-scale furniture and car parts. But more on that later; let me hit you with the Table of Contents real quick and I’ll get back into my RAPID experience further down the page…

Table of Contents

• RAPID Recap

• Make Mini Films for Maker Faire

RAPID Recap

Entering the venue for RAPID was a little nostalgic for me; I hadn’t heard of “Huntington Place” before I arrived, but as soon as I did, I realized that this was just a new name for Cobo Hall, where I’d attended the Detroit Auto Show (FKA NAIAS) many times as a child. This automatically imbued me with the feeling that I was about to see a bunch of cool, futuristic stuff (back then the auto show had exciting concept cars and new technology, vs. the modern shows which are mostly just a chance to look at and sit in current models), and that feeling was immediately justified by one of the first booths I encountered: a company called nScrypt, who were showing off a machine that could 3d-print circuits on complex surfaces, as well as populate the resulting … well I wouldn’t call it a “board” because it was cylindrical – all in one machine! Mimaki also blew me away with their ultra-high-end full colour 3d prints, which rivaled any of the vinyl figures that line my shelves, with the added wow factor of some of them being printed in clear resin spheres. A small booth with a huge potential, RePliForm demonstrated metal post-processing techniques that turned a tiny, easily-deformed 3d-printed cube into something that could hold the weight of an entire human!

Other standouts were Prusa’s new Pro HT90 and other industrial solutions (confusingly accented with a sort of turquoise rather than their signature orange!) among a surprisingly large array of delta printers. A really fun booth was LDO Motors, who turned the spotlight on their community, with an array of novel and interesting printers, including the delightfully absurd and portable Positron upside-down-printing printer.

Connecting with friends and collaborators was another great part of the event, and I had the chance to spend some time with the Flashforge team, who were debuting their high-speed, industrial-grade Guider 4 and 4 Pro, with advanced features such as available LIDAR detection and four-color intelligent filament system (as seen on the compact AD5X). Elegoo, whose outrageously cost-effective Centauri Carbon I’m currently evaluating, were there in full force, with their immense 800x800x1000mm OrangeStorm Giga, and their brand new large-format 16K Jupiter 2 resin printer. XTOOL were attracting a crowd with custom engraved coasters and keychains using their many lasers, as well as showing off the new M1 Ultra laser/printer/cutter/drawer.

Make Mini Films for Maker Faire

Maker Faire Bay Area is somehow only five months away, and our Books Editor Kevin is organizing a mini film festival! I’ll hand the mic, I mean keyboard, over to him for a bit for more detail:

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“I’m going with the giant-monster scene.”

That’s where I landed after spending hours down the rabbit hole of movie practical effects, trying to figure out the true origin of the upcoming Maker Faire Two-Minute Film Festival: the bronze statue of Talos coming to life in the 1963 classic Jason and the Argonauts.

I still remember the sense of awe that I felt watching that scene on TV. Sure, I’d missed its theatrical debut more than a decade before, but that movie was still incredible to see even on my grandparents’ 13-inch black-and-white TV. Its blend of the fantastic with the “real” world was like how my mind processed sci-fi and fantasy books, but on display for everyone to experience. Fast-forward to just last week, and we see practical effects still used for the season finale of Daredevil: Born Again in a scene that will make your (ahem) head explode.

The creativity, cleverness, and craftsmanship of practical special effects is what we’re celebrating with the Maker Faire Two-Minute Film Festival. If you think about it, a movie’s the ideal showcase of maker skills, no matter if you’re into costume design, prop fabrication, mechanical rigging, animatronics, or just want to tie a blanket around your neck to be a superhero. While digital recreations are slick, there’s something about recording physical objects that encourages our suspension of disbelief—it makes our brain want to play along with the fun.

An amazing panel of judges will watch your submissions, including Pixar’s Hannah Chu fresh off her work on the upcoming feature film Elio; Jesse Velez of Raptor House FX, who brought the Thing hand to life in the Netflix Wednesday viral video that racked up 43 MILLION views; and Kayte Sabicer, a model maker who worked on a little flick you may have seen called The Dark Knight Rises. These folks know visual storytelling, and they’re excited to see your work!

Why the two-minute limit? We want to make this accessible to everyone, and oftentimes the sheer length of a movie can be a financial gatekeeper. And the thought of making even a 20-minute short film can feel overwhelming. But two minutes? Anyone can do that—even you!

More info: MakerFaire.com/FilmFest2025

Questions: [email protected]

—Kevin Toyama

That’s about it for this newsletter! Two last things I want to mention are the Make: Volume 93 Launch Party, hosted by yours truly, coming up on May 15th, and Dale’s latest podcast with one of my favourite Make: authors, Making Electronic Music With Kirk Pearson.

I hope to see you at the launch party, and I’d love to hear what development boards you’re excited about as I start to work on this year’s annual board’s guide!

David Groom, wading through the piles of pretty filament samples I scored at RAPID…

Make Things is a weekly newsletter for the Maker community from Make:. This newsletter lives on the web at makethings.make.co