AMUG Honors Six DINO Winners as Axtra3D, DyeMansion Reveal Advances

The most practical news for small shops this week is DyeMansion’s new compact Powershot system, built to bring industrial-grade PolyShot cleaning and surfacing closer to users who are stuck between entry-level gear and full high-volume post-processing lines. The company is aiming for a Formnext 2026 launch, and the pitch is straightforward: faster cleanup, better surface finishing, and a smaller footprint without giving up the consistency that production-minded users need.

That matters because post-processing is still where a lot of promising prints lose time, money, and patience. A compact system that sits in the middle of the market could be the difference between running additive as a side workflow and running it as a repeatable production process. DyeMansion says the new machine is meant to broaden access to industrial-grade cleaning and surfacing, and that fills a real gap for shops that have outgrown tabletop workarounds but do not need a full-blown finishing cell.

Axtra3D used RAPID+TCT in Boston to mark five years as a production-focused AM company, and the number that stands out is its 41% annual revenue growth since commercialization. The company has been built around low-volume production and bridging additive manufacturing with traditional manufacturing, which is still where a lot of the real money is for service bureaus and manufacturers trying to make additive pay instead of just look impressive on a demo table.

AMUG also had a strong showing in Reno, Nevada, where six members received DINO awards at the 2026 conference: Olga Ivanova of Mechnano, Daniel Landgraf of 3D Spark, Brian Post of Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Chris Prue of IperionX, John Thiell of Beehive Industries, and Annie Wang of Senvol. AMUG said only 205 DINO awards have been handed out over its 38-year history, and 59 DINOs were present at the 2026 meeting, representing 29% of all recipients. Nominations for 2027 candidates open on October 1, 2026.

On the materials and workflow side, Mimaki’s 3D Print Prep Pro v2.0 is scheduled for June 2026 and adds lattice-pattern capability, broader data conversion, and support for CT scan and topographical data inputs. That is the sort of software update that can save real prep time before a job ever hits the machine.

For larger-format industrial work, GKN Aerospace and the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory launched TITAN-AM, an $8.4 million effort to mature Laser Metal Deposition with Wire for large titanium aerostructures at GKN’s Global Technology Centre in Fort Worth, Texas. It is a reminder that the same week a compact post-processing tool is trying to help smaller shops scale, aerospace is still pushing titanium AM toward bigger, lighter, more durable structures.