Youngstown based 3D printing company JuggerBot 3D, is making a first of its kind machine. 

With a $4,000,000 congressional award they’re setting out to create a machine that will 3D print products for the Department of Defense. 

“This technology would be cutting edge. It’s not available today in the market, in the realm of a professional product,” Zac Divencenzo, the President and Co-founder of JuggerBot 3D said.  

Currently, JuggerBot can only print smaller products because they have smaller machines. The new machine they are building will be much bigger so they can print bigger products. 

The base of all their products are little pellets of thermoplastic or thermoset material. 

“These are just a different variation of plastic or a polymer that kind of gives different characteristics where they can exceed higher temperatures or even sometimes in the case of deep sea drilling needing lower temperatures,” Divencenzo said. 

The machine melts the pellets, then that liquid comes out through a nozzle that moves around to build even layers on top of each other, eventually creating the product that it’s been programmed to make. 

The goal for the bigger machine is to get it to make parts for the U.S. Government. Divencenzo explained one possible outcome could be the airforce using these machines to create airplane parts. 

“They look to advanced technologies to have the ability to replicate parts in a quicker or a cheaper mindset so we can keep planes out there longer,” he said. 

JuggerBot has 24 months to build the machine from scratch and show that it can work. If they’re successful, this could be an entirely new way of production for companies in defense, energy and aerospace. 

“We’re taking a big step forward in the entire industry and there's always going to be room for improvement but we can’t sit back waiting for someone else to wake that initiative,” Divencenzo said. 

To build the larger printers they need more space and more staff. Divencenzo said they’ve been hiring new employees in the past few months and are looking for a space to expand in Youngstown. 

The first half of their project will be the design and planning phase. The second half will include assembling and testing the machine. 

“As an OEM (original equipment Manufacturers) we fully intend to design with the intent to sell machines. That’s our main part of our business. However, no one typically buys a machine without seeing what it’s capable of doing,” Divencenzo said.

JuggerBot has been operating for almost 10 years. Divencenzo said they have exclusively worked with thermoplastic since they've been a company and this new project gave them a chance to dive into making products with the thermoset material. The company submitted their proposal to create and test this new machine back in 2019 to American Make and found out they were awarded the funds in late 2023.