Scrap Labs, a start-up company located in Colorado, USA, is trying to compress the highly capital-intensive metal additive manufacturing technology into a desktop device that is close to "tool-level". The company recently officially released its Scrap 1 metal 3D printing system at the Rocky Mountain RepRap Festival held in Loveland, Colorado, on April 18-19, bringing the common laser selective melting (metal laser powder bed fusion) process common in the industry into the price range of less than $10,000.
For a long time, the metal laser powder bed fusion process has been dominated by large industrial platforms. Its basic principle is to spread an extremely thin layer of metal powder and then use laser to selectively melt it in a designated area. This cycle continues until the complete part is geometrically formed. Parts made in this way have high density and good mechanical properties, and can also realize complex structural designs such as internal flow channels and lattice structures that are difficult or impossible to process by traditional machining. It is these capabilities that have allowed this process to be widely used in aerospace, automobile manufacturing, mold and other fields. However, the high equipment investment and supporting infrastructure requirements have also made it unavailable to small and medium-sized users for a long time.
Scrap Labs is targeting this gap in the market. Compared with traditional metal printers that cost more than $200,000 and require dedicated power distribution, constant temperature and humidity environments, and complex powder safety systems, Scrap 1 is positioned as a compact system that can be placed on a workbench, rather than a large device that must be placed in a separate industrial unit. Even the current "low-priced" metal printing solutions for small and medium-sized customers are often still priced in the tens of thousands of dollars, and it is assumed that users have near-laboratory-level installation and operation and maintenance conditions.
In terms of design concept, Scrap 1 tries to lower the threshold of use as much as possible without changing the core technology. The equipment integrates liquid cooling and air cooling systems and is equipped with HEPA filtration to control particulate matter emissions, maintaining process stability while taking into account operational safety. The platform supports a variety of metal materials, including stainless steel, tool steel, copper, nickel-based alloys and cobalt-chromium alloys, and targets a variety of application scenarios from functional prototypes to small batch production.
In terms of connection and control, Scrap 1 provides multiple connection methods such as Ethernet, Wi‑Fi and USB, and is operated through a web-based control interface. The firmware is developed based on Klipper, and the slicing software is compatible with common desktop tools such as PrusaSlicer and OrcaSlicer. It also supports Scrap Labs' own ScrapSlicer process, making it easier for users with desktop plastic printing experience to directly migrate to metal printing. Unlike the closed software and hardware ecosystem that is common in industrial-grade additive systems, Scrap Labs intentionally uses open tool chains and familiar software experiences as selling points to reduce learning costs and lock-in risks.
Scrap Labs focuses on user groups that have mainly relied on outsourcing services in the past, such as university laboratories, vocational school projects, small manufacturing companies, racing car modification workshops and design studios. For these institutions and teams, if metal 3D printing capabilities can be deployed internally, it is expected to significantly shorten the iteration cycle, so that parts from design to physical testing are no longer completely dependent on machine shops or external service agencies, thereby reducing communication and production scheduling waiting times.
According to reports, Scrap Labs has opened pre-orders for Scrap 1: During the limited-time promotion period, the kit version starts at $9,600 and is expected to rise to $14,200 after April 30, 2026; the fully assembled version starts at $17,990. The company plans to begin shipping in early 2027, and is offering options such as a refundable deposit or a waitlist to allow potential users to time their purchases and deployments according to the pace of the project.
In terms of development progress, Scrap Labs said it had completed the proof-of-concept phase in December 2025 and is currently conducting Alpha testing with early partners. Wider beta testing is expected to start in late 2026, followed by a ramp-up to production around mid-2027, with first deliveries to the U.S. market. For such a relatively affordable metal laser powder bed fusion equipment, whether it can meet industrial-level expectations in terms of part consistency, material performance and operational safety remains to be verified later.
Nonetheless, by compressing the laser powder bed fusion process into a smaller, more flexible platform, and connecting it with open software and existing desktop additive workflows, Scrap Labs is promoting the diffusion of this manufacturing technology, which has traditionally been highly concentrated in factory environments, to a broader and more diverse user base. Whether this attempt can truly rewrite the entry threshold and ecological structure of metal 3D printing may not be known until Scrap 1 is launched in batches.