Fathom is hiring for multiple positions across our 11 nationwide sites! To see all open positions, click here.

logo fathom

STL Files / / Understanding the 3D Printing File Type

60% of CAD users say STL file prep and repairs are the biggest challenges for engineers when preparing files for 3D printing.  You’re not alone.


3D Computer-Aided Design (CAD) programs provide an invaluable benefit for engineers and designers to visualize their product in a 3-dimensional, virtual space. However, exporting to a Standard Tessellation Language (STL) file format happens to be a major pain point for some users. For example, low resolution files will have facets that may appear in a 3D printed model and those with very high resolutions will create an excessively large file that is difficult for 3D printing software to process.  In order to get a good quality 3D print, you need to start with a good STL file.


How to Create the Ideal STL File / / Balance Resolution, File Size, Accuracy and Quality

STL files are made up of triangles which approximate a surface. In order to 3D print an STL file, the mesh must be closed (watertight), meaning all edges of the triangle align with another and all of the normal directions are matching. When exporting from your CAD package, it’s important to consider the different options that your software provides such as distance deviation or angle resolution. In addition, every design program has a different method of converting files to STLs and some are more successful than others. Fathom has identified a list of potential STL errors and recommendations to proactively address these issues.

CAD to STL : Export Considerations Potential STL Errors
Distance Deviation Inverted Normal
Angle Resolution Bad Edges
Edge Length Holes
Aspect Ratio Noise Shells
ACSII Versus Binary Multiple Shells
  1. Inverted Normal / / A triangle’s normal is flipped the wrong way which creates an open mesh. Because of this, slicing software will be unable to create contours for printing. Simple STL editing software will enable you to flip the direction of the normal to correct the issues.

  2. Bad Edges / / The edge of a triangle is not adjacent to another triangle edge. Many times, bad edges that are very close to one another may be stitched together to close the mesh. This requires STL repair and we recommend re-modeling the areas where the boundary edges were detected in the native CAD software. Adding thickness or clearance where needed can sometimes help solve faulty edges.

  3. Holes / / Missing triangles from a region prevents a closed mesh. This is sometimes an easy fix within the STL, but that is not always the case. It may be necessary to edit or re-export of the original 3D CAD file.

  4. Multiple Shells / / Typically, it’s ideal for your STL to be made of one shell body for printing. Unwanted meshes and noise shells are typically created in error during an STL export. We recommend removing noise shells for cleaner contours. Solving any issues with your models in the native CAD software tends to have better results.

  5. Overlapping & Intersecting Triangles / / Overlapping and intersecting triangles may produce areas too small to print. Intersecting faces usually lead to failures since the software doesn’t recognize which areas are inside or outside of the model. We recommend combining the bodies into a single solid before exporting into an STL.

Working with Fathom provides immediate and comprehensive access to the most relevant equipment and experience in advanced manufacturing, engineering, and prototyping. Our engineers are able to address the most common mistakes and potential errors with STL file preparation, as even the most popular CAD packages can pose difficulties during STL file export. The expert team at Fathom has identified the most common pitfalls and guarantees that this STL Guideline document will save you time and ensure that your 3D printed parts accurately represent your idea.


Download the STL Guide—How to take your STL Files to Printed Parts

All Blog Posts

3D Printing East bay Innovation Award

3D Printing East Bay Innovation Awards For a second year in a row, Fathom took on the challenge of creating…

Read more
Fast Spiral Nasopharyngeal Swab

3D Printed Nasopharyngeal Swabs For Accelerated COVID-19 Testing The FAST spiral swab was perfected over 25 iterations in 35 days with clinicians…

Read more
Avoid Line Down Situations with Help from Fathom
Customer Case Study // Preventing Line Down Situation "Unplanned downtime in manufacturing is one of the largest causes of lost…
Read more
rapid injection mold - design services
From Concept to 3D Print to Injection Mold
Concept to 3D Print to Injection Mold Made in USA, 100% recycled plastic and safe — three, two, one, blast…
Read more
Prototype Early Fail Faster 3D Printing Iterations
Prototype Early, Fail Faster DESIGNING AND 3D PRINTING RATCHETING STRAPS—35+ Iterative Components for BOOMcast in 5 Days BOOMcast is a…
Read more
Fathom Acquires GPI Prototype & Manufacturing Services
Fathom Acquires GPI Prototype & Manufacturing Services / / A Legacy Metal Additive Manufacturing Company We’re delighted to announce that…
Read more
Fathom Celebrates National 3D Printing Day
3D Printing // From Curiosity to Industry Transformation December 3, 2021 The historical timeline for the invention and advancement of…
Read more
Crystallon Grasshopper Tutorial / / Lattice Design Software

Lattice Design Using Rhino and Grasshopper The Fathom team is excited to introduce Crystallon, an open source project for creating lattice…

Read more
3D Printed Fasteners / / Screws For 3D Printed Parts

White Paper / / Featured Write-Up Following a webinar and white paper on 3D printing jigs and fixtures, Siva Cycle…

Read more
Direct Digital Manufacturing QA

Direct Digital Manufacturing (DDM) – Fathom 3D printing has traditionally only been thought of during the prototyping phase of product…

Read more
Electromagnets 3D Printed Coil Nano Dimension Fathom

3D Printed Electromagnet / / 3D Printed Coil – Fathom Electronics designers and engineers are in a race to develop…

Read more
From Prototype to Production
From Prototype to Production Startups Experience Rapid Tooling and Injection Molding Facility for the First Time Rapid prototyping techniques like…
Read more
Injection Molding Extended Capabilities
Fathom's Domestic Injection Molding Capability Fathom Tooling+ Team in-house machines Coupled with Fathom's extensive additive capabilities is the tried &…
Read more
3D Printed Injection Molds / / Reaction Injection Molding Tool
Conventional tooling and injection molding in a classroom or lab environment presents many challenges—access to highly specialized equipment, time, doctorate-level…
Read more
Brooks 3D Printing Athlete Shoes

3D Printing for American Decathlete Brooks Running and Fathom came together this summer to prototype a pair of personalized sprinting shoes…

Read more
Featured Material Option // Ultrasint® TPU 88A For SLS
Thermoplastic Polyurethane Powder for Selective Laser Sintering Get a Quote Fathom offers a new flexible material option for 3D Printing…
Read more
EE Journal 3D Printing Podcast Rich Stump
EE Journal Podcast with Rich Stump Fathom Co-Founder and Principal Rich Stump was featured on Electronic Engineering Journals Fish Fry…
Read more
3D Printing Figment vr on Kickstarter
Figment VR on Kickstarter The Fathom team is excited to share that a Kickstarter campaign for Figment VR, the world’s…
Read more
NFL Ready Fitness Product Created With 3D Printing
3D Printing for Sports Recovery Using 3D Printing to Bring Preventative Treatment to the NFL From Early-Stage Design to Tooling in…
Read more
Maximizing Machine Lifetime iot
Prototype to Production in 8 Weeks Infinite Uptime is an Internet of Things (IoT) solution for machines to quantify productivity, quality,…
Read more
3D Print Triathlete Product Development
Triathlete Hydration System Anvil Studios Uses Fathom 3D Printing in Product Development to Rapidly Iterate Triathlete Hydration System Anvil Studios…
Read more
3D Printing Interview Scott Cullum Seattle
Q&A Interview with Scott Cullum New location, more space and expanded services — oh my! The Seattle-based location has been…
Read more
3D Printed Vacuum Form Molds Whitepaper
Vacuum Form Molds / / 3D Printed Molds for Vacuum Forming Check out the latest Fathom created white paper on…
Read more
Design Differently’s Model of the Month
Design Differently Model of the Month Congratulations to Carlo Quiñonez, Fathom's Director of Research, whose 3D printed Aquino Thermal Chamber…
Read more
horus silver and red machine
Make the Unmakeable Champion 2015 3D Printing

Make The Unmakeable Champion Fathom and GrabCAD are proud to announce Casey Rogers, leader of a student run makerspace out of UC Berkeleys…

Read more
3D Printed Headphones for the Runway

3D Printed Headphones for the Runway Monster is the world’s leading manufacturer of high performance cables for audio/video components used in…

Read more
3D Printing Small Tiny Parts in Polyjet

High-Resolution 3D Printing Small Parts in PolyJet High-resolution 3D printing is in high demand. The ability to form complex geometries…

Read more
Coolestcooler

The Coolest Cooler Kickstarter / / Advanced Prototype Fabrication COMPLEX 55-PART ADVANCED ASSEMBLY IN DAYS — The Story Behind the…

Read more
Pyra

3D Printed Chamber Using FDM-Based Materials / / Pyra Project SCIENTIST DESIGNS 3D PRINTED INCUBATOR — Project Pyra Defines the Convergence…

Read more
3D Printing Topography

How-To / / 3D Printing Topography A newly updated plugin for Grasshopper allows users to create high resolution 3D topography…

Read more
Hashcast a Difference in Making

#CAST: A Difference in Making When it comes to customization and low-volume production, 3D printing offers unparalleled advantages to legacy…

Read more
3D Printing Keynote at Octoberbest Dylan Oliver

Keynote at OctoberBest: Oct 7 The NEDME team was thrilled to have Dylan Oliver—Fathom’s General Manager at its Seattle-based production…

Read more
3D Printing Industry 21 Billion 2020

3D Printing Industry Report: $21B+ By 2020 3D Printing Industry Study Projects Rapid Growth, Offers Insight on Current 3D Printing…

Read more
3D Printing Hits Runway MFA Boston

3D Printing Hits Runway—MFA Boston The Museum of Fine Arts Boston is one of the worlds foremost curators of the…

Read more
2017 East bay EDA Innovation Awards

2017 East Bay EDA Innovation Awards For the fifth consecutive year, the East Bay EDA Innovation Awards ceremony featured 3D printed…

Read more
3D Printing Photography Contest Inc5000 2015

2nd 3D Printed Photo Giveaway Fathom is honored to have been recognized for a number of awards throughout 2015. Uniquely…

Read more
4 Steps to 3D Printed Photography

3D Printed Photo / / How to 3D Print Lithophanes in 4 Steps A 3D printed photograph (or lithophane) is…

Read more
Apply Displacement 3D Printing Photograph Inc5000

3D Printing Photographs + Contest In celebration of Fathom’s second year on  Inc. Magazine’s annual list of America’s Fastest-Growing Private…

Read more
Boco Living Prototyping Pour Over Coffee

Prototyping a Category-Defining Design: Outdoor Pour-Over Coffee Prototyping a Category-Defining Design—Outdoor Pour-Over Coffee Boco Founders Travis Johnson and Joel Bebo…

Read more
Aquatic Innovation 3D Printing

Marine Innovations Through 3D Printing Fathom’s unique combination of concept development support and advanced manufacturing services bring a product from its…

Read more
Fathom Engineering Clearly Eyesight

Fathom Engineering + Clearly Improves Eyesight Clearly is a non-profit organization that grapples with the question: how can the whole…

Read more
inc. 5000 - 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016
Fathom 4th Year inc 5000

Fathom’s 4th Year on Inc. 5000   Continued Growth in Advanced Manufacturing Ranks Fathom on Inc. 5000 List of Fastest-Growing…

Read more
Fathom 2017 Kickoff

2017 Kickoff / / Rise & Shine Following Fathom’s best year ever in 2016, the team has set its sights…

Read more
Generative Design Fathom Awards

Generative Design / / Fathom Awards Each year, the employees of Fathom come together to recognize and honor our most…

Read more
Fifth Grader Designs 3D Printed Prosthetic

5th Grader Designs His 3D Printed Arm Fathom Design and Engineering Teams Help Fifth Grader Create Custom Prosthetic for Kayaking, Swimming…

Read more
Fathom Fortune Magazine ICIC Innercity 2016

Fathom in Fortune Magazine Fathom’s Year-Over-Year Growth Earns Ranking on ICIC’s Annual List as Published in FORTUNE—Third Year Straight on List…

Read more
Fathoms Mihevc Named to Influential List

30 Influential Women in Additive Fathom Co-Founder Michelle Mihevc was recently recognized on All3DPs list of 30 Most Influential Women in 3D…

Read more
Indiegogo Six Steps Prototyping

Indiegogo / / Fathom’s 6-Step Guide Fathom recently created a six step guide for young companies looking to move from…

Read more
michelle mihevc talks to disruptive - blog post
Mihevc Featured Disruptive Magazine

Mihevc Featured in Disruptive Magazine Michelle Mihevc, a principal at Fathom, sat down with Disruptive Magazine writer and 3D printing insider Rachel Park to…

Read more
Livermore Labs Creates 3Dp Facility

LLNL Advanced Manufacturing Lab / / Developing Next-Gen Materials Fathom Partners with LLNL & Local Leaders in Collaboration for Developing Next-Generation Materials Lawrence…

Read more
Press Release – Managed Services

Press Release / / Managed Services Fathom Offers Specialized On-Site Managed Services for Additive Manufacturing Equipment // 3D Printing Expert Augments…

Read more
Partnering for Success With LLNL Additive Manufacturing 5/15/2018

Partnering for Success with LLNL Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) recently hosted an “Advanced Manufacturing—Partnering for Success” workshop that featured LLNLs…

Read more
m duncan fathom 3d printing and production systems
Rapid Prototyping Wearables

Rapid Prototyping—Wearables TechCon Wearables TechCon + the IOT TechCon at the San Jose Convention Center July 18-20 will feature some…

Read more
Scaring Spooky Stop Motion Film

Scaring Up a Spooky Stop Motion Film Fathom & Athena Studios Combine Artistry, 3D Printing and Urethane Casting Techniques for Stop Motion…

Read more
SF Design Week Fathom Industrial Designer 3D Printing

SF Design Week / / Fathom Designer Fathom Industrial Designer Ava DeCapri is up for any design challenge, having worked on…

Read more
Making MLV Modular Logistics Vehicle U.S. Marines

Modular Logistics Vehicle (MLV) with Additive Manufacturing The Fathom team is excited to share a collaborative project for the United…

Read more
National MFG Day 2014

National MFG Day Oct 3rd Fathom Celebrates National Manufacturing Day on Friday, October 3rd3D Printing Expert and Inc. 5000 Honoree…

Read more
michelle mihevc profile banner
Michelle Mihevc Influential Women List

Mihevc Named Influential Woman Congratulations to Fathom Co-Founder and Principal Michelle Mihevc for being honored by the San Francisco Business Times…

Read more
featured part - east bay innovation awards
2019 East Bay Innovation Awards

3D Printed Trophies for 2019 East Bay Innovation Awards Celebrating East Bay Innovation with 3D Printed Trophies For the seventh…

Read more
3D Printing Winged Victory High Resolution

3D Printing Winged Victory Statue 3D Printed Winged Victory Statue Fathom The statue Winged Victory of Samothrace is one of…

Read more
Prototyping Wearables Fathom Experts

Panel on Prototyping Wearables At the upcoming Wearables & IOT TechCon in San Jose, Fathom Advanced Technology Manager Michael Duncan…

Read more
MTUC Vdlr Interview 3D Printing

Make the Unmakeable #1: Q&A Fathom is challenging all creative professionals to think differently about how they design, prototype and…

Read more
Fathom co Hosts University 3D Printing Symposium

Inaugural UW 3D Printing Symposium Fathom Partners with UW Research Initiative for 3D Printing Forum The University of Washington 3D…

Read more
fathom worker with delivery boxes
3D Printing Interview Dylan Oliver Seattle

Q&A Interview with Dylan Oliver Our team announced this week that our Washington-based office is moving to a new location…

Read more
3D Printing Medical Packaging

3D Printing for Medical Packaging / / Medical Packaging Products 3D Printing for Medical Packaging—Shifting the Design Cycle Universal Protective…

Read more
hero3+ drone camera black and white
3D Printing Drones QA With Designer

3D Printing Drones: Q&A with Designer Fathom sat down with Sherif-George Manganas, creator of the drone featured in the third…

Read more
fathom 3d printing and production systems
3D Printing Digital Manufacturing Data Analytics

Digital Manufacturing Data Analytics Software Fathom Acquires Proprietary Data Analytics Software for Digital Manufacturing —Company Continues to Invest in Business…

Read more
2016 East Bay Innovation Awards

2016 East Bay Innovation Awards Fathom Creates 3D Printed Innovation Awards Trophy, Serves as Judge for Finalists For the 4th…

Read more
2018 3D Printed Innovation Awards East Bay EDA

The 2018 Innovation Awards For the sixth consecutive year, the East Bay EDA Innovation Awards ceremony featured trophies created by the Fathom…

Read more
3D Printing the MTUC 2015 Trophy

Creating the MTUC 2015 Trophy Introducing the 2015 trophy for the inaugural Make the Unmakeable Challenge by Fathom and SolidProfessor…

Read more
3D Printing White Paper Aerospace

3D Printing White Paper—Aerospace Aerospace is an influential industry, with a long history of leading the pack as an early…

Read more
3d printing white paper medical - download
3D Printing Medical Applications

3D Printing Medical Applications & Material Selection For more than a quarter of a century, Stratasys has been a trusted…

Read more
Airbus 3D Printed Parts A350

3D Printing Integrated Into Aircraft Production – Fathom 3D Printing Integrated Into Aircraft Production—DDM Strategy Paying Dividends for Airbus In…

Read more
3D Printing Wearable Electronics

3D Printing Wearable Electronics “Fathom provided a true partner experience for us. Don’t just look for a vendor, look for…

Read more
3D Printing Jigs Fixtures FDM Polyjet

PolyJet Fixtures / / 3D Printing Jigs & Fixtures Application Story On production floors worldwide, people depend on jigs and…

Read more
Autodesk #AUDesignChallengeWinner Anne Pauley

#AUDesignChallenge Winner Anne Pauley Congratulations to Fathomer Anne Pauley for winning first place in a recent, 4-week-long challenge hosted by…

Read more
Annual Fathom Employee Awards Kickoff 2019

Featured Part / / Annual Fathomer Awards Making Fathom’s Generatively Designed 3D Printed Employee Awards Each year, the creative minds on…

Read more
Design Champ Donates 3D Printer UC Berkeley

Student Donates to UC Berkeley UC Berkeley Student and Make The Unmakeable Challenge Champion Donates Grand Prize 3D Printer to…

Read more
Brooks is Running Faster With 3D Printing

Running Faster with 3D Printing “Run Happy” is more than a slogan at Brooks Running—it’s a state of mind. “Everyone…

Read more
design fathom printed yellow card
Expanded SLS Capability

Fathom’s Expanded SLS Capability Fathom’s SLS Production Capacity Increases 650% With Fathom’s recent announcement of its acquisition by CORE Industrial…

Read more
Fathom Branding

FATHOM Branding / / From Concept Consulting to Design to Production We crafted an entirely new corporate and visual identity…

Read more
Fathom Smartquote Autodesk Fusion 360 Plugin 3D Printing

Fathom + Autodesk Fusion 360 Plugin Quote for Rapid 3 Printing Fathom Launches Rapid 3D Print Quoting Plugin for Fusion…

Read more
New Paradigm Women’s Health

New Paradigm for Women’s Health Oakland Startup Uses 3D Printing to Develop Product that Ends Uncertainty in Women’s Health Diagnoses…

Read more
Featured Customer Doblet

Doblet Goes From 3D Printing to Injection Molding Doblet Goes From 3D Printing to Injection Molding—Faster Iterations and Better Development For…

Read more
Featured Material Agilus30 Polyjet 3D Printer Stratasys

Agilus30 for Stratasys Machine Owners The Agilus30 family of PolyJet-based materials by Stratasys, made up of Agilus30 Clear and Agilus30 Black,…

Read more
FDM Composite Tooling Design Guide 2 0

Composite Tooling Design: Guide to Materials & Manufacturers Last year, the team at Stratasys launched an FDM-focused composite tooling design…

Read more
Featured Part Multi jet Fusion Actuator Assembly Mounting Bracket

Featured Part / / Mounting Bracket Utilizing Topology Optimization to Reduce Material Per Part by 72% In this featured post,…

Read more
Featured Part SLA Medical Device

Form, Fit, Function Medical Device / / SLA Prototyping 3D Printing & Rapid Prototyping Handheld Medical Device / / Evaluating…

Read more
HP Multi Jet Fusion 3D Printing Services by Fathom

HP Multi Jet Fusion Services / / Multi Jet Fusion System FAQ Frequently Asked Questions—HP Multi Jet Fusion Services By…

Read more
Make the Unmakeable 1 Winner QA

Make the Unmakeable #1: Winner Q&A From February 24th through May 4th, Fathom partnered with GrabCAD to host the first of…

Read more
Make the Unmakeable 2 Winner QA

Make the Unmakeable #2: Winner Q&A From May 4th through June 15th, Fathom partnered with GrabCAD to host the second of three challenges…

Read more
Laika 3D Printing Super User Fathom Machine Customer

Guest Speaker Brian McLean of LAIKA On display until May 20th, many puppets, props and sets from four incredible LAIKA films are part…

Read more
Make the Unmakeable 3 Winner QA

Make the Unmakeable #3: Winner Q&A Fathom partnered with GrabCAD and SolidProfessor in hosting the third round of the 2015 Make…

Read more
Material Spotlight Nylon 12cf 3D Printing Service by Fathom

Material Spotlight / / Nylon 12CF FAQ Nylon 12CF on FDM-based Stratasys equipment is a carbon-filled thermoplastic with excellent structural characteristics.…

Read more
Material Spotlight Agilus30 FAQ Stratasys 3D Printing

Material Spotlight / / Agilus30 FAQ Agilus30 is a PolyJet material released earlier this year from Stratasys and it is…

Read more
Most Used FDM Materials

FDM Materials at Fathom Three of the Most Used FDM Materials Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM) is one of the most…

Read more
New Soluble Support Stratasys PolyJet 3D Printer

New PolyJet Soluble Support New soluble support material works on PolyJet’s advanced triple-jetting 3D printers—SUP706 dissolves away from complex models…

Read more
New Grabcad Print Software 3D Printing

Streamline with GrabCAD Print Accompanying the launch of the Stratasys F123 3D Printer Series, new GrabCAD Print software simplifies the…

Read more
solidworks nanodimension add 940x
Nano Dimension Solidworks Add in 3D Printing Electronics

SOLIDWORKS Add-In / / 3DP Circuitry The Nano Dimension team recently introduced a SOLIDWORKS add-in to further elevate the additive manufacturing of PCBs (printed…

Read more
PEKK FDM Additive Services Frequently Asked Questions

PEKK Material Option for FDM / / PEKK FAQ Just last year, the Fathom production team began offering carbon-filled Nylon 12…

Read more
QA Interview With Hendric Vogel

Q&A Interview with Hendric Vogel Fathom is more than a company driven by advanced technologies that enhance the product development…

Read more
Replicating Michelangelo Works Through 3D Printing

3D Printing & Scanning Replicas of Michelangelo Works In honor of Michelangelo’s birthday on March 6th, Fathom is thinking about…

Read more
polyjet 3d printer - fathom
Polyjet Matte vs Glossy 3D Printing

Matte vs. Glossy / / Finishing Options for PolyJet Parts Are you unsure of whether to choose matte or glossy…

Read more
Space Frame 3D Model / / Parametric 3D Printed Parts

Fathom’s design team is always searching for and thinking up ways to optimize additive manufacturing methods and solve real world problems.…

Read more
Showmodel Worlds Largest Pile Driver

3D Printing Scaled Industrial Assemblies High-quality models that perfectly imitate a real product can generate greater engagement than just a…

Read more
3D Printing Movie Props Zero Theorem

3D Printing Movie Props, Zero Theorem North Design Labs worked with Fathom to quickly go from a concept to a…

Read more
3D Printing Future Retail

Custom 3D Printed Shoes / / 3D Scan Data, The Future of Retail Seattle-based product development firm, came to Fathom…

Read more
Fathom 3D Printing Oakland Seattle Ranked 2 Inner City Award

Fathom Ranked NO. 2 by Inner City Fathom among ICIC and FORTUNE’s Inner City 100 winners Annual ranking showcases the…

Read more
Prosthetic

3D Printed Prosthetic Hand / / Helping Hand for Isabella Getting 3D Printed Prosthetic Hand Inspires Young Girl’s Curiosity in…

Read more
mercedes tile project- different circuit boards in a white boxes
FAQ Engineering Design Services by Fathom

Engineering & Design Services FAQ – Fathom The Engineering & Design Team at Fathom is a unique group of experts with industry-leading additive…

Read more
3D Printing East bay Innovation Awards 2015

3D Printing 2015 Innovation Awards Each year, the EDA’s East Bay Innovation Awards recognize and celebrate significant contributors to the…

Read more
Death of the Assembly Line

Death of the Assembly Line / / The 3rd Industrial Revolution Rebirth of “Made in the USA” The First Industrial…

Read more
Objet500 Connex3 3D Printing Electronics Color

Objet500 Connex3 for Product Design Vivid color 3D printing is just one of many capabilities available on the Objet500 Connex3.…

Read more
3D Printing Computer Mouse Model Finishing

Model Finishing for 3D Printing / / 3D Printed Computer Mouse A variety of post-processing techniques can be applied to…

Read more
Siva Cycle

3D Printed Parts for Siva Cycle Kickstarter Project “I came to Fathom because they were close, convenient and competitively priced.…

Read more
3D Printing Chandelier

3D Printed Chandelier & Industrial Design – Fathom “This project was an investigation in using digital tools and additive manufacturing…

Read more
QA Interview Randall Oglesby

Q&A Interview with Randall Oglesby The people on the support team at Fathom are not only experts with using professional…

Read more
Seattle Washington Emerging Manufacturing Company of 2015 3D Printing

Emerging Manufacturer of 2015 Seattle Business magazine honored Fathom, among 18 other pioneering companies at their annual Washington Manufacturing Awards…

Read more
some people are looking things at the museum
National MFG Day Sheds Light on 3D Printing

National MFG Day Highlights 3D Printing Additive Manufacturing Production Center in San Francisco Bay Area One of 840 Events Focused…

Read more
SLS 3D Printing Slinky 3D Scanning

Not Your Ordinary Slinky One of our most popular posts on social media this month was of a slinky, but…

Read more
3D Printing Ultem 1010 Fortus Stratasys Fathom

3D Printing With ULTEM 1010 STRATASYS ANNOUNCES ULTEM 1010 FOR FORTUS 900MC ULTEM 1010’s strength and thermal stability make it…

Read more
Oakland 2014 3D Printing Expansion

Fathom Expands in Oakland Fathom Expands its Oakland Facility to Meet Its Customers’ Growing Needs for Advanced Prototyping and Low Volume…

Read more
Make the Unmakeable Speaker of Inspiration Challenge 1

Speaker of Inspiration: Challenge #1 The first challenge of the Make the Unmakeable contest calls for creative solutions to New…

Read more
Prototyping for Compost

Prototyping For Compost “I can tell that quality is interwoven into everything Fathom does, it’s really amazing to see and…

Read more
digital camera lens white protector
New Simulated Polypropylene Photopolymer 3D Printing Endur

Simulated Polypropylene Photopolymer A new material has arrived for Stratasys 3D printers — Endur RGD450 is a general purpose, high-toughness material…

Read more
Ideation to Distribution Expert Walkthrough

Ideation to Distribution—Expert Q&A How do you successfully take your idea to market? Even large companies that have been household…

Read more
new wire with switch holding in hands
Multimaterial Flexible Rigid Color 3D Printing

Flexible and Rigid Color Palettes Stratasys has introduced ten new palettes available for Connex3 technology, expanding the Connex3 digital material…

Read more
Inc 5000 Fathom 3D Printing Second Year

Second Year on Inc. 5000 Fathom Celebrates Second Year on Inc. Magazine’s Annual List of America’s Fastest-Growing Private Companies3D Printing…

Read more
3D Print Full Scale Bicycle

Passion for Cycling + 3D Printing Each year, Sea Otter Classic takes place in Monterey, California—not far from Fathom’s Oakland…

Read more
Digital ABS Material Workshop Stratasys Blogger Visits Fathom

Stratasys Blogger Visits Fathom, Digital ABS Material Workshop Fathom recently hosted a digital ABS material workshop where San Francisco Bay…

Read more
make parts fast - website layout
Makepartsfast Interview Tips on Making the Best use of 3D Printers

MakePartsFast.com Q&A: Tips on Making the Best Use of 3D Printers In a recent interview with Fathom’s Principal Rich Stump…

Read more
Fathom Lawrence Livermore lab Technology Partnership

Technology Partnership Announcement Fathom and Lawrence Livermore National Lab Join Together in Technology Partnership 3D Printing and Additive Manufacturing Company Partners…

Read more
bakersfield girl gets prosthetic hand
Bakersfield Girl Gets Custom 3D Printed Prosthetic Hand

[ NEWS ] 3D Printed Prosthetics Fathom is pleased to share exciting coverage on the team’s work with Isabella, who…

Read more
3D Printing Holiday Ornaments

How to 3D Print Ornaments / / Custom Holiday Ornament In the spirit of the holiday season, the Fathom team…

Read more
fathom color 3d priting
3D Printing Wizard of Oz Fathom

3D Printing The Wizard of Oz Inspired by the new multi-material color 3D printing available on the Objet500 Connex3 and…

Read more
Grabcad Fathom Webinar Zero Theorem 3D Printing

GrabCAD + Fathom Webinar Sept 17   GrabCAD & Fathom Host Webinar on How Cloud-Based Product Data Management (PDM) and…

Read more
In The Making 3D Printed Broken Arm Cast

3D Printing Casts / / 3D Printed Arm #CAST In The Making Breaking a bone is never fun. But Mike…

Read more
Bay Areas Tech for Good Award

Bay Areas Tech for Good Award Fathom RECOGNIZED AT 2015 TECH & INNOVATION AWARDS— San Francisco Business Times honors the…

Read more
3D Printing East Bay Innovation Award 2014

“As an organization working to highlight the East Bay’s remarkable assets and advantages for innovative companies, East Bay EDA knew…

Read more
2019 City of Oakland PolyJet

PolyJet Project / / 3D Printed Models for Oakland’s Mayor 3D Printed Models For Oakland’s Mayor Symbol of Oakland’s Innovative…

Read more
3D Printing Fixtures Webinar March 2015

Webinar: 3D Printing Jigs & Fixtures In this conversational webinar recorded on March 19 at 9:00 AM PST, Fathom interviews…

Read more
2019 Kickoff Be Better Than Yesterday

2019 Kick-off / / Be Better Than Yesterday Fathom’s annual kick-off—held January 3rd and 4th of this year—is an essential…

Read more
working together is success - henry ford
3D Printing Henry Ford Working Together is Success

Working Together is Success We wanted to tell a story while demonstrating the unique capabilities of Objet500 Connex systems, such…

Read more
Gamifying 3D Printed Drones With Robodub

Gamifying + 3D Printing = Robodub Every day, Fathom collaborates with extraordinarily creative customers to prototype and fabricate innovative new products.…

Read more
Motley Fool Interview Rich Stump 3D Printing Fathom

Motley Fool Connects with Rich Stump   During the Inside 3D Printing Conference in New York City back in March, Steve…

Read more
News 3D Printed Smart Oven

[ NEWS ] 3D Printed Smart Oven “Fathom has harnessed thermal heat. They have mastered digital design with the use…

Read more
QA Interview With Colin Caufield

Q&A Interview with Colin Caufield Fathom is continually expanding, welcoming new faces and redefining roles for those who have been…

Read more
Patent Digital Manufacturing Service inc 5000 7th Year

Patent Issued For On Demand Platform + Inc 5000 Ranking PATENT ISSUED FOR ON DEMAND DIGITAL MANUFACTURING PLATFORM + Continued…

Read more
Covid-19 Response: 3D Printing to Help Medical Community

Connecting Industrial 3D Printing Manufacturing To Help the Medical Community Jump To Form * This page will be updated with…

Read more
Hashcast

3D Printed Cast Materials / / Arm Cast Design Material WHAT IS THE #CAST 3D PRINTED CAST PROJECT? #CAST (pronounced…

Read more
Desktop Metal 3D Printing Validation Automotive Application Rocker Arm

Changing the Way Products are Designed, Prototyped & Manufactured Being on the forefront of testing emerging additive technologies for prototyping…

Read more
Featured Part Innovative Robotics MJF

Featured Part / / Innovative Robotics With MJF Print-in-Place Mechanical Assemblies for Accelerated Innovation Redesign of Robotic Assembly / /…

Read more
Better Together Acquisition Announcement

Location / / Fathom Headquarters / / Hartland, WI Three companies, FATHOM, Midwest Composite Technologies (MCT) and ICOMold have combined…

Read more
Mesh to T-Spline in 10 Steps (Fusion 360 & Remake)

Fathom Step-By-Step Tutorial—How to Convert a Mesh or Scan Data Into a Workable T-Spline In this tutorial, Fathom Research Associate,…

Read more
cad model and stl model - blog featured image
STL Files / / Understanding the 3D Printing File Type

60% of CAD users say STL file prep and repairs are the biggest challenges for engineers when preparing files for…

Read more
a black box is attached on the bicycle
3D Printing for Form fit and Function

3D Printing Prototypes: Form, Fit and Function Learn more about Form, Fit and Function for 3D printing prototypes with Account…

Read more
Michelangelo

3D Printing Michelangelo ANCIENT ARTISTRY OF METAL CASTING — Transformed by Advanced 3D Printing & 3D Scanning The Thinker. David. Bacchus. Pietà. Michelangelo’s…

Read more
3D Printed Assemblies With Moving Parts & Sliding Mechanisms

How To 3D Print Assemblies With Moving Parts with Alexei Samimi, Mechanical Engineer at Fathom As 3D printing becomes increasingly…

Read more
Seattle Space Needle 3D Printing

3D Printed Replica Models of Seattle’s Space Needle 3D Printing Perfect Replicas of Seattle’s Space Needle Fathom partnered with the Seattle…

Read more
fathom better together
Fathom Acquired by Core Industrial Partners

Fathom Announces It Has Been Acquired by Core Industrial Partners. Fathom to Become One of the Largest Privately Held Digital…

Read more
fathom fdm machines
Fathom 4.0: Transforming the Future of Manufacturing

Hartland, Wis., November 10, 2020 In 2020, four legacy companies – FATHOM, Midwest Composite Technologies, ICOMold and GPI Prototype –…

Read more
Fathom Acquires Summit Tooling & Summit Plastics

Fathom Expands Domestic Tooling & Injection Molding Capabilities   We are delighted to welcome Summit Tooling, Inc. and Summit Plastics,…

Read more
Examining New FDM Material ASA 3D Printing
New FDM Material ASA (Acrylonitrile Styrene Acrylate) Every day, Fathom leverages an in-house team of design, engineering and manufacturing experts…
Read more
Shortening the Supply Chain DDM

On-Demand Inventory with DDM Additive manufacturing has transformed the landscape of production, better enabling business agility in manufacturing with additional…

Read more
Leveraging Urethane Casting
Top 5 Reasons to Leverage Urethane Casting Leveraging Urethane Casting for Shorter Product Development Timelines How do you get a…
Read more
Diaphragm Amplifier Fixtures
60-Year-Old Technology Reimagined In 6 Days
To Build COVID Ventilators
60-Year-Old Technology Reimagined In 6 Days To Build COVID Ventilators The COVID-19 pandemic has united countless individuals, communities and businesses in the fight to stop…
Read more
agilus30 / nylon12cf
New Materials Nylon 12CF & Agilus30
New Materials / / Nylon 12CF & Agilus30 The Stratasys team recently released two new additive materials—Nylon 12CF for FDM…
Read more
Stratasys FDM Nylon Family Materials Comparison
Nylon Family of FDM Materials Stratasys offers three types of Nylon materials for fused deposition modeling (FDM) to meet the…
Read more
Now Available PEKK for FDM Additive Manufacturing Services
Featured Material / / PEKK for FDM For harsh environment applications, Fathom's additive manufacturing service customers have a new material…
Read more
Featured Material TPU FDM Services
Featured Material Option / / TPU For FDM Flexible Engineering-Grade Thermoplastic for FDM. High elongation, superior toughness, durability and abrasion…
Read more

Comprehensive Capabilities for Rapid Manufacturing

At Fathom we offer a unique advantage of speed and agility-our experts help companies go from concept to prototype to manufacturing in ways not previously possible. 

90+ Machines  
SLS / / Two-day  SLA / / Next-day 
FDM / / Next-day DMLS / / Three-day 
PolyJet / / Same-day MJF / / Two-day
   

Get A Quote

30 Second Quotes
Prototype Tool / / As soon as 10 days
10K Parts / / 10 days
Production Tool / / As soon as 3 weeks
 

Get A Quote

3 & 5 Axis Milling & Turning
(Plastics, Composites and Metals)

Tolerance Accuracy Range
from +/-0.001″ to 0.005″

Get A Quote

Injection Molding Adjacent
without High Costs of Metal Tools

Most Commonly Used for High-Volume
Prototyping & Bridge to Production

Get A Quote

Finishing, Production Painting and Color Matching

Assembling, Including Embedded Electronic
Components, Threaded Inserts, and More

Get A Quote

CAD, DFAM and DFM Services

Apply Methods to Increase Speed
and Decrease Total Cost

Get A Quote

Highly Trained Staff / / Full-Time & Part-Time
Support as Short-Term & Long-Term Strategy

Decrease Downtime with Customizable
Staffing Accelerates Implementation

Get A Quote

Let’s get started.

Fathom is driven by advanced technologies and methods that enhance and accelerate today’s product development and production processes.

GET YOUR 30 SECOND QUOTE

Across National
Time Zones

Precision manufacturing
from coast to coast.

HEADQUARTERS //
1050 Walnut Ridge Drive
Hartland, WI 53029
877-328-4668

ARIZONA
444 W. 21st St. Ste. 101
Tempe, AZ 85282
480-966-2300

CALIFORNIA
46758 Lakeview Blvd
Fremont, CA 94538

COLORADO
7770 Washington St.
Denver, CO 80229
303-288-6855

ILLINOIS
1207 Adams Drive
McHenry, IL 60051
815-385-7500

1401 Brummel Ave
Elk Grove, IL 60007
847-952-8088

MINNESOTA
13758 Johnson Street NE
Ham Lake, MN 55304
763-755-7575

NEW YORK
1920 Slaterville Rd.
Ithaca, NY 14850
607-277-7070

401 W. Shore Blvd.
Newark, NY 14513
315-331-7680

TEXAS
1513 Sam Bass Rd.
Round Rock, TX 78660
512-255-1477

fathom yellow color logo