Hydra Direct is a rebranding and simplification of our on-demand 3D printing service. We hope you like our new logo :)

We are launching a dedicated website for our 3D Print service called Hyrda Direct. We felt that our current website is over cluttered and to enhance the experience for our 3D print service customers a simple and focused website would be best.

After 5 years of developing and producing our line of Hydra Research printers including the Nautilus and the Minnow, we have made the difficult decision to wind down our printer manufacturing business. We have decided to focus solely on our on-demand 3D printing services.

Check out our new case study featuring ElementDrive, changes to our unique filament sampler subscription, new products, and more!

Jeff, the co-owner of ElementDriven, launched the company based on his Rear-Seat Floor-Latch Covers, a product that enables owners to get full use of their Element’s floor when they lift or remove their rear seats. Manufactured out of heavy-duty 16-gauge steel, they maximize the cargo space of the Element by securely leveling the floor to make it usable for transporting furniture, pets, kids, and more.

We couldn’t be more excited to announce that pre-orders for our upcoming workhorse 3D printer, the Minnow, are now available! We expect to begin shipping the Minnow in Fall 2021.

We will be closing Minnow beta applications very soon on February 19th. If you are interested in applying for beta access please do so as soon as possible here.

Keep an ear to the ground for the Minnow pre-order announcement!

We are pretty excited about this little printer. This is a brief update, but I wanted to provide some news before the end of the year.

A new 3D printer is coming… Also new this fall: 4 fresh Fillamentum Vertigo colors, PETG, Magigoo, Slice Engineering parts, and free shipping on orders over $49.

Learn about agile manufacturing using 3D printing in our latest case study featuring RepOne Strength. Also explore a host of new products, material colors, and 3d printer parts available in our online store now.

Jordan, CEO of RepOne Strength, was looking to innovate not just with his products, but also with how they are manufactured. After learning about FFF 3D printing and its strengths in design adaptability and rapid iteration, Jordan decided that this could keep his prototyping and production lean and agile.

2020 has been bumpy so far, to say the least! However, Hydra Research is committed to continuing to offer the same industry-leading 3D printers and support services in addition to our direct additive manufacturing and 3D services.

As you may be aware, we have been working hard producing face shields to aid in the PPE shortage. We have now delivered 420 face shields all over the country! Thanks to the generous donations of our community, we were able to donate over 40 of those shields. We really appreciate the donations, and we’re sure our healthcare workers do too!

We have spent the last two weeks designing and testing face shield designs to help protect healthcare workers on the front lines of the fight against COVID-19 and those providing essential public and social services.

We realize that in the coming weeks there may be shortages in key components used to combat COVID-19. We want to make sure our 3D printing capabilities are available for manufacturing personal protective equipment and replacement parts for equipment that may aid in the fight.

Grovemade designs and manufactures beautiful high-end office accessories. They excel at producing products that showcase the natural beauty of the quality woods, metals, and fabrics they are made from.

The biggest update yet to our powerful plugin for Ultimaker Cura is here! Print up to twice as fast and optimize your printing process for your application with just one click.

Plugin update available now in the Ultimaker Cura Marketplace.

All 3D printing filaments absorb moisture from the air. This can cause strength degradation and print quality issues, particularly “stringing” and rough surface texture. Not all filaments suffer from this problem to the same degree, the primary culprits are Nylon and Co-polyester. The Nautilus Box is designed to solve these problems by keeping your already dry materials dry for a longer period of time.

PLA is the most common FFF 3D printing material; it is easy to print, rigid, and does not warp easily. However, it lacks the temperature resistance and strength that many other materials offer. It is an excellent choice for prototypes, concept models, and low-wear toys. PLA is compatible with all Tool Cartridges for the Nautilus 3D printer.

Mazama was developing a new line of dishware and wanted to be able to test different shapes and fine-tune their designs. Due to their focus on combining functionality with beautiful design, the details were extremely important. Other, more traditional manufacturing methods like hand-throwing would have been inconsistent, time-consuming, and costly for iterative design.

WingWarp wanted to be able to test different angles, spacing, and number of phones to develop hardware that customers could easily use to engage with their platform. Traditional manufacturing methods like Injection Molding and Machining posed very high costs for iterative design and testing.