Exactly ten years ago – on March 23, 2013, Jacek Dziedzic – an enthusiast of amateur 3D printing from Lublin, organized the first meeting of the Polish RepRap community in the history of our country, which was established on the first two forums devoted to this topic – RepRapForum and MojeRepRap. The event was held at the headquarters of the Lublin Technopark under the slogan “Day of 3D Printing”. Relatively few people came to them, but two of them turned out to be crucial for the future development of the additive technology industry in Poland. On the way back to their hometown of Kielce – Janusz Wójcik and Paweł Rokita decided to organize a similar event at home, which over time turned into the largest trade fair event in Central Europe – “Dni Druku 3D” ( The 3D Printing Days) Fair. In just a week – on March 28-31, 2023, its 15th edition will take place.
Since 2014, the 3D Printing Days have been held at Targi Kielce, becoming an inseparable element of the Industrial Spring – a great event bringing together exhibitors from various industries in one place. This year’s edition of 3D Printing Days will host about 50 companies presenting 3D printers, consumables and services. The main sponsor of the event is Sygnis SA, and the founders are Bibus Menos, CadXpert, ROSA3D, UBOT3D and Urbicum. In addition to these companies, the fair will feature m.n. 3D Master, 3D Phoenix (together with Markforged and Nexa3D), Amazement (which recently became the Polish distributor of GE Additive metal 3D printers), Colmex (SLM Solutions), Devil Design, Finnotech (F3D filament manufacturer), igus and PRUSA Research.
This year’s 15th edition will be unique for many reasons, but the most important of them is the 10th anniversary of 3D Printing Days. The first, historic event took place on July 6, 2013, at the seat of the Wspak Student Club, at the Jan Kochanowski University in Kielce. It was a purely amateur event – apart from the only commercial Leapfrog, all the presented 3D printers were created by the people presenting them.
This began to slowly change a few months later, during the second edition of the event, which took place on September 14, 2013 at the same venue. This time, the Wspak student club was literally bursting at the seams – several times more “exhibitors” appeared, some of whom were soon to transform into production companies. The first distributors of foreign manufacturers of 3D printers also appeared on it – including one of the currently largest – CadXpert, which presented its MakerBot Replicator 2. It was also the time of birth of the Polish 3D printing industry.
The third edition of the 3D Printing Days took place at the end of March 2014 – for the first time at Targi Kielce. The event was still amateur in nature, but it was increasingly dominated by producers and distributors taking their first steps in the industry.
The fourth edition took place in September 2014 at the Institute of Design Kielce at ul. Zamkowa 3, creating a cyclical nature for some time – spring editions became more professional and commercial, and they always took place at Targi Kielce, while autumn editions were less commercial in nature and were more industry events.
In the spring of 2016, the first star of the global 3D printing industry – Josef Prusa – came to Kielce. In turn, the September edition of the event was held for the first and only time in Warsaw, on the premises of Expo XXI. In terms of attendance, it was much weaker than in Kielce, but its participants witnessed the setting of a Guinness record – Rokita, Wójcik and a number of partner companies, scanned and printed on 3D printers over 3-meter Robert Lewandowski.
In March 2017, during the 9th edition, we were dealing with probably the largest – and certainly the most spectacular 3D Printing Days in their history. Other companies outdid each other in the splendor of their stands – and the Wolfix company was the leader here, which, in addition to a large, two-story stand, presented a red Ferrari woven with the use of 3D pens. Targi Kielce still uses the photos of this car as a showcase of the event.
From 2017, the 3D Printing Days were held only once a year – the organization of the autumn editions was abandoned. Due to the C19 pandemic, the 2020 and 2021 editions have been moved to September. In April last year, the fair returned to its spring formula – and according to the organizers, in terms of attendance, they are already at the same level as in the “pre-pandemic” years.
The 3D Printing Days had an indisputable impact on the development of the Polish additive technology industry. Just as without the 3D Printing Center portal, in 2013-2015 no one would have anywhere to read about Polish companies and their solutions, so without 3D Printing Days no one would see them live … Janusz Wójcik and Paweł Rokita not only created the first place to commercialize the first native 3D printers and filaments, but above all a unique environment for exchanging ideas and experiences; establishing cooperation and cooperation. The creators of 3D printers could meet directly with their potential users – get to know their opinions and needs, which they could then implement. After all, thanks to the 3D Printing Days, thousands of people could see 3D printers live for the first time in their lives, touch 3D prints and verify their ideas on this subject.
Today, for the vast majority of people visiting the 3D Printing Days, it is simply an additive technology fair. For me and many other people starting their adventure with 3D printing 10 years ago – the cradle of the industry, without which its development would not be so dynamic.
Source: www.centrumdruku3d.pl