Evolve Additive Shuts Down After Eight Years, STEP Printer Assets Headed to Auction

Evolve Additive Solutions, the Minnesota company that spent eight years trying to commercialize a toner-based 3D printing process called STEP, is shutting down. The company has started selling off its equipment through Grafe Auction, with the first round of online bids closing September 17 at an Edina, Minnesota site. Auctions for its Rochester, New York and Minnetonka, Minnesota locations follow in October.

STEP stands for Selective Thermoplastic Electrophotographic Process. The technology borrowed from 2D toner printing to build parts layer by layer from engineering-grade thermoplastics. Founder Steve Chillscyzn spent 45 patents on the system before spinning it out of Stratasys in April 2018. The pitch was ambitious: match injection molding on cost, surface finish, and part strength at production volumes reaching hundreds of thousands of units a year.

The Edina catalog includes Evolve's own toner-based production units, a Stratasys FDM printer, SVP PA850 toner cartridges, LMI Technologies Gocator 3D laser line profilers, and various polymer handling equipment. Interested buyers can inspect the hardware in person on the morning of September 17 before bidding closes at 1pm Central.

Evolve's failure to reach mass production scale is a reminder that desktop 3D printing gets most of the attention, but industrial-scale polymer AM has claimed plenty of casualties. The company raised at least $25 million from Stratasys and other investors over the years, but never secured a customer base large enough to sustain operations.

The auction offers a rare chance to pick up industrial toner-based 3D printing hardware. Whether the technology finds a second life through new ownership remains to be seen.