Kupros Cu29 V2 Brings Conductive Filament to Desktop 3D Printers for Real Electronics

A copper filament that actually conducts

Most conductive 3D printing filaments are disappointing. They contain a small percentage of metal particles suspended in a plastic binder, and the resulting prints resist electricity about as well as a wet sponge. Kupros, an Indiana-based company, took a different approach: its Cu29 filament is made from a proprietary tin-copper composite with no polymer base, giving it a resistivity of 1.226 x 10^-5 ohm-centimeter. That is roughly 48,000 times more conductive than standard conductive filaments and, according to Kupros, sufficient for power applications up to 12,500 volts and 5 amps.

The company has now launched Cu29 V2, a refined formulation based on a year of real-world testing with early adopters. The first batch of 90 kilograms sold out before the announcement was fully public.

What you can actually print with it

Cu29 V2 is designed for FDM and FFF printers. It works on machines ranging from sub-$400 desktop printers to industrial systems costing hundreds of thousands of dollars. The filament diameter is 1.75mm, with an optimal nozzle temperature between 232 and 260 degrees Celsius. Traces as fine as 0.12mm are possible, limited primarily by nozzle size.

Practical applications the company is targeting include embedded conductive pathways inside plastic parts, conformal antennas, strain gauges, EMI shielding, and RF structures. The filament does not require sintering, plating, curing, or any chemical post-processing. You print the part, and the circuit is live when it comes off the bed.

The embedded electronics play

The more interesting announcement is the patent-pending workflow Kupros is developing for embedded electronics. The goal is to move beyond printing standalone conductive traces and instead integrate electronic components directly into a standard FDM print. A sensor printed into a drone wing, a coil embedded inside a plastic housing, a circuit path running through a mechanical bracket: these are the use cases Kupros is pursuing.

The company has sent Cu29-enabled sensor test articles to Oak Ridge National Laboratory for independent evaluation. Kupros is also part of the DEVCOM drone repair work with the US military, where its material appeared in nScrypt's remote 3D printing and repair systems during Valiant Shield 2026.

Winning the 2026 TCT Materials Award at RAPID+TCT gave the technology independent credibility. The award judges evaluated Cu29 alongside dozens of other material innovations, and selected it as the standout materials story of the show.

What this means for the market

Consumer-grade conductive filaments have been stuck at hobbyist-level performance for years. They work for simple LED circuits and capacitive touch sensors, but they cannot carry meaningful current or survive real voltage. Cu29 V2 changes that boundary. A filament that can handle 12,500 volts and 5 amps opens up a range of industrial and aerospace applications that previously required dedicated circuit board fabrication.

The constraint is still printability. Copper composite filament is abrasive, runs hot, and demands a hardened steel nozzle. The trace widths are wider than what PCB photolithography produces. But the workflow advantage is real: you can print the structural part and the electronics in the same job, on the same machine, without switching processes or outsourcing boards.

Kupros is not claiming to replace PCB manufacturing. It is targeting the space between what a traditional printed circuit board can do and what a purely mechanical 3D print cannot: functional electronics integrated directly into the part geometry. If the embedded electronics workflow matures as promised, that is a genuinely new category of manufacturing, not just a better filament.