Lyten Graphene Filaments Power Modovolo's US-Made 3D Printing Platform

Drone manufacturer Modovolo has picked Lyten as the primary filament supplier for its industrial 3D printing platform. The partnership ties together two American-built technologies: Modovolo's mobile containerized printers and Lyten's graphene-reinforced nylon filament.

What Is Modovolo Building

Modovolo's BFP platform stands for Build, Fly, Print. It is a modular, containerized system designed to produce large aerospace, automotive, and industrial parts close to where they are needed. The whole setup runs on US-sourced materials and equipment, which Modovolo says reduces reliance on overseas supply chains.

The company originally developed the printer to make parts for its own drones. It could not find an existing industrial system fast enough or affordable enough to produce aerospace-grade components at scale. So it designed its own. The result is a platform that can be transported and deployed near the point of need rather than tied to a central factory.

Why Graphene Filament

At the center of the partnership is Lyten's PA1205 filament. Lyten describes it as an ultra-high-strength, lighter-weight nylon-based material enhanced with its 3D Graphene technology. The goal is stronger prints at lower weight, which matters for drones and aerospace parts where every gram counts.

Modovolo says the combination creates a faster, stronger, lighter print than conventional nylon or carbon-fiber filaments. The material is meant to hold up under structural loads while keeping overall part weight down.

Market Context

The drone market is growing fast. An Additive Manufacturing Research report presented at the UAS Additive Strategies conference estimates manufacturers will produce roughly 17 million drones this year, representing nearly 900 million individual parts. Over the next decade, annual production could more than double.

That scale demands manufacturing systems that can build lightweight, high-performance components quickly and close to where they are needed. Modovolo's containerized approach fits that need. The printer can be deployed in the field or at distributed production sites instead of waiting for parts to ship from a centralized facility.

What It Means

This is a rare example of a drone maker building its own industrial 3D printing system rather than buying off-the-shelf. Modovolo's decision to source filament from Lyten keeps the supply chain inside the US, which appeals to defense and aerospace customers who worry about foreign sourcing.

Justin Call, Modovolo CEO and co-founder, put it plainly: "We built BFP out of necessity. We could not find a 3D printer fast enough and affordable enough to produce aerospace-grade components at scale for our drones."

If drone production doubles over the next ten years, companies like Modovolo will need exactly this kind of distributed, high-throughput manufacturing. Graphene-enhanced filament and mobile containerized printers could become a common pairing in that world.