Stratasys F870 Puts Large FDM on Auto Floors

Stratasys F870 news today is about factory tooling size, not another consumer CoreXY drop. On September 9, 2026, TCT reported the large-format FDM launch with a fully heated meter-class chamber and early installs at Toyota and Rivian for manufacturing aids. For shops already printing jigs on a desk, the useful takeaway is scale and materials stack — chopped-fiber Nylon 12CF in a heated industrial envelope versus continuous tow on a benchtop. Ownership-cost and “production reliability” language stays Stratasys’s until third parties publish comparable total-cost data.

What's Happening

According to TCT Magazine’s September 9 report, Stratasys introduced the F870 for industrial manufacturers, automotive OEMs, and aerospace and defence production lines, ahead of IMTS 2026 in Chicago (Booth #338460, South Hall, September 14–19). The system’s headline hardware number is a fully heated 1000 × 610 × 610 mm build chamber. The materials list includes Nylon 12CF, ASA, ABS, and a new FDM ABS Draft (Gray) aimed at faster draft tooling. Stratasys frames the machine around tooling, fixtures, manufacturing aids, and end-use parts that keep showing up on factory floors when metal or machined polymer lead times hurt.

Toyota Production Engineering in Georgetown, Kentucky, and Rivian Automotive in Plymouth, Michigan, are named as early users. Dallas Martin, Additive Manufacturing Engineer at Toyota North America, said the team has already seen value from Stratasys additive manufacturing and that the next challenge is expanding use across more applications; he tied the F870’s build size, material performance, and industrial features to those needs. Rich Garrity, Chief Business Unit Officer at Stratasys, pitched the platform as a response to supply-chain and production pressure — larger tooling capacity with the company’s existing materials and reliability story at what Stratasys calls a competitive price point. Those are vendor and customer quotes, not independent benchmarks.

Why This Matters for Shops and Product Teams

If you build fixtures for assembly, weld, or inspection, OEM adoption of a meter-class heated FDM cell changes the reference for “how big can a polymer tool be.” A single large Nylon 12CF fixture can replace a bolted stack of smaller FFF plates — when you have the capital, floor space, and process control for that chamber. Peer-reviewed work on PA12-CF and polymeric additive tooling still reminds you that orientation, raster, and process parameters set mechanical floors; a big chamber does not erase anisotropy.

Smaller manufacturers should read the install list carefully. Toyota and Rivian validating large FDM tools does not mean every garage needs a 1000 mm heated cell. It does mean the parts that stay on a desk — clamps, covers, and short-run continuous-fiber fixtures — compete on turnaround and designed stiffness, not on matching OEM chamber volume. Know when a job wants industrial FDM envelope and when it wants overnight desktop composite strength.

How Large-Format FDM Tooling Compares to Desktop Options

Factor	Stratasys F870 class (industrial FDM)	Desktop continuous-fiber FFF	Typical desktop FFF (no continuous tow)
Build envelope	~1000 × 610 × 610 mm heated chamber (vendor spec)	Few-hundred-mm beds (e.g. ~300 mm class)	Often similar small beds; varies widely
Reinforcement	Chopped-fiber grades such as Nylon 12CF	Continuous carbon or glass tow in polymer matrix	Unfilled or short-fiber filaments
Typical shop role	Large jigs, aids, some end-use polymer tools	Stiff fixtures and brackets on a bench	Prototypes, fixtures with lower load
Facilities load	Industrial power, floor space, production QA	Benchtop footprint; standard shop power	Lowest barrier; strength limits apply

What the Research Says

Babiș and colleagues tensile-tested FFF Nylon 12 carbon fiber specimens with digital image correlation, emphasizing build orientation and raster effects for load-bearing geometries. They selected PA12-CF for its stiffness, chemical resistance, and relatively low water absorption versus some other carbon-filled thermoplastics, and they stress that print orientation can dominate measured strength. For anyone reading OEM claims about Nylon 12CF tooling on a new FDM platform, the lab lesson is unchanged: treat orientation as a design input, not a footnote (Babiș et al., 2025).

Pelin, Sonmez, and Pelin reviewed additive manufacturing for polymeric molds and related tooling across injection, forming, and composite workflows. They highlight why shops print tools — lead time, design flexibility, and cost for low-volume or customized runs — and note industrial FDM carbon-filled nylons as one route vendors use when targeting metal-replacement stiffness in selected applications. The F870 announcement sits in that tooling tradition: larger chamber, same idea that polymer AM tools live or die on process control and application fit (Pelin et al., 2024).

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the Stratasys F870 FDM printer?

The Stratasys F870 is a large-format industrial FDM system announced September 9, 2026, with a fully heated 1000 × 610 × 610 mm build chamber. Stratasys lists materials including Nylon 12CF, ASA, ABS, and FDM ABS Draft (Gray), aimed at tooling, fixtures, manufacturing aids, and some end-use parts for automotive and aerospace floors.

Why are Toyota and Rivian installing the F870?

TCT reports early installs at Toyota Production Engineering in Georgetown, Kentucky, and Rivian Automotive in Plymouth, Michigan, with factory-floor tooling and manufacturing aids as the intended applications. Toyota’s additive engineer cited build size, material performance, and industrial features. Treat those quotes and use cases as the companies’ statements.

Is large-format FDM the same as desktop continuous-fiber printing?

No. The F870 is a meter-class heated FDM chamber using industrial filaments such as chopped-fiber Nylon 12CF. Desktop continuous-fiber printers co-extrude thermoplastic with a continuous tow on a much smaller bed. Different fiber form, different envelope, different capital and facilities load. An OEM floor tool cell does not replace a bench composite fixture printer.

Fibricate's Place in This Story

Meter-class heated FDM and desktop continuous fiber solve adjacent but different tooling problems. Companies like Fibricate, whose FibreSeeker 3 continuous carbon fiber 3D printer lays polymer with a continuous tow from feedstock such as the continuous carbon fiber spool, sit where shops need designed anisotropy overnight without standing up an industrial FDM cell. Toyota and Rivian buying F870 capacity is a signal that OEMs will keep scaling polymer fixtures on the floor. Use that news to decide when a job truly needs a meter-class chamber — and when continuous tow on a desk is the faster, smaller answer.

What to Watch Next

Watch IMTS floor demos of the F870, any published fixture case studies from Georgetown or Plymouth, and how ABS Draft (Gray) is used in real draft-tool cycles. Over 12–24 months, expect more automotive and aerospace lines to treat large heated FDM as standard tooling infrastructure rather than a pilot. The split that will still matter for smaller shops is clear: industrial FDM for big polymer envelopes and chopped-fiber grades; desktop continuous fiber for structural FFF parts you can iterate without a production cell.

References & Further Reading

1. Babiș, C., Dimitrescu, A., Fica, S. A., Antonescu, O., Vlăsceanu, D., & Stochioiu, C. (2025). Determination of the Mechanical Tensile Characteristics of Some 3D-Printed Specimens from NYLON 12 CARBON Fiber Material. Technologies.
2. Pelin, G., Sonmez, M., & Pelin, C.-E. (2024). The Use of Additive Manufacturing Techniques in the Development of Polymeric Molds: A Review. Polymers.
3. Stratasys launches new F870 FDM 3D printer; Toyota & Rivian among first users. TCT Magazine. Retrieved September 9, 2026.