Carbon fiber is one of the most prized construction materials available to a parts designer. It is also among the most expensive due to the painstakingly tedious process of molding or winding it. If, somehow, carbon fiber could just be printed it would be quite miraculous. To the delight of makers everywhere, the first 3D printer for carbon fiber was unveiled this week at the SolidWorks World 2014 conference in San Diego.

The company that makes the printer, MarkForged, claims its machine can produce parts with higher a strength-to-weight ratio than 6061-T6 aluminum. 6061 with a T6 temper is certainly not the strongest aluminum flavor going — and probably not the material chosen for the bulk of Ford’s new all-aluminum truck — but it’s the most commonly used aluminum, and still pretty tough stuff. In a rather surprising move, MarkForged’s founder, Gregory Marks, has named his new creation the “Mark One.” The machine runs either a 1.75mm fused carbon filament (FFF), or a 4mm composite filament (CFF), using quick-change extruder heads, and users also have the choice of printing with fiberglass, PLA (Poly lactic acid), or nylon.

In the old days, a resin was combined with carbon fiber (and often other additives or strengtheners) to form a reinforced polymer composite. How this process plays out on a printer is still a bit of a mystery. There is a video (embedded above) of the machine in operation, but details are scarce at this point. We do know that the build size is fairly respectable at 305mm x 160mm x 160mm (12″ x 6.25″ x 6.25″, 486ci) and the resolution is reportedly 100um for FFF, and 200 for the CFF. The machine accepts .STL or .OBJ files and is compatible with most major operating systems and web browsers. (Read: This awesome ‘replicator’ combines industrial machining with laser 3D printing to create just about anything.)

With a price tag of $5000, this machine may initially be more of a manufacturer’s item than DIY or hobby tool. Beef-up the build size though, and there could be many home or body applications we might imagine. Ski-pants for example, might actually have skis, while golf shirts could have built-in clubs at the cuff. Army recruits might just be given free courses in SolidWorks’ “designing with fiber” modules and credits on a Mark Ten machine, and they needn’t ever worry again about whether their prosthetics needs will be covered. For those capable individuals that design their own medical devices to fix their issues, like the guy who built his own chest wall oscillator to treat his cystic fibrosis (pictured below), the benefits will be immeasurable. The FDA will literally have to kill you if they want to stop you from saving yourself, your family, or friends.

MarkForged is already open for preorder, and they plan to ship the first units by early next year. We will be anxious to hear about any design packages that might be available for this product as there will likely be many tricks to the trade. SolidWorks is hugely popular in the professional marketplace, with over 17,000 registered seats for 2014, but generally off limits for any individual to keep up a current copy. Judging by their success at working with the stereolithography experts at Stratasys though, SolidWorks may be ready to extend deeper into the 3D market, perhaps offering something for the little guy to bite.