Note from Arthur: Below is a story from a volunteer, innovator and my friend - Yuriy Sakhno. I hope his journey will motivate you to do something that will help Ukraine to prevail and win this war. I edited his copy to make it easy to read and added some clarification. I feel sad that we didn’t do a proper selfie together when i was visiting his farm a few month ago. Next time then!
The first 3D Printer
I first got acquainted with 3D printing in 2013. Carlsberg Ukraine, where I worked, bought their first 3D printer. It was slow and had limited features. So, my experience was more theoretical than practical.
I bought my first personal 3D printer in February 2019. It wasn’t fast by today’s standards. But it let me print board games, puzzles, and small household items. Back then, information was scarce. I learned from my own mistakes.
I printed with ABS(thermoplastic filament) and a little TPU(thermoplastic polyurethane). These plastics later proved to be the most difficult to print. I planned to learn Blender for modeling. But after working with parametric modeling in SolidWorks, it felt like going back to Notepad after MS Word :)
After the invasion started, I saw many videos of printed munitions. And I didn’t know how I could help the military with printing. At the end of 2023, I accidentally found an article about DrukArmy. I was captivated by it.
DrukArmy(https://www.drukarmy.org.ua/en) is a community of volunteers who create everything that can be useful for the Armed Forces of Ukraine in defending Ukraine from Russian invaders.
DrukArmy strive to provide the military with what they need by utilizing the capabilities of volunteers, donors, and cost-effective production so that they do not have to pay out of their own pockets. They are identifying the needs of the military, developing the new solutions by using modern technologies, and implementing them in the Ukrainian Army.
I completed my first task on DrukArmy. I then realized my printer’s productivity was too low. The minimum order was usually 1 kg, which took a week of nonstop printing. The printer was also quite loud. Neighbors wouldn’t be happy with nighttime printing. The idea of buying a new printer came up.
My wife supported the idea: “If you can help the military — do it!”
After familiarizing myself with the current line of available 3D printers on the market in May 2024, I purchased a Creality Ender 3 V3 KE.
Printing became much faster. Now, printing 2-3 kg of products was no longer unattainable. I saw that technology had advanced a lot. 3D printing had become easier and clearer than 5 years ago. So, I started encouraging friends and colleagues to join DrukArmy. One person responded and bought a printer. Then another, and soon we created 3Dbimba :)
Since I love optimization, I explored how to make printing using auto-ejection. This way, the printer could run continuously even when I wasn’t nearby. Ready solutions were far from perfect. I had to learn Klipper(an open source software for 3D printers) and code myself. The journey was tough. Little info was available. At times, I thought the task was too complex.
Despite mistakes and setbacks, I gradually succeeded.
I even got better results than I planned.
Scaling is hard
Then, I worked on different design of the printer head blade, macro improvements, and printing optimization. Printing 0.5-0.7 kg per day per printer became normal. That’s 45-63 kg of plastic monthly, or 13,500-18,900 UAH($300-$500) — a lot of money.
The question was — where to get the funds?
I accidentally saw a message in the DrukArmy chat. Someone offered to join a print job for a well-known brigade. They supplied their own plastic. We met, I showed my automation setup, and jokingly said I could support a dozen printers at this rate.
He liked the idea and funded another printer. This was on the condition that we print products for his acquaintance’s brigade. Later, the military gave me a younger Creality Ender 3 V3 SE. They had trouble printing with it. I repaired it, used it for a while, and confirmed it was slower and lacked online control. So, I sold it, added funds, and bought a Creality Ender 3 V3 KE — my fifth printer.
Five and more…
With the sixth printer, I faced the “joy” of dealing with government agencies. I ordered it in June from AliExpress with a big discount. But it got stuck somewhere between post service and customs.
Only after many calls and complaints did they deliver the printer. It took three months in customs.
We kept printing directly for the brigade. Their orders kept growing. Eventually, our fleet grew to eight printers. We produced over 120 kg of products per month.
Then, the first problem appeared — the brigade refused to continue ordering printed products for organizational reasons.
Covering 120 kg of plastic with our own money was impossible. It would cost about 36,000 UAH($870).
Where to Find So Much Plastic Filament?
I started looking for money or plastic. I sent over 400 emails to Ukrainian and international organizations and companies. I asked for help buying plastic filament. But I got about a dozen replies. All of them said, "We do not support military needs directly."
I heard that guys from DrukArmy provides plastic filament, but only to owners of 10 or more printers. For a while, we printed with our own materials and collected funds from colleagues. I also reached out via LinkedIn.
At the same time, I contacted DrukArmy through different curators. I managed to convince one of them that I could print a lot and well. We started receiving donated plastic. There was a condition — we had to print whatever they asked.
But I didn’t care what to print. The main thing was that these products helped on the front line. Whether it’s impressive munition cases for drones or obscure spare parts, what does it matter?
Misfortune Didn’t Come Alone
Then, another problem appeared — we were asked to vacate the premises. It hit us even harder than looking for a plastic filament. Dozens of letters, meetings, calls, and emails. We tried everything.
Various companies, organizations, and local authorities — which, it seemed, had also suffered from the invasion — either refused or offered to rent space. Most rental prices were standard market rates. Only about a dozen offers asked to pay only for electricity. But even electricity at a commercial rate would cost around 12,000 UAH a month($300) — the equivalent of 40 kg of plastic.
Time was running out, and we had to move. My wife and I started thinking about where to place the 8 printers in the apartment. We’d need to pay for electricity, but at the residential rate. We decided to put four printers on the balcony, two in the corridor, and two in the kitchen.
Then, a respected person offered us a space for the printers. He understood the importance of this work. The conditions were “all-inclusive.” By December 2024, the printers had a new home. In the new space, everything was great except for one thing — no backup power. Power outages started, and many parts of the day, the printers weren’t working.
Fortunately, all printers can print using auto-ejection function, and I had a clear outage schedule from DTEK (Ukrainian Energy Company). I picked the right printing tasks based on the schedule and started them.
When a print finished and the bed cooled down, the printer auto-ejected bed. If not, I got notifications when power was back.
I manually ejected bed and started new task from my smartphone. When outages happened at night, I woke up and did these actions.
I also launched a fundraiser for an inverter with batteries so we can battle with electricity outages. After a month and a half of my fundraiser, I had only collected 30,000 UAH($750) of the 120,000($2900) needed.
12 Printers and Counting: Growing 3D Printing Fleet
My wife said, “You’ve organized everything so well, but it’s unlikely to raise that much. Maybe it’s better to buy a few more printers with this money and increase productivity when there’s power?”
By contributing a bit of my own funds, I increased the number of printers to twelve.
I tried to involve a relative in DrukArmy. I showed, explained, and promised to teach everything. The relative became interested, bought a printer, tried to print, and said: “You know, everything here is so complicated — maybe I should just give it to you?”
And so, the number of printers grew to thirteen.
In summer 2024, the enemy became much more active, and DrukArmy was overwhelmed with orders. Curators began asking active owners of printers to increase the fleet of printers to supply the military with products. Gradually, the number of printers was increased to twenty through donations and personal funds.
I wanted to stop at eighteen printers — that was the maximum that fit comfortably in the space. But with the eighteenth, a different story began. I bought most of the printers on OLX, both used and new. I searched for the lowest prices on printers with little “mileage” and bargained hard. Then I found three printers at a low price, and the owners agreed to a big discount.
I had to buy all three :)
In less than a year, I owned a 3D farm with twenty printers. After a year and three months, I printed over two tons of products.
Of course, it’s not easy. The printers need constant repair, maintenance, and tuning. Since they work far from official conditions, I check on some of the printers every few days. Feedback from the military and videos of their work motivate me to print even more.
Now, I’ve optimized print settings and the auto-ejection function. I tested and added active bed cooling and visual and sound alerts for some models. I’m gradually applying these improvements to all printers.
My plan is to add more printers because the demand for printing continues to grow.
I also hope for your help.
Arthur Tkachenko and Igor Lubin inspired me to tell this story. I sincerely thank them for their kind words. I hope my example will motivate others to join DrukArmy or other printing groups. Many spend their time and money printing free products for our defenders. Join us. Even one printer and a little time can save lives.
Huge thanks to my wife and daughter for their patience and support. Thanks to my colleagues for their help. And thank you to all friends and strangers for donations that keep this effort going. I don’t mention names or companies to avoid danger. I hope to thank each of you personally someday 💗
You can contribute to the fundraising for plastic to print products for the Ukrainian Armed Forces using the following details:
Monobank
https://send.monobank.ua/jar/9Dmd8PkpY8
Credit Card 5375411219680936
IBAN UA443220010000026209346272688
Privat24
https://www.privat24.ua/send/hnz1c
Credit Card 5168752141231673
IBAN UA133052990262066400986650566
PayPal
Together towards the Victory!