Two Engineers Who Got Tired of Slow Quotes and Vague Pricing
PrintForge started in a Mission District garage with two secondhand Prusa printers and a spreadsheet. Seven years later we run 42 machines, serve 340 active business customers, and still answer the phone ourselves.
From a Garage on Valencia Street to a 6,000 Sq Ft Shop
Maya Chen and Adrian Rossi met at a hardware startup in SoMa. Both spent years watching product teams wait three weeks for a prototype quote from a machine shop, then get a part that was wrong. They bought two used Prusa MK3s, put them in Maya's garage, and started printing prototypes on nights and weekends.
When the pandemic hit, the shop pivoted to printing face shield frames and PPE components for Bay Area hospitals. That work paid for the move out of the garage and into a proper 900 sq ft shop on Folsom. The first commercial customer signed a standing order for enclosure prototypes in July.
The shop grew to twelve printers and four employees. SLS was added to the lineup to serve aerospace and medical customers who needed isotropic strength. We published our first public price list — the first 3D printing shop in San Francisco to do so.
Moved into the current 6,000 sq ft facility on Market Street. Installed two CMM stations for dimensional inspection, added 24 more printers, and launched production runs as a formal service. Crossed 100,000 parts shipped in a calendar year.
Today: 42 printers, 18 staff, six industries served, and a public pricing page that still lists every rate we charge. We have not raised our base material rates since 2023, because the cost of running a print shop has gone down, not up.
“We did not set out to build a company. We set out to fix a problem that kept wasting our own time. It turned out a lot of other engineers had the same problem.”
Five Things We Refuse to Compromise On
These are the rules that shape every decision in the shop, from the printers we buy to the customers we turn away.
Published pricing
Every rate we charge is on our website. If you cannot find the number you need, email us and we will send it. No "contact us for a custom quote" games.
Honest capability limits
When a project does not fit our shop, we say so on the first call. If a material cannot handle your application, we tell you before you pay. Being turned down honestly is worth more than an order we cannot deliver on.
No silent substitutions
We never swap a material, color, or process without written confirmation. If your filament is out of stock, you hear about it the same day, not when the box arrives.
Local, not offshore
Everything we sell is printed within four miles of our office. That means we can inspect every part before it ships, and we can turn a rush order around in hours instead of weeks.
Reprints on our dime
If a part fails our QC gates or arrives damaged, we reprint it at our cost. No asterisk, no "restocking fee," no argument. It has been that way since 2019.
Eighteen Humans, One Shop
The people you will actually talk to when you place an order. No call center, no offshore support queue.
Maya Chen
Co-founder & Head of ProductionMechanical engineer by training. Previously led additive manufacturing at a Bay Area robotics company. Runs the shop floor and reviews every file that comes through the door above $500.
Adrian Rossi
Co-founder & Commercial LeadIndustrial designer with a decade in product development. Handles quoting, customer onboarding, and the operations side. Still answers the main line three days a week.
Priya Raman
Lead Slicing EngineerFormer CNC programmer. Decides the orientation and support strategy on every FDM and SLS job. If your part survives a hard drop test, it is because of her layer planning.
Marcus Okafor
Quality & Inspection LeadRuns both CMM stations and owns the QC gates. Comes from a medical device background where "close enough" is not a phrase anyone says out loud.
Elena Vasquez
Finishing & Post-ProcessHandles sanding, painting, and assembly work. Twelve years of prop-shop experience before joining. If a part needs a mirror finish, Elena is the one delivering it.
Daniel Kim
Reverse Engineering SpecialistHandles scanning, mesh reconstruction, and legacy part remodels. Has an uncanny ability to reverse engineer anything with a moving joint on the first scan.
Plus twelve more technicians, shipping coordinators, and CAD support staff. We are usually hiring →
6,000 Sq Ft on Market Street
Purpose-built for additive manufacturing, not retrofitted from an old machine shop. Here is what is inside.
Two production bays
FDM fleet in Bay A, SLA and SLS in Bay B. Separate environmental controls for each so humidity stays stable.
Inspection room
Two CMM stations, optical comparator, and a full set of calibrated hand tools. Temperature controlled to ±1 °C.
Finishing booth
Downdraft spray booth for painting and clear-coat, plus a dedicated wet-sanding station.
Shipping and receiving
Loading dock on the ground floor. Same-day courier pickup until 6 pm for Bay Area deliveries.
Customer meeting room
Available for design reviews and part handoffs. Book a slot when you schedule your visit.
Secure file storage
Encrypted local servers in a locked room. No cloud, no third-party backup, no remote access.
What We Do With the Waste
3D printing produces plastic waste. Instead of pretending it does not, we measure it and deal with it.
Filament recycling rate
Failed prints, purge material, and support structures are collected, sorted by polymer, and sent to a Bay Area recycler that turns them back into filament stock.
PLA to industrial compost
PLA that cannot be recycled is diverted to an industrial composting facility in the Central Valley. It breaks down in 90 days under commercial conditions.
Virgin packaging plastic
Every box we ship uses recycled cardboard, paper tape, and paper void fill. No bubble wrap, no polystyrene, no plastic air pillows.
Renewable electricity
Our utility mix is 61% renewable in 2026, and we are on a schedule to be at 90% by 2028. Printer heat is recaptured for the winter months.
Giving Back to the Bay Area
A few things we do that do not show up on the invoice. We are not a nonprofit — we are just a shop that lives here.
PPE printing for Bay Area hospitals
Printed and donated over 4,800 face shield frames and ventilator adapters during the pandemic when supply chains broke down.
Accessible prosthetics partnership
Ongoing program with a local nonprofit printing custom-fit prosthetic hands for children at no cost to families. 34 devices delivered to date.
High school engineering mentorship
Free shop tours and hands-on printing workshops for high school robotics teams across the Bay Area. Eight teams hosted last year.
10% discount for education and nonprofits
Any school, university lab, or registered nonprofit gets 10% off every order. Just mention it when you upload a file.
Where We Stand Today
Updated quarterly. These are the same numbers we use internally to plan capacity.
Where We Have Been Mentioned
We do not do paid placements. These mentions came from editors who found us on their own.
About Us FAQ
Fully independent. Maya and Adrian own 100% of the business and have never taken outside investment. We have turned down acquisition offers twice, most recently in 2024. The shop runs on customer revenue and has been profitable since 2021.
Yes, and we encourage it. We are at 2150 Market Street, Suite 340. Tours are free and take about 30 minutes. Book through the appointment form or call (628) 214-7390 and we will set up a time.
Yes. We run two paid apprenticeship slots per year for people transitioning into additive manufacturing from adjacent fields. No formal degree required. See the Careers page for current openings.
We do not print firearms, firearm components, or any part intended to be used in a weapon. We also decline orders that would violate export controls or ITAR regulations. Full policy is in our Terms of Service.
Check the Careers page. We post openings there as soon as they are approved. Even when no roles are listed, we accept resumes for future openings at [email protected].
Email [email protected] with the person's name in the subject line and we will route it. Every team member listed above reads their own email.
Come see the shop in person.
Thirty-minute tour, no obligation. Meet the people who will actually print your parts and see the equipment first hand.
Ready to Talk to a Real Person?
No call center, no bots. Maya or Adrian will pick up the phone.