Factorio that you can touch

A team at Wube partnered with Prusa Research to create a set of 3D-printable Factorio models, born out of an in-person playtest in 2024 and developed through months of prototyping after the Space Age DLC. They concentrated on early-game content and transport belts as a backbone, producing 15 model sets that total 65 distinct models across 247 STL files. Two versions of most parts were made: high-precision, push-fit pieces for snap assembly, and high-clearance variants for gluing or tolerant printers. Iterative print-and-paint testing led to many revisions, occasional scrapped designs, and successful full-model shoots and dioramas - examples include inserters, chests, furnaces, belt balancers, the player character, and various enemies.

Design challenges drove much of the work. Translating isometric game art into physically printable geometry required reinterpreting perspectival tricks, filling in invisible or texture-only details, and redesigning back sides of machines. FDM-print realities - avoiding supports, splitting parts for support-free printing, and balancing small-detail fidelity with clean surfaces where supports meet - shaped every model. Organic entities needed different approaches; some prints remain support-dependent while others print cleanly. The models are offered so players can print, modify, and personalize them as a low-cost physical keepsake and creative canvas rather than a limited collector’s item.