Sons of the Forest 3D Printer [All Locations & Items]

The 3D Printer essentially acts like an item shop or a crafting bench where you can get certain items by trading in a bunch of resources to get useful items. The 3D Printer can be accessed quite early on and is one of the first few places that you should try to visit to give yourself an edge over the many enemies in the game.

All 3D Printer Locations

The thing about 3D printers in the game is that if you want to use them, you need to be at their stations. Meaning if you find a 3D printer, you can’t pick it up and take it back to your own base. So, each time you need to print something new, you’ll need to return to the location. That sounds quite tedious, and you wouldn’t be wrong to assume that.

However, there are four total 3D printing locations. They’re spread across the map in such a manner that no matter where you are, there will be at least one 3D Printer near you, even if the others are quite far away. The only exception is if you’re in the extreme northeast sections of the map. Because in that case, you’d be equally far from most of the 3D printer locations.

First 3D Printer – Cave

The first 3D Printer can be acquired as soon as you start the game and crash land. You won’t need any special equipment to get inside or to access the 3D Printer, so you can reach it even after you just get started with a new game.  

The 3D Printer is in between the snowy mountains and the ocean on the western side of the island. We can use the crash-landing site as our starting reference point to describe the location of the 3D Printer. If you open up your GPS and look towards the ocean, you should be able to spot a pulsating green circle (point of interest) on it.

For an even better reference, the 3D Printer will be near two caves. One of the caves is east of the 3D Printer, and the other one is southeast. The southeast cave is the closest to the 3D Printer, and it happens to be the same cave where you can find the Rope Gun, Cross, and a bunch of explosives.

When you approach the point of interest, you’ll know you’re close to the Printer when you spot a run-down golf cart nearby. Enter the cave that the point of interest leads you in, and just follow the path to find the 3D Printer. We’ll get into what you can craft with the 3D Printer in a section down below. But you can actually loot the same room with the 3D Printer to get useful resources and even Printer Resin which is needed for printing.

Second 3D Printer – Maintenance A Bunker

The second 3D Printer that you can easily come across is in the Maintenance A bunker. The location is northeast of the location of the previous 3D Printer that we discussed. We’ve marked the location on the map above.

But for better reference, it is northwest of an Abandoned Camp and the location where you can find the Flashlight. If all these landmarks are confusing, you can simply head towards the green pulsating circle, which will already have the Maintenance A bunker marked as a point of interest.

Get The Shovel First

However, when you reach the location of the 3D Printer, you’ll need to use the shovel to dig up and reveal the door to the Maintenance A bunker. If you’ve already acquired the shovel, then you can go ahead and get inside the bunker and access the 3D Printer. However, if you’ve not got the shovel, then we’ll briefly highlight how you can get it so that you can access the Printer.

Acquiring The Rope Gun

The first thing that you’ll need before you can even get the shovel is the Rope Gun. The Rope Gun can be found in a cave southeast of the first 3D Printer. The cave entrance is actually found near the crash site as well, so you can get it quite early on. You’ll need to use an axe to break through a bunch of wooden tiles to access the cave.

If you’re not properly equipped or that great at combat, then you’ll need to be quick on your feet, as there are many mutants inside the cave. Make your way through the linear cave to the point where you can find hanging skeletons. Nearby, you’ll find the rope gun. You can exit the cave through an unmarked exit, saving you the tedious trip of going back to where you came from.

Acquiring The Rebreather

The second thing that you’ll need before you can get the shovel is the Rebreather. It is required to last for a long time underwater, and to get to the shovel; you’ll need to go through passages that take you underwater, which is why you’ll need the Rebreather.

The Rebreather can be found inside the northmost cave on the island. It is the same area where you’ll come across the Stun Gun. Similar to the last cave, you’ll need to make your way inside by cutting down a bunch of wooden planks. You’ll come across bones inside the cave which can actually be used to craft armor. While exploring the cave, you can find the Stun Gun on a hanging body.

You’ll need to go deeper into the cave to get to the rebreather. You’ll know you’re on track when you come across life jackets floating on water. Just follow the path laid out by the life jackets, and you’ll eventually come across the Rebreather.

Getting The Shovel

After you’ve got the Rope Gun and the Rebreather, you can finally get the Shovel. The cave where you’ll find the Shovel is directly east of the location of the first 3D Printer. Alternatively, it is west of the crash-landing site.

There will be around three dead bodies tied to wooden planks just outside the cave’s entrance. Inside the cave, follow the linear path. You’ll need to use everything that we acquired before attempting to retrieve the shovel. The Rope Gun will be used to get past large gaps, and the Rebreather will be used for the underwater sections. Eventually, you’ll come across the Shovel near the flashlight attachment as well.

After you’ve got the shovel, you can finally go to the location of the Maintenance A bunker. You can use the shovel to dig up the entrance and go inside, where you’ll find the second 3D Printer on the map.

Third 3D Printer – Maintenance B Bunker

The next 3D Printer in the game can be found in the Maintenance B Bunker. The location is southwest of the crash site and directly west of a cave near the only river that runs across the southwest portions of the map. Just like with the other bunker, you’ll need to use your shovel to dig up the entrance, and then you can get inside to get access to the 3D Printer.

Fourth 3D Printer – East Of Big Lake

The fourth 3D Printer can be found far on the other side from the other three 3D printers. It is near the lake on the east side of the island. There is also a cave near the lake in question. You’ll likely visit the general area as part of the main storyline as well. But, the green marker will only appear if you’re quite close to the 3D Printer.

Getting inside won’t be that easy, as you’ll need to get all of the collectible keycards in the game to get access. There are three different keycards that can be found in the game. You need to attain the keycards in a certain order, as each card relies on the previous one. Here’s the order in which you should try collecting the keycards:

1. Maintenance Keycard
2. VIP Keycard
3. Guest Keycard

Although we’ve thoroughly discussed the locations in our keycards guide, we’ll still give a general highlight of each of the locations here. If at any point you feel as if the information is limited or not quite detailed, you should definitely head over to our guide, which has in-depth directions and labeled map images for each of the locations.

Maintenance Keycard

You’ll need to head inside the Maintenance A bunker for the Maintenance Keycard. If you’ve been following our instructions and getting to the 3D Printers in the discussed order, you should already have the shovel needed to get inside the Maintenance A bunker. Once inside, you need to head down the hallway in the bunker and go through the first room on your right. You’ll find the keycard right next to the 3D Printer.

VIP Keycard

For the next keycard, the VIP Keycard, you’ll actually need to get the Maintenance Keycard before you can get to it. It is located in the northwestmost cave on the map (just southwest of the northmost cave on the map). While exploring the cave, look for a door with a blue panel at the far end of the kitchen area.

That door can only be accessed using the Maintenance Keycard. Get inside and explore the rooms until you reach the area with flooded rooms. You’ll need to explore the flooded rooms as well until you make your way to the security surveillance room, where you’ll find the VIP Card.

Guest Keycard

The final keycard can actually be found in a location that you might’ve already visited if you’re trying to gain access to all of the 3D printers. It is in the same cave as the first 3D Printer that we discussed (west of the crash site). From the room where you can find the 3D Printer inside, keep following the corridor and look left towards a bright light.

There will be a hallway with a double door. You’ll need to use the VIP Keycard to get inside. There will be a gym inside but make your way through that and past a room full of saunas. Head up a bunch of stairs and into the pool room and the nightclub area. You’ll find the Guest Keycard on a table with dead bodies near it.

After you’ve acquired all of the keycards, you’ll be able to access the area that holds the final 3D Printer. Of course, reaching the other locations is totally optional. You can make do with a single location as every location and 3D Printer in them offer the same resources. The only added benefit is that you’ll be close to a 3D printer no matter which part of the map you’re in.

Craftable Items Using The 3D Printer

Getting to the location of the 3D Printer is one thing, but actually using it to create useful items is a whole other thing that is worth the exploration. The main resource that you need while crafting items with the 3D Printer is the Printer Resin.

We’ll discuss how you can get more of it later, but when you initially discover a 3D Printer, it’ll likely have enough inside it for you to craft something. Alternatively, there will be a bit of Printer Resin nearby if the 3D Printer is empty. Regardless of how you acquire the Resin, here’s what you can craft with the 3D Printer. We’ve summarised everything in a table with more information listed below.

Item	Cost (Printer Resin)	Use
Arrow	50ml	As ammo for your bows
Flask	100ml	Used for carrying fresh water with you
Red Mask	150ml	Can alter the way the cannibals behave and react to you
Grappling Hooks	100ml	Used for creating Ziplines with the rope
Tech Mesh	250ml	Material needed to craft the Tech Armor.
Sled	1000ml	It can be used for going downhill

Arrows

The first item that you can craft using the 3D Printer is a bunch of arrows. They’re a vital resource needed to defend yourself from the various enemies that you’ll come across in the game. They’re almost like a basic necessity and act as ammunition for your bow.

Using 50ml of Printer Resin, you can acquire five arrows. That’s a decent amount of arrows, especially if you’re in a tough spot. However, there are many other ways to acquire arrows, so using the 3D Printer for the arrows might not be a great choice. You can acquire arrows using rocks, sticks, and feathers. Two of these resources can be gathered by Kelvin alone. You can also grab arrows as loot which is spread throughout the world as well.

Flask

Water is going to become an essential source for you if you want to maintain your hydration levels. There are many ways to top up your hydration levels, such as drinking directly from a water source, drinking Energy Drinks, using Yarrow Flowers, or storing water in a flask to drink later. As of right now, there is no such thing as a water collector in Sons of the Forest, so using the 3D Printer to make a flask is your closest option to storing water.

You can only carry one flask at a time, so you’ll likely only need to craft a single water flask for your entire playthrough, as long as you don’t lose it. The flask requires 100ml of Printer Resin, which can be acquired through a single cartridge of Printer Resin. It’ll definitely come in handy while exploring areas far away from any fresh sources of water or during combat in areas like caves.

Red Mask

You might’ve noticed that there are different types of Cannibals in the game. These cannibals might be one of the biggest threats that you have to deal with on a daily basis in the game. They seem to act randomly and lurk around your base, but they actually have a bit of logic and order in the way that they behave.

The cannibals are split into many categories, such as the Blind Cannibals, Regular Cannibals, Brutes, and, more importantly, Masked Cannibals. The Masked Cannibals tend to be treated with more respect, and they seem to be more feared by the other cannibals. And if you acquire a mask, the cannibals in the game will treat you the same.

There are two types of masks in the game one is the Gold Mask and the other is the Red Mask. The Red Mask can be crafted at the 3D Printer by using 150ml Resin. With the mask, you’ll be able to reduce the cannibals’ hostility and, in some cases, even make them fear you.

Grappling Hook

In the game, there will be many areas that might not be accessible without certain tools and weapons. One of those tools is the Rope Gun. It can be used to cross large gaps and get to the other side of them with ease.

In conjunction with the Rope Gun, you can actually use the Grappling Hooks. They can also be combined with a rope to create a Zipline Rope as well. Regardless of how you choose to use the Grappling Hooks, you can acquire them for 150ml Resin at the 3D Printer.

Tech Mesh

It won’t take you long to realize that there are many hostiles on the island that just want to tear you to shreds. If you want to defend yourselves from them, you can use many techniques, such as creating defensive walls or a shelter to keep you protected. But eventually, you’ll need to stop in the wilderness. In those cases, having a strong armor suit will help you remain protected against the many mobs in the game.

One such armor set is known as the Tech Armor. It is quite useful in defending you from enemies, and the materials needed to craft it are readily available. But one vital resource that you need for the creation of the Tech Armor is the Tech Mesh, which can only be acquired through the 3D Printer. With just 250ml Resin, you’ll be able to get Tech Mesh and use it for your armor.

Sled

The prequel to Sons of the Forest, The Forest, also had a sled. Players could use it to get down from large heights and even carry logs downhill on the Sled. Although you cannot use the Sled in Sons of the Forest to carry logs, you can still use it to get down from large heights, especially the snowy mountaintops surrounding the crash-landing site in the middle of the island. You can also use the Sled to go down rivers as well.

The Sled is the most expensive item that you can craft using the 3D Printer. It costs 1000ml Resin. That might seem like a lot, but many of the printers start off with 850ml Resin; you just need 150ml more. So, if you just find a new 3D printer and carry a few cartridges to it, you should be able to craft the Sled with ease.

How To Get More Printer Resin

Like with every aspect of the game, if you want to acquire something, you’ll need adequate materials needed. For the case of the 3D Printer, you’ll need something known as the “Printer Resin,” which essentially acts like the ink for a regular printer.

As long as you have Printer Resin, you’ll be able to craft whatever you want. As soon as you’re out, you’ll need to go out and find more. But it is worth mentioning that even though you can find Printer Resin in the open world, it is a finite material, so you need to be mindful of how you use it. Despite that limitation, there’s usually more than enough Printer Resin in the game that you’ll never truly feel as if you’re running extremely low on it.

In The Location Of The Printers

One method of acquiring Printer Resin is to explore the areas where you find a 3D printer. They tend to have a huge amount of Resin just lying around on the ground, on tables, or shelves. Considering that there are four different 3D Printer locations, if you combine the Printer Resin that you can get from all of them, you’ll likely have enough to last you for a long time.

Points Of Interest

However, if the Printer Resin found near the printers is not enough, then there is a secondary option. By using your GPS, you’ll be able to spot glowing green circles. These tend to highlight areas of interest. Some of these areas appear to be more modern and futuristic compared to others. If you stumble upon such a location, then make sure you thoroughly look around, as you’ll likely be able to find a good amount of Printer Resin here.

Co-Op Method

If you’re playing in Co-Op, there is a method to multiply the amount of Printer Resin by the number of players. Each player gets the same amount of reserves of Printer Resin in their 3D Printer. That means that if you were only getting around 250 ml Printer Resin on your own, but there are two of you playing, then both of you will get 250 ml, making it a total of 500 ml Printer Resin between the both of you.

You’ll need to consider the fact that if there are more players, more resources will be needed to go around for everyone. However, if you’re smart with what you create and how you share each resource, you’ll have enough Printer Resin to create much of what you need. Just be careful not to blow up the 3D Printer while using it too much.

Respawning Method

If for some reason, you’re running out of Printer Resin despite the discussed methods, then there is a sort of cheese method that can help you get more of it. To understand the method, you first need to understand the basic workings of how items respawn in the game. Each time you reload into the world, items will be respawned at their original locations. The feature is included to ensure that you’re never missing out on useful items or running out of resources. But it can also be used to get an almost infinite amount of Printer Resin.

The setup requires you first to find a location that has Printer Resin in it. It can be any of the locations that we discussed earlier; locations of 3D Printers or Points of Interest. Once there, set up a shelter or some sort of save point around the general location.

From here onwards, all you need to do is to acquire the Printer Resin from the location, go back, respawn, and then go inside again to get the Printer Resin again. Rinse and repeat until you have a sufficient amount. And if you ever run out of Printer Resin again, you can reuse the method next to any other location.

That is essentially the basic gist of acquiring the 3D Printer. Of course, there are many other things for you to uncover in the game. You can also try to speedrun the game using our described methods. Or you can get the magnum to help defend yourself from multiple enemies. Alternatively, you can learn about the best axe in Sons of the Forest, such as the firefighter axe. 

Next:

• Sons Of The Forest All Endings & How To Get
• How To Stop Sons of The Forest Crashing
• Sons Of The Forest: How To Find Pistol & Attachments
• Sons Of Forest Turtle Shells: How To Get & Uses