Kiln 1.1.8 is a big release, and it points somewhere new: AI agents that can run real production, not just hobby prints. Two things your agent could never do before this release: tell you whether a printed part survives the real world (fuel, chemicals, sunlight, weather), and pick the glue that will actually hold two parts together, with the prep and cure times read from the manufacturer’s own sheet. Around them sit the tools a real shop needs: import a material from its datasheet, lock design changes behind required reviews, and generate factory-floor work instructions in seven languages. And the everyday wins stay free: Kiln now stops a print that physically can’t succeed before it wastes filament, and a new page lets you check your printer is supported in seconds.

Will this part survive gasoline? Vinegar? A summer in the sun?

Printed parts live rough lives: fuel cans, cleaning caddies, garden fixtures. Kiln now answers for the exact liquid or exposure you have in mind, and it’s honest that a printed part takes chemicals harder than solid plastic does. The warnings are always free: if it’s a bad idea, Kiln says so. The go-aheads are paid: everyday exposures (cleaners, oils, sunlight, weather) are Kiln Business, and the answers someone could get hurt by (fuels, automotive fluids, food contact, harsh chemicals) are Enterprise.

The right glue, and how to use it (Kiln Pro)

Joining two printed parts with “some superglue” is how joints fail. Upgrade to Pro tier or higher and Kiln recommends the right adhesive for your two plastics, with the surface prep and the full cure schedule (working time, clamp time, full cure), every number cited to the manufacturer’s own datasheet. It’s honest about the hard-to-bond plastics and the primer they need, and your assembly instructions name the specific glue instead of a vague “use adhesive.” Log how a joint held up and Kiln learns: glues that actually hold float up the ranking, clearly marked as field experience, never replacing the cited specs. Everyone on the free tier still gets the safety warnings and a pointer to the right tool.

Bring your own materials (Business)

Got a filament Kiln doesn’t know? Import the manufacturer’s datasheet and Kiln turns it into a material it can design with, right alongside the built-in catalog. Every value is checked against the sheet itself: anything the sheet doesn’t say stays unknown rather than guessed. Materials you import work across your whole account, not just the machine you imported them on.

Design changes your team can actually govern (Business)

Put an approval gate on a protected design and a change can’t merge until the required people have reviewed it. Your own approval doesn’t count, an open “request changes” holds the line, and the rule covers every way a design can move, so review can’t be sidestepped. Enterprise adds two more: require a specific reviewer for a specific part of a design (the structural engineer on anything load-bearing), and releases signed by a named, authorized person, for regulated design records.

Factory instructions that travel (Enterprise)

Enterprise assembly instructions can now generate as controlled, shop-floor work instructions: a procurable parts list, per-step torque and pass/fail checks, sign-offs before the steps you can’t undo. New in 1.1.8, they generate end to end in English, German, French, Spanish, Italian, Chinese, or Japanese, so a line anywhere in the world builds the same kit from the same source in its own language. Tell Kiln what went wrong on a build (a stripped screw, a joint that let go) and the next guide for that design warns you on that exact step. Opt in, and what builders log about joints is pooled anonymously, by joint type and material only, so a guide can flag a joint that’s bitten others and name the fix that held.

Don’t design around a part you can’t buy (Enterprise)

The hardest supply problem to see is the one a year out: the off-the-shelf part your design leans on quietly going out of production. Kiln Enterprise reads the bought parts a design depends on and flags the ones heading end-of-life or down to a single supplier, before you commit to a parts list you won’t be able to buy when you need to build again.

Doomed prints get stopped before they start

Some prints were never going to work: the part is bigger than the printer’s build area (the space it can physically print inside), or the material needs more heat than the printer’s hotend can deliver. Kiln now catches both before any plastic moves, free for everyone. If rotating the part would make it fit, Kiln rotates it. If it isn’t sure, it never blocks you, and there’s a one-command override for when you’re deliberately slicing for a different printer. Upgrade to Pro tier or higher and Kiln goes from “it won’t fit” to “here’s how to make it”: your printer’s true usable area (often a little smaller than the brochure number), the cleanest way to split an oversize part into pieces that fit, and a material to switch to when the one you picked won’t melt.

Check if Kiln supports your printer, instantly

There’s a new Supported Printers page listing every model Kiln ships a tuned profile for: Bambu Lab, Creality, Prusa, Elegoo, Sovol, Voron, AnkerMake, and more, with a live filter so you find your exact machine in seconds. Running something else? Any printer that speaks Klipper, Marlin, Bambu, Prusa Link, or OctoPrint works too, with safe generic settings. This release also adds a tuned profile for the Sovol SV07 Plus and corrects the standard SV07’s build volume.

Deeper know-how for budget printers (Kiln Pro)

The model-specific knowledge Kiln brings to a print (quirks, common failure modes, calibration tips) now runs as deep for budget and mid-range machines as it does for the flagships.

Your agent gets the whole story in one call (Kiln Pro)

Ask your agent about a design and it used to gather the story piece by piece. Part Passport hands it everything at once: versions, materials, assembly manual, print outcomes, releases. Less back-and-forth, faster answers.

Straighter answers about strength

When you ask if a printed part can hold a load, Kiln now says up front that it’s giving you a quick estimate, not a test of your real part, and it names the things you should never trust an estimate for without an engineer: overhead loads, anything a person climbs on, child or vehicle parts. Borderline geometry shows up as a note instead of going quiet. Free flags what’s risky; Kiln Pro tunes the analysis to your printer.

Smaller fixes that add up

A few more: fleet status now shows each printer’s reported nozzle size and material, so you can route abrasive filaments to the right machine. Roll your own rolling tray, with your art on the work surface and your brand or a QR code underneath (Kiln Pro). Before a print that’s meant to touch food, Kiln checks your setup is food-safe and asks you to confirm once if it can’t be sure (Kiln Pro). And cross-organization design moves got stricter about who’s allowed to make them.

Full release notes: CHANGELOG.md.

Upgrading

Already use Kiln? Run pip install --upgrade kiln3d to move to 1.1.8.
On a paid tier? Upgrade to 1.1.8 too, so the chemical, adhesive, and factory features line up.
New here? Run pip install kiln3d, then follow the install guide to connect Kiln to your AI assistant: Claude Desktop, Claude Code, Codex, or any other compatible AI client.

Get Kiln →