Engineering Design Transforms Ideas into Products and Makes Good Products Great

To create or improve products, engineers rely on a number of proven approaches which include CAD Work, 3D Design, Industrial Design, Technical Analysis, Reverse Engineering, and Technical Documentation.  Learn more about how RapidMade can help.

CAD Work

• 3D print preparation
• 2D to 3D conversions
• Design for manufacturing conversions

3D Design

• Contract design work
• Custom design
• Product design
• Conceptual design
• Proof-of-concept design
• Design for manufacturing

Industrial Design

• Aesthetics
• Use-ability
• Ergonomics
• Anthropometrics
• Research

Technical Analysis

• Stress analysis
• Motor/actuator sizing and selection

Reverse Engineering

• File Conversions
• Existing part to 3D CAD
• 3D scan to parametric CAD model

Technical Documentation

• Manufacturing drawings
• Machine layouts

Training

• User manuals
• On-site installation

Industrial Design Debuts at RapidMade

Stag Concept Sketch

The popularity of Industrial Design, also known as Product Design, has accelerated due, in part, to a new wave of designers and advances in technology, materials, processes, and capabilities which has dramatically improved the design options available to clients. Working closely with Engineers, Industrial Designers are trained on function, aesthetics, ergonomics, anthropometrics, and manufacturing processes to provide you with the best “working” concepts from sketches, to renderings, to CAD models that create your final product.

RapidMade recently expanded its capabilities by including Industrial Design into our Product Design Process. In doing so, this lets us help our clients move from product conceptualization to launch much faster and more efficiently with better end results.

3D CAD Model of Stag

When clients first come to RapidMade, sometimes they have a complete design ready to be made, but often they only have an idea of what they want. Introducing our new Industrial Design capabilities is a critical step toward helping the customers make their vision a reality. 
Once a client completes a Quick Quote, we will arrange a meeting with our team of engineers and designers to discuss your concept. Our Industrial Designer then works with you to create multiple rough 2D sketches for the conceptual form that evolves into a final realistic 2D rendering (that you may keep). When you choose a final form, we add additional aesthetics. These can be anything from color, to contour lines, or personal brands and logos to get your finalized look. Our engineers then take this design you and our Industrial Designer created and make a CAD model with your specific dimensions, which is used to 3D print a prototype. We work with you on any additional iterations and source the final manufacturing for you. 
 

Final Stag 3D Print

3D Printing Makes Custom Solder-Free Circuit Boards Cleaner and Easier

It is now easy to make your own custom solder-free circuit boards through 3D printing. An independent creator on DIY website Instructables has 3D printed its own personally designed circuit board. The circuit board was created in CAD, printed, and its trace channels lined with conductive material. Once built, this circuit board does not require solder to establish working electrical connections, an easier and cleaner way of building your own circuit boards. This is perfect for hobbyists but also indicative of the many custom applications 3D printing can have in technology development. Read the article for more details on how to build your own custom circuit board.

RapidMade Expands Services Offered

3D Printing, Manufacturing and Engineering

RapidMade's services now include:

Product Design and Engineering

• Simple static part design to fully automated mechanical and electrical equipment
• Design for prototyping and manufacture
• In-house prototyping capabilities for faster iterations and overnight customer feedback
• 2D and 3D drawings, tolerance and other manufacturing specifications, technology transfer and patent application documentation, equipment manuals, FDA and other compliance as well as other specialized engineering work

Rapid Prototyping

• 3D printing, quick-turn machining, traditional metal and plastic forming, short-run castings
• Thermoset and thermoplastic manufacturing, hard and soft metals, composites available
• Full-color concept models, functional prototypes, assembly and embedded electronics
• Quotes generally in under 24 hours, parts in days

Contract Manufacturing

• Production quantities ranging from one to tens of thousands
• A multitude of available manufacturing processes 
• Expertise in selecting the right manufacturing process for you
• Personalized attention to detail and top quality customer service
• Tooling and part library for easy re-orders

3D Scanning and Reverse Engineering

• Extremely high accuracy 3D digitization of parts as a reproducible STL file
• Available reverse engineering to create fully defined parametric files and 2D dimensioned drawings
• Inspection of manufactured goods to identify deviation from the original design
• Full-color scans also available

Industrial Pattern and Toolmaking

• Highly accurate tools in days, not months - at a lower cost
• Patterns and tools available for all standard manufacturing processes: Injection molding, urethane casting, sand and investment casting, sheet metal stamping, plastic forming and much more
• Additional finishing capabilities available

Displays, Exhibits and Promotions

• Full color 3D printing can be done as quickly as under 24 hours
• Print directly from renderings in CAD or BIM modeling software
• Great for architecture, store display and marketing customers
• Very fine feature detail and beautiful aesthetic quality

Finishing and Coating

• A wide range of finish options including paint, powder coat, plating, media blast, tumbling and much more
• Clear coat and dyed plastic available for cost effective finishing of prototypes and manufactured goods

Use RapidMade to Rapidly Make Industrial Patterns and Tools

Epoxy and Silicone Molds are popular

RapidMade Advantages:

• Reduce Cost
• Decrease Lead Times
• Keep Intellectual Property in the US
• One Stop Shop for Design, Tooling and MFG
• Unprecedented Ease and Design Freedom

Types of Available Tooling and Parts:

Epoxy and Silicone Molds

• Tooling in days, not months
• Reduces investment costs for short run production
• Lower material costs than 3D Printing
• Reusable tooling allows for many castings
• Many available casting materials, including but not limited to:  Urethane, epoxy, polyester, medical and food grade resins, plaster, and many other resins and composite materials

Injection Molds and Inserts

• Injection mold tooling in days to weeks, not months
• Very inexpensive part cost
• Tool life from 10k+ unit from prototype tooling to hundreds of thousands of units from production tooling
• Top quality aesthetic finish and mechanical properties compared to other Rapid Prototype technologies

Sand Casting Patterns

• Least expensive way to fabricate quantities of small to large metal parts
• Typical materials are aluminum, bronze, zinc and steel
• Tooling can be produced in less than 1 - 2 weeks and cost a fraction of traditional methods
• Capable suppliers of core boxes, follow boards, gates and risers and other necessary sand cast tooling
• Unit production in days, not weeks

Investment Cast Patterns, Molds and Waxes

• Highest quality of finish of all casting methods
• Typical materials include aluminum, bronze and steel
• Available tooling includes: master patterns, silicone rubber molds, and wax burnout patterns
• Can direct print one-off or small batches of direct burnout patterns without investing wax tooling

Vacuum and Thermoform Tooling

• Heavy gauge production plastics available like ABS, Polyethylene, Polystyrene and Polycarbonate
• Light gauge packaging plastics available like PET and Polystyrene
• Can form parts up to 12 feet long
• Prototype tooling available in as little as a couple of days
• Production tooling is good for over 100,000 forms and is porous for highest part quality

Carbon Fiber, Fiberglass and Other Composite Tools

• Decrease tooling and mold lead time compared to traditional methods
• Increase complexity of design without increasing cost
• Soluble cores available for hollow parts
• Waxed finishes available for easy de-molding
• Save money on prototype and production tools

Sheet Metal Stamping and Forming Tools

• Very low cost tooling for small batches of sheet metal parts
• Male and female tooling available for traditional two die stamping as well as single die hydro-forming
• Tools delivered in a fraction of the time compared to traditional methods
• Inexpensive and durable composite tooling available as castings from pattern

Robotic Arm End Effectors

• Custom tooling that fits any part with complex internal geometries like vacuum channels
• Reduce weight, inertia and material waste during fabrication
• Simplified designs are easier to engineer, manufacture and assemble - cutting down on cost and time for tooling fabrication
• Improve tool life by cutting down on breakable components

Molded Paper Pulp Packaging Tools

• Get high accuracy tooling for a fraction of the cost of machined tools
• Prototype tooling can also be used as permanent tooling good for thousands or even tens of thousands of molds
• Tools can be turned around in days instead of weeks
• Tools can be used as patterns to make tooling for multiple lines or facillities

Custom Jigs, Clamps, Fixtures and Other Tooling

• Most miscellaneous tooling can be fabricated rapidly and for less cost using additive manufacturing
• Use existing CAD data for the part to design mating tooling
• Quickly test for geometric conformity or hold parts for post operations or inspection

Get a Quick Quote today.

"CROWD COW" Project "Udder" Fun for RapidMade

Adam McGee's sons, Nicolas and Damon "ham" it up with Crowdcow

RapidMade recently participated in Portland's 3D Printing Meetup group project, "Crowd Cow" which was unveiled last week at the Urban Farmer restaurant in the Nines hotel.  

“Their latest “why not” project is half a life-sized cow, made of 99 pieces printed on 14 separate 3D printers representing 700 hours of printing. It’s in collaboration with Urban Farmer restaurant, who will add an interactive, multimedia component and display the cow in their front window, showcasing the different anatomy of the various meat cuts (Stephanie Yao Long, Oregonian Live).”

The Crowdcow is a vivid example of 3D printing's ability to convey educational concepts in a concrete, understandable way that utilizes more of our senses.  It allows one to literally capture his or her imagination.  Many firms have asked RapidMade to help them educate clients, patients and students with hand-held replicas of body parts, industrial equipment and commercial products.   The life-sized cow?  That was "utterly" fun .

"

UC Berkeley Powder Prints "Bloom"

Photo Credit: 3DPrint.com

Universities erecting new buildings have become commonplace these days, but UC Berkeley's recent installation of the "first and largest powder-based 3D printed cement structure built to date" made history.

Under the direction of Associate Professor Ronald Rael, graduate students used 11 3D Systems printers, spending more than a year to individually print and assemble 840 "iron oxide-free Portland cement polymer" blocks.  One cool construction feature:  the assembly instructions were printed onto the blocks.  Once completed, the Bloom pavilion towered 9 feet and measured 12 feet by 12 feet.

The structure's design is both functional and aesthetic, yet its formulation may be most noteworthy.  Dr. Rael, with support from the Siam Research and Innovation Co. Ltd., developed the printable cement compound.

“While there are a handful of people currently experimenting with printing 3-D architecture, only a few are looking at 3-D printing with cement-based materials, and all are extruding wet cement through a nozzle to produce rough panels,” Rael said. “We are mixing polymers with cement and fibers to produce very strong, lightweight, high-resolution parts on readily available equipment; it’s a very precise, yet frugal technique. This project is the genesis of a realistic, marketable process with the potential to transform the way we think about building a structure”

Although the resulting structure may be beautiful, durable and lightweight, the production speed doesn't appear to compete with other cement-based printing methods such as the 10 Chinese printed units manufactured by Win Sun which were erected in a single day.

“.”

3D Printing "Silences" Dissention

Soundproofing 3D Print (3Dprint.com)

At RapidMade, there's nothing we enjoy more than designing and printing a creative solution to solve a client's challenge.  So we like to follow stories that describe how 3D printing has improved someone's quality of life...

Noise in multi-unit dwellings is an ongoing source of annoyance.  My daughter and her college suite mates are currently battling their RA about allegations that they make too much noise when they walk.  While an extreme example, most of us can easily think of at least one time when traveling sound created neighborly conflict.

At least one researcher, Foteini Setaki, believes the answer relies on 3D printing custom 

"sound absorbers...  based on a principle called passive destructive interference or PDI. It’s the intimate relationship between geometry and acoustic performance that makes PDI absorbers work, and she uses advanced additive manufacturing techniques to build unique, freeform geometries to test and understand the acoustics underlying the performance of various materials and shapes."

Through these trials, Setaki hopes to apply the lessons learned to engineer sound absorbing barriers that are tailored to specific spaces such as lecture halls and gymnasiums.

Unfortunately, the timing won't solve my daughter's dilemma... maybe a cheap carpet will have to suffice.

Digital Life Goes Live with Microsoft's HoloLens

During its recent Windows 10 Conference, Microsoft showcased its HoloLens prototype.  According to one attendee, PC Magazine's Dan Costa, 

“HoloLens is (an) augmented-reality headset that allows you to mix the virtual world with the real world. Put on the headset and the glass screen can project a digital overlay on top of the physical world. It can be as simple as a Skype window or as complex as a 3D model of a jet engine.”

While I think the technology is phenomenal, HoloLens' ability to create 3D models using its companion 3D modeling program, HoloStudio, excites me the most. Costa witnessed a Microsoft engineer create a koala equipped with a rocket pack.  And I mean witnessed; he could actually watch what the designer was seeing - and creating - on HDTVs stationed nearby.  Reportedly, the engineer "walked around the hologram, grabbing tools from a holographic control panel, and then used a combination of voice and gestures to build and shape the koala."  

And it didn't stop there... dozens of 3D prints designed using HoloStudio and then manufactured on a 3D printer were on display.

Other product capabilities include interactive holographic gaming and Skype - which allowed the other party to see and interface with what the caller was viewing - imagine Technical Support walking, not talking, you through a fix.  The press corp even got a bonus "out-of-this world" experience when the HoloLens 'transported' them to Mars - where they were able to roam the landscape accompanied by a virtual tour guide.

Imagine the possibilities.  Design could be truly interactive and collaborate.  And dare I say possible for even the less tech savvy among us.  

RapidMade Helps Bring Spider Dress to Life

Video Credit: Vimeo.com

At my age, I'm well past needing to fend off unwanted advances - especially using high-tech fashion - but there have been times when the revolutionary Spider Dress would have let me better navigate congested streets.  For the past few months, RapidMade has been helping the creative geniuses responsible for the Spider Dress bring it to life... 

Dutch designer Anouk Wipprecht envisioned a creation that would rely on embedded sensors to respond to its owner and her surroundings to provoke a defensive response from the 3D printed dress.  It can detect one's stress levels as well as the proximity and approaching speed of others from as far away as 22 feet.

"'I was keen on re-creating communicative aspects of animal behavior,' Wipprecht tells Co.Design in an email. To do this, she created a garment that reflexively defends itself: If you enter the wearer’s personal space aggressively, the dress attacks. Animatronic arachnid limbs attached to its shoulders lash out at intruders. But if you approach calmly and slowly, these limbs might beckon you forward. 'It almost dances with you,' Wipprecht says."

It has been a thrill for RapidMade to play a role in this project which has included:

"Austrian engineer and roboticist Daniel Schatzmayr. This past winter, she worked with technology company Intel to upgrade the design, using their new microcomputer, Intel Edison. It was test-printed in collaboration with 3-D printing companies Materialise and Autodesk, and the final product was manufactured with Rapid Made, a local 3-D printing company in Oregon. 'They helped me create a perfect white-pearl finish, which I was never able to reach on my prior designs,' Wipprecht says (the prototype was in black). Now, the dress is entirely 3-D printed and mechatronic, with extra-sensitive proximity and stress sensors."

This isn't Wipprecht's first 3D printing venture.  Check out other projects: 

• the Intimacy dress, which becomes transparent when electrified
• the Smoke dress, which emits clouds of smoke
• the DareDroid 2.0, which "makes fresh cocktails for its wearer."
• a dress that can produce 500,000 volts of electricity.  Fortunately, a built-in Faraday cage, protects the wearer from being electrocuted. 

The Spider Dress will debut at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas from January 6 to January 9, 2015, where it is being showcased for Intel.

RapidMade is Moving October 1!

Our new home is just across the street from the PSU Business Accelerator at 2828 SW Kelly

After three years at the PSU Business Accelerator, RapidMade is moving on October 1 into a larger space across the street:  2828 SW Kelly Avenue, Suite B.  The 1744 square foot facility includes three offices and a conference room in the front and a large production area in the back which will house our 3D printers, post-processing equipment and additive manufacturing operations.  While we loved working at the Accelerator, our business growth and the industrial nature of our work made staying there difficult...  We've learned that carpets and 3D printers are NOT a good combination. 

Our improved manufacturing floor plan will allow us to better manage our 3D printing, product design, rapid prototyping, reverse engineering, pattern and tool making, finishing and coating, and traditional manufacturing services.  And equally important, we now have the room to add staff as needed.

Ironically, the only things changing in our address are the street name and suite number.  Our old address - 2828 SW Corbett Avenue Suite 121 will now be 2828 SW Kelly Avenue Suite B.

Our suite is the single-story section of the building that is closest to SW Corbett Avenue and our former office

Will 3D Printing Replace or Augment Craftsmanship?

Grand Concourse Restaurant:  Photo Credit:  Muer.com

In my hometown of Pittsburgh, there is a beautiful restaurant, the Grand Concourse in Station Square.  It is the site of the former Pittsburgh and Lake Erie Railroad Station.  My grandfather was a cabinet maker for the railroad, and my grandmother once told me, years later, that one of his accomplishments was the refurbishment of its ornate ceiling.  A section of the elaborate crown molding, made of marble I believe, had been destroyed.  My grandfather created a replica out of wood which was such a close match, one couldn't pick out the faux molding.  I imagine the hours of labor that went into this important project and wonder how my grandfather would have reacted to our now being able to quickly scan the molding and print a copy overnight.

Many believe that the craftsmanship of that generation has largely been lost, replaced by mass produced materials.  But perhaps 3D printing will spur a high-tech revival.  Access to 3D scanning and additive manufacturing technologies already allow us to re-create artifacts that have been lost to time.   RapidMade often gets requests to replicate facades and other architectural features.  We once printed replacement stove handles for an antique oven.  And now, digital designs and additive manufacturing enable artisans to imagine and create exotic and unique objects that would have been difficult, if not impossible, to be made in my grandfather's time.

Additive Manufacturing Featured at Manufacturing Leadership Council

Image Credit:  Francis Batonti

This past Thursday, I attended the Manufacturing Leadership Summit in Palm Beach as a guest. Additive Manufacturing was often described as a disruptive technology; hopefully the executives in attendance fully appreciated how they might leverage 3D printing in their own businesses.  

A high point for me was when Francis Bitonti, Principal and Founder, Francis Bitonti Studio, gave an intriguing presentation on his evolutionary - maybe revolutionary is a better description - journey from architect to product designer.  His bio read,

"Re-defining the visual and formal language of design, Francis Bitonti Studio uses a blend of computer-driven techniques and cutting-edge manufacturing technologies to realize what has been called 'alien' objects and spaces."  

His observation that computer-created algorithms can drive complex designs led to his using 3D modeling and printing: first to create a bike rack prototype for NYC - he did not get the job despite it being an elegant design because it would cost $50,000 to make - to more recently creating and printing wearable fashions.  He later explained his decision to promote the use of PLA as a material because it was compostable, allowing artists to express themselves in a more sustainable, if transient, way.  His success and exposure have prompted him to hold computational design workshops for other fashion designers interested in using the medium to create, share and make their 3D printed clothes.

The audience was clearly impressed with his accomplishments (as they should have been), but it left me wondering if people made the connection between these examples and manufacturing.  I especially felt this way later when hearing some award winners speak... at least a few would have benefited from adopting Additive Manufacturing techniques in their product design, prototyping and low-volume production projects.  I guess we'll know we're mainstream when that is standard operating procedure and no longer noteworthy. 

RapidMade to Print 3D Prosthetic Hand

The Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council's Hi Tech Hand (http://phys.org/news/2013-10-future-d.html#nRlv)

In the field of 3D printing, medical advances have arguably received the most press, with good reason - 3D printed prosthesis are changing lives.  The London Science Museum is now featuring an exhibition that highlights one great example, a 3D prosthetic arm designed and manufactured by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council's Centre for Innovative Manufacturing in Additive Manufacturing.  This prototype features "customised prosthetics with electronic moving parts and nerve endings, created by the research group at the University of Nottingham."

Unfortunately, the cost of high tech prosthesis like this is a serious drawback , especially when children are involved.  Kids need a medical device that won't cost an ar - well you know  the expression - their changing bodies require a less expensive alternative that can be replaced as needed to accommodate growth.

Version of McCarthy's Robo Hand RapidMade is Evaluating (http://laughingsquid.com/dad-makes-a-low-cost-3d-printed-prosthetic-hand-for-his-son/)

RapidMade is very excited to be partnering with a 13-year-old Oregonian who has a congenital amputation to customize, print and fit an inexpensive hand for him to evaluate.  Alex and his mom, Lori, visited us earlier in April to discuss the project and provide his measurements. 3D printing will allow us to size the prosthetic to match his hand instead of a "one size fits all" device. David, our engineer, has already begun printing parts and assessing design features. RapidMade hopes to make plastic prosthetic hands out of ABS plastic using fused deposition modelling (FDM) and Nylon using Selective Laser sintering (SLS) in order to better meet patients' specific needs for price and quality.   

We are grateful to Paul McCarthy who designed and shared the original version we are evaluating.  He and other designers have made their work available for free through open sourcing to drive down costs.  As 3D users already know, it is often the product design phase that is the most costly and time consuming, so to have a ready-to-print CAD file is an enormous benefit.

If this trial is successful, we hope to become part of a network that provides low-cost prosthesis to others who are similarly challenged.  Stay tuned for updates on our progress...

Hemmerling and Ulrich's 3D Printed Chair Debuts in Milan

Design Boom recently featured the work of German Designers Marco Hemmerling and Ulrich Nether. The pair used 3D printing to create their Generico Chair which is currently on display in Milan.  Instead of simply designing an elegant piece of furniture, additive manufacturing techniques allowed them to optimize both product function and production efficiency by evaluating structural, ergonomic and manufacturing requirements:

"following an iterative design strategy, a material layout calculation resulted in reducing parts of the volume, while still enabling the necessary stiffness, comfort and functional requirements to be met. a 3D computer model was reviewed using FEM-software, to measure deformation and stresses before all the findings were integrated into a final 3D model."

Normally, projects require one to compromise on scope, time or cost yet using additive manufacturing for product development and low-volume production approach allows designers to accelerate development, improve quality, and decrease costs.  

Eight Common Rapid Prototyping Mistakes

The good folks at Malco Design created this fantastic white paper about the common pitfalls people experience when making rapid prototypes. The eight examples are really important to understand so that expectations and decision making can result in an optimal prototype tailored to the customer's needs. They are:

1. Poor communication/coordination between designer and prototyper - There are many variables that effect the final part strength, features and dimensions, like overall part size, process used or build orientation. It is very important that the prototyper make clear where uncertainty can occur and how to minimize it and just as important that the customer make clear the critical requirements of the prototype.

2. Overestimating users' knowledge of rapid prototyping - Many services bureaus are receptacles for uploading files and producing them in order to cut down on labor. In those instances it is incumbent upon the customer to know all the rules of rapid prototyping, may of which change over the course of months as new technologies and materials are developed. Prototypers need to keep designers informed and designers need to be vigilant to fill in their own gaps in knowledge.

3. Belief that anything can be built as a rapid prototype - There is a lot of hype in the industry that rapid prototyping can build anything and solve any design issue. Vary large parts are often not suited for the process and unless doing rapid machining, same goes for tight tolerances. Sometimes when experiences don't line up with expectations, customers are wary to use the technologies again.

4. Expecting prototypes to be perfect the first time - My favorite by far! If prototypes were always perfect, you wouldn't need them and you would instantly cut your $50,000 mold. Never forget that prototyping is an iterative process and some design flaws cannot be discovered until one tests the physical prototype in front of them.

5. Using wrong materials or processes - SLA or Polyjet photopolymers degrade in UV light over time, making them not great for production parts, SLS can have rough surface texture and feature definition, Z Prints are brittle and FDM has great variance in strength between its layers. Each of these processes has innate benefits as well. Selecting the correct material and technology is essential to getting the prototype right the first time.

6. Selecting a vendor whose capabilities don't match your needs - Some vendors are fast. Some are knowledgable. Some focus on good customer service while others focus on bargain basement pricing. Research the company with whom you plan to do business. All prototypers are differentiated to work with a specific customer niche and you should make sure you are the customer that fits their capabilities and strengths.

7. Ignoring the value of prototyping - Time is money and many companies are willing to put the extra cash down to get the product right the first time and as fast as possible. Tooling up a factory for mass production is a lengthy and expensive process. The later an error is discovered, the more costly it is and the longer it takes to solve. This could be devastating for companies trying to maintain their margins or release products when consumers actually buy them (think electronics at Christmas or pool toys in the summer.)

8. Building more than is necessary - Many times designers try to make an entire assembly without being sure that each individual component works correctly first. It can save a great deal of cost and time if the components are individually created, and then, once proven, used to build a larger, more complete device.

3D Printed Casts

The technique is antiquated and could use a little something of a shake up thanks to new technology.

Setting castings in plaster is centuries old and has a variety of uncomfortable problems. Scanning and imaging of the body are common place in the medical field in order to diagnose injuries and illnesses, but the ability to create prosthesis and custom fixtures directly from those scans is brand spanking new, from printed bones and teeth implants to entire artificial limbs. The parts either fit to the contours of your body or are exact replicas of the body part which they replace. 

This technique now produces a superior cast taken directly from a 3D scan of the broken body part and 3D prints a cast from the digital negative. The cast is designed with snap fits which enclose the arm, keeping it from moving, but making it accessible to air and hands. Much more comfortble.

Just another simple example where the medical field can benefit from applying new technologies (additive manufacturing/3D printing) to ones that are already pervasive in the medical field (3D scanning and imaging.)

Additive Manufacturing in Aerospace

A stainless steel bracket optimized for weight reduction (front) and the traditional cast bracket in the back.

Additive manufacturing (AM) has long been the holy grail of Aerospace OEMs like Boeing and Airbus. Where typically the costs of metal laser sintering can be prohibitive to mass producing parts, in the aerospace industry volumes are low enough and the design optimizations can easily pay for themselves in fuel and material savings. 

EADS Innovation Works recently released a study that says implementing additive manufacturing into planes and other aircraft could reduce material use up to 75% and fuel consumption up to 40%. 

Let's set aside the obvious environmental benefits for a moment. In an industry that is a slave to fuel costs and customers who always buy the lowest sticker price ticket off aggregator websites, airlines tend to get squeezed when it comes to making their margins.

Cutting just one pound of weight out of an aircraft can save over $10,000 in fuel costs every year. Not only do AM parts cut out that 75% of the material by only using structure where it is absolutely necessary, but light weight, high cost metals like titanium are now available where they were traditionally cost prohibitive, further lightening the load.

Machining titanium parts from billet generally causes up to 90% material waste versus virtually no waste from making the parts additively. Couple that with needing less material in the part design as a whole and scores of components that used to be made from stainless steel or aluminum can now be made from the valuable metal.

This is why we now hear engineers and executives dreaming about the development of printers that are large enough to manufacture entire wings. They see the value in a future where aircraft are created entirely from printed components. 

Maybe the additional payload provided by these technologies will eventually even eliminate the need for bag fees. Unlikely, but one can dream!