3D Printing is Cool.

3D printing is no longer a new thing, but it's still cool. Invented nearly fifty years ago, when the patents for FDM printing ran out in 2009 a gold rush began. At this point you've probably seen a 3D printer in person or on YouTube... and if you haven't, well you should probably get out more ;)

Despite the growing popularity 3D printing is just starting to get a foothold into traditional product development, production processes and final products.

The most common type of 3D printing is FDM, (Fused Deposition Modeling) essentially the melting of plastic one thin layer at a time to build up a three dimensional shape, something like, let's say, a Sandal :)

This approach to producing 3D objects has traditionally been used mostly for prototyping, form finding and parts that don't require much strength or durability. However, nowadays, with the improvement printers and materials it's possible to create end use parts, like shoes, or fully custom fit cleats ;)

We'll be going over the unique approach required to make end use 3D printable parts, and some of the best resources on the internet for keeping up to date on the latest news, strategies and hardware available to the public. Stick around and I'm sure you'll learn something!

But why 3D print at all? Well we'll tell you.

The Advantages:

Mass Customization

With many production capable machines under the $1,000 mark, creating a factory capable of generating a high volume of custom designed parts is now possible. 

On-demand Production

The world of business is evolving at a rapid pace. Planning inventory years in advance is now a outdated business model. 3D printing allows for zero inventory business models that only produce parts and products when they are needed. Not only a more efficient business practice this also reduces waste by eliminating left over inventory that doesn't manage to get sold. 

Constant Design Improvements

By avoiding expensive molds 3D printing production allows for nimble design changes learned through the process of customer feedback. Instead of a fixed design that might cost millions to change, 3D printable designs can be modified as soon as an insight is made. 

Low Up Front Costs

The low barrier to entry opens up a range of small businesses to become local manufacturers and allows medium size businesses to grow at a stable and organic pace. Since adding production capacity is as simple as adding some more printers, there is much less capital intensive requirements needed to start a business or grow a business.

Unique design capabilities

3D printing allows for the creating of certain features that are entirely impossible with traditional injection molding techniques. Cavities and lattice structures within the part itself can make more efficient, strong and lightweight parts. 

Challenges of 3D Printing

Despite all the advantages, 3D printing does have some challenges when it comes to manufacturing at scale or for custom end-use products.

Price

The price per part is always going to be more than injection molding, even if the upfront costs are significantly less. There are also unique design challenges with 3D printing which necessitate a different approach and smart design decisions.

Overhangs

When designing for 3D printing production you have to consider overhangs. Any surface of the part that doesn't have support underneath it. Overhangs aren't a problem with injection molding, but they are arguably the biggest constraint when it comes to 3D printing. Support material must be used and can leave blemishes on the finished part and can end up as a waste product.

Layer Orientation

Next is layer orientation. When you 3D print something there is always going to be one axis of weakness, the axis that cuts across the layer lines. Because of this its important to optimize the orientation of your part so that the layer lines don't intersect functionally important or geometrically weak areas. 

Material limitations

Not all materials available to injection molding manufacturers are available for 3D printing. Material that is 3D printed must be designed specifically for the method of melting or fusing that creates consistent high strength parts.

Speed

Injection molding can take as little as a few seconds to produce a new part. Of course there's a huge up front cost to make the molds and have the required machinery to run injection molding, but once you have that all setup the cost per part is insanely low. 3D printing doesn't have that benefit, and can often take hours to print a simple part.

The 3D printing Experts:

Although we've figured out a lot on our own, we have to give a shoutout to these channels below for greatly improving our 3D printing knowledge. They all have unique perspectives so make sure to give them each a look.

Our favorite channel when it comes techniques for designing 3D printed parts for end use has to be Slant 3D , founded by Gabe Bentz and located in Idaho, this fast growing youtube channel focuses on how to 3D printing is changing the whole manufacturing landscape along with tips and tricks for making your parts better for 3D printing. Highly recommend!

Next is CNC Kitchen, also know as Stefan Hermann, who has been providing extremely detailed testing data and in depth videos to the 3D printing community for years. His scientific approach and self-made testing devices provide the public with invaluable knowledge on things like ideal printing temperatures, most durable materials and much more.

Made with Layers - Thomas Sanladerer arguably the oldest head in the game. His videos have mostly focused on product reviews of the most cutting edge hobbyist printers on the market, however his content has major depth and breadth. He's done videos filament testing, filament reliability, 3D printing safety and way more. Definitely check him out.

And last but not least we've got Shop Nation & Print Farm Academy  Founded by Travis Lathrop these two channels offer an in depth look into how to use 3D printing to start a business. His channel has done in depth videos on the most cost efficient prints on the market, and how to properly setup a print farm. He's got a great presentation style too, so even if you don't plan on starting a print farm he's worth checking out.

3D printing Giants Meet

A special moment occurred when Gabe Bentz, Slant 3D founder hosted Shop Nation Founder Travis Lathrop on his podcast:

https://youtu.be/yuCfKXjH86o?si=nZUUmJ7tBdBQ73mb&t=1175

One of our favorite points made during this podcast was how 3D printing enabled Shop Nation to take more responsibility of their products. When they receive feedback from their customers on how the products could be better they can easily modify the design filed in order to create a better product, whereas with injection molding once a design is set for mass production it's virtually unheard of for the manufacturer to make changes because of the cost of creating aluminum molds.

Oh and I nearly forgot Thomas and Stefan also have their own podcast!

https://www.youtube.com/@TheMeltzone

Which flows us to our next section, our favorite printers and filament suppliers.

Best Printer Companies

Bambu Labs the current king of the print farm machine category. Their printers have proven to be the fastest and most reliable. Here's some proof by ShopNation. 

Prusa3D Although recently dethroned by BambuLabs, Prusa was one of the first to do it. They had a long run of providing one of the most reliable production printers on the market the MK1-4, with super easy setup and reliable first layers, including some parts printed in their own print farm. Still relevant because of their revolutionary multimaterial printer, the Prusa XL.

Elegoo probably the cheapest printers for the print volume you're going to find. These guys are reliable and cheap but don't have as good of quality on the parts as some of the other manufacturers.

Best Filament Suppliers.

CoexFlex the only US manufacturer on our list, they have a wide variety of standard and specialty filaments, with some especially flexible TPUs that are wonderful for stretch and durability!

ColorFabb - A dutch manufacturere with some state of the art foaming materials as well as unique recycled filaments these guys are one of the bright stars in terms of new material development.

Recreus - Another European supplier based out of Spain recreus is perhaps the most footwear specific brand on the market with a variety of TPU shore hardnesses and foaming materials they have have a major impact on opening up the footwear world to 3D printed components. 

Overture TPU - The only Chinese manufacturer to make our list. These guys make super high quality filament for bargain prices. 

Conclusion

Hopefully this article helped you understand the current 3D printing landscape. Now you should understand how Prevolve Footwear is redefining the custom fit footwear world due to this revolutionary technology and who are the major players.

Offering fully custom fit, fully 3D printed footwear (except the laces) Prevolve Footwear is taking advantage of the accelerated Product Development times, the capacity for mass customization, the optimization of unique design structures, on-demand manufacturing and low up front costs to revolutionize the athletic footwear world!