LIND Art & Technology utilized 3D printing to bring its innovative product to market quickly and cost-effectively. The result was high-quality, finished parts ready for assembly.
The benefits collaboration has brought to LIND Art & Technology:
✔️ Quick time-to-market for the product thanks to an agile manufacturing process for parts.
✔️ Cost-effective manufacturing of parts.
✔️ High-quality, finished parts that are ready for assembly.
Based in Sweden and the United States, Lind Art & Technology manufactures modular, battery-powered surfboards that redefine the realities of surfing: these boards allow you to surf wherever there is water, delivering the closest possible experience to surfing without waves.
In the surfboard manufacturing process as well, LIND adopted modern, faster methods. Several components for the board’s chargers have been manufactured using 3D printing, in collaboration with 3D Formtech.
“With 3D printing, we were able to obtain parts quickly without mold investment and with good surface quality. We chose 3D Formtech as our partner because they offered a good combination of quality, lead time, and price,” explains Carl Broomé from LIND.
3D printing enabled the efficient production of high-quality parts
An alternative, traditional method for manufacturing small batches of this type would have been, for example, vacuum casting. However, 3D printing proved superior due to its lower costs and rapid process, while still maintaining the required level of quality.
“Investing in molds wouldn’t have been justified at such an early stage of production. Thanks to 3D printing, we were able to present our product in a very good way, without a large up-front investment,” says Broomé.
Charger components were 3D printed using polyamide PA12 as the printing material. It is suitable for a wide range of applications and highly resistant to mechanical stress. The top priority in printing the parts was surface quality, which is why the optimal printing settings were carefully considered for each component.
Finally, the parts were post-processed by dyeing them black and applying a micro-coating developed by 3D Formtech. The coating provides the finished product with complete protection against water and dirt, as well as excellent resistance to chemicals and UV radiation.
Several components for LIND chargers were produced cost-effectively using 3D printing. Thanks to black dyeing and micro-coating, they had a finished look and were ready for assembly.
Broomé says he is satisfied with both the end result of the 3D printing and 3D Formtech’s service.
“We received good-looking, high-quality parts for our product, and working with 3D Formtech has been very good and easy.”