Badgemaster has produced a new reusable name badge for a high street retailer thanks to a rapid upscale in manufacture with Photocentric’s LCD 3D printing technology. The British-based badge manufacturer had produced a reusable name badge design, featuring a plastic (High Impact Polystyrene) injection moulded back component, which was originally to be tooled and manufactured by a moulding company. The lead time requested by the customer – to tie in with a major rebrand launch – did not allow time to have new tooling manufactured, leaving the new product in limbo. Photocentric was able to step in to supercharge manufacture and produce the required 30,000 components with its own printing farm of LC Magna 3D LCD printers within just three weeks.
“The original design concept for our badge product had been put on hold during the pandemic,” says Ian Bradbeer, managing director, Badgemaster. “Our customer then renewed its interest once the situation eased. However, the short lead time meant that tooling was impossible. As a proud ‘Made in Britain UK manufacturer’ ourselves, we were keen to look at Photocentric as another innovative UK manufacturer to provide a solution for us. Photocentric were responsive to Badgemaster’s requirements and were able to meet the volume requirements in a particularly short lead time.”
Badgemaster Managing Director Ian Bradbeer approached Photocentric to determine whether it could manufacture the name badge component to be able to satisfy its own customer’s demand on a very tight time schedule.
After successfully conducting product trials to determine whether the component could be manufactured using this process, Badgemaster placed an order for 30,000 components to be delivered to them over a three-week period. The component was manufactured using Photocentric’s 3D polymers on its LC Magna 3D printers in Peterborough. Whilst the components were more expensive than the equivalent injection moulded component, they were available at what was deemed to be a commercially acceptable premium (a factor of 2.5) and without the need to lay down an expensive injection mould tool.
Remember, you can post job opportunities in the AM Industry on 3D ADEPT Media free of charge or look for a job via our job board. Make sure to follow us on our social networks and subscribe to our weekly newsletter: Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn & Instagram ! If you want to be featured in the next issue of our digital magazine or if you hear a story that needs to be heard, make sure you send it to contact@3dadept.com