Where is the future of 3D printed product design headed and why? Niche and pricy markets like arrow fletchers may see the soonest market disruption. A good arrow fletcher holds feathers accurately and securely in place while glue dries. This fletcher was printed and delivered at the market price of current ones.
A helical twist in the feathers create arrows with better stability in flight, but helical fletchers are generally more difficult to manufacture, leading to very few that can fletch 3 feathers simultaneously. Instead of designing products with simple extrusions and assemblies of stamped parts, this fletcher asks where forces are actually needed, and how they can be satisfied with the least.
Depending on an archer's handedness and set up, different twists are required. Instead of buying the only fletcher that meets your requirements, you can select “18.5 Degree Twist, Clockwise Rotation, 12lb Glue Pressure, Style 2”,through a customizer such as OpenSCAD and click “print”.
23 springs, yet only four parts. By understanding the elasticity of the material, we can create products which clamp and stretch and bend in predictable ways without adding more parts to assemble. Freedom from draft angle or such other constrictions allows these shortcuts to be used more freely than they have been in the past.
To use:
- An arrow nock is snapped into the base
- Squeezing the arms allows feathers to slide in, glue is applied
- The arms click into the base and are folded up
- The arms snap - with audible satisfaction - onto any diameter of aluminum arrow
- The feathers are now secure, and the glue is left to dry
