Osprey was born in California 1974 at the seat of a single sewing machine, with a head full of ideas and a desire to design & build innovative backpacks to the highest quality. Today, Osprey products continue that pioneering spirit, being used on the highest mountains to the remotest islands and everywhere in between.
The company came to me with two objectives they wanted to explore. The first objective was to understand what 3D printers could produce flexible lattice structures at volume. This included both the 3D printing process and materials available at the time. The main criteria required was repeatability and production speed whilst also manufacturing parts which are durable enough for the end application. After reviewing the capabilities on the market at the time, I concluded that Carbon 3D’s Continuous Light Interface Production technology was the most suitable solution for the company’s requirements.
The second objective was to understand which 3D modelling software could produce complex lattices structures to be produced using the additive manufacturing technology selected in objective 1. At the time the options for creating lattice structures were limited to only a handful of software packages. A major factor driving this objective was the time to market, the company had a tight deadline they wanted to meet which was ultimately disrupted by COVID 19. At the time, the company needed to produce multiple lattice structure configurations for testing, this could be done either internally or externally. Due to the technology selected in objective 1 and the time to market requirements, I concluded that Carbon 3D’s Design software and services would be the most suitable solution.
