benefits
Hollow Victory
Part weight, a critical factor in aircraft or
automobile parts, is an important detail
of medical parts as well. Patients carry
implants within them, and surgeons need
to manipulate medical implements easily
and comfortably. The medical part seen
here would have been much heavier if the
part had been machined, but the additive
process enabled it to be grown hollow
for weight savings. The part even has
through-holes from the OD to the ID, but the
hollow spaces inside the part's walls are
still airtight. The through-holes were simply
grown into the component as part of the
additive process.
AdditiveManufacturingInsight.com August 2013 — 5