We recently spoke with Peter Harris, Director of Engineering at US-SPINE, about their purchase of a ProJet™ HD3000. US-SPINE, located in Boca Raton, FL, manufactures spinal implants and surgical instruments for surgeons that are used in patients who suffer from various ailments like degenerative disc disease, trauma and scoliosis.
In Peter's words: "Typically during a project life cycle, we would manufacture prototype parts and evaluate these in cadaver labs with surgeons. With the new ProJet™ 3D Printer, we were able to build plastic prototype, uses these parts for evaluation and move the project straight on to production. This saved us about 8 weeks in time plus thousands of dollars in savings. The great thing about the plastic parts is that they are fully functional parts (movable) and they really give one a realistic ‘prototype’ of the implant and instrument. Overall, we are very impressed with our investment and feel that it has paid for itself in the short time we have had it."
If you're interested in learning more about the ProJet™, please visit https://www.3dsystems.com/products/3dprinting/projet/index.asp.