3D Printed sporting goods
Azul 3D, a leading 3D printing company, and Wilson Sporting Goods, a renowned sports equipment manufacturer, have collaborated to develop new 3D-printed pickleball paddles. The paddles are designed using Azul 3D’s High Area Rapid Printing (HARP) technology, allowing faster and more efficient 3D printing.
Pickleball is a rapidly growing sport that combines elements of tennis, badminton, and ping-pong. It is played with a paddle and a perforated plastic ball on a court similar to a badminton court. The new 3D-printed paddles developed by Azul 3D and Wilson Sporting Goods are expected to improve the performance of pickleball players.
The HARP technology used to print the paddles is capable of producing high-resolution prints at a rapid pace. This technology enables manufacturing paddles with complex geometries and structures previously impossible to produce using traditional manufacturing methods.
According to Azul 3D CEO Cody Petersen and Bob Thurman, VP of Wilson Labs at Wilson Sporting Goods, “Pickleball is one of the fastest growing sports in America. We were excited to work with Azul 3D to create a better paddle and pickleball experience for our customers. We look forward to bringing this paddle to market. We partner with companies as a full-stack solution, from material selection and design through implementation in their factories. We not only collaborated to make a better pickleball paddle – we were able to rethink how the paddle is designed entirely, thanks to our materials and technology.¨
The new 3D-printed pickleball paddles will be available for purchase from Wilson Sporting Goods. The collaboration between Azul 3D and Wilson Sporting Goods is a significant step forward in developing 3D-printed sports equipment and is expected to pave the way for future innovations in this field.