3D Printed Protective Covers and Tools
The Problem(s)
In working for Pursuit Aerospace, one of the problems I was asked to solve is that many parts would be damaged in process and be written off entirely due to the strict quality standards necessitated by the aerospace industry. This meant that small nicks or dents could total a part costing tens of thousands of dollars. The proposed solution was to design and produce protective covers that would prevent some of the most common failure modes while the parts were in progress.
I was also asked to assist in creating jigs that increase the efficiency of the various operators to streamline repetitive tasks. To do this, I took inspiration from the imperfect solutions they had already come up with. I then made them more ergonomically friendly and reproducible at a larger scale and removed the dependency on a single original by digitizing it.
The Solution
Outcome
I created various covers for different parts resulting in a decrease in the in-process failures. These covers were printed out of TPU for its flexibility which allowed an easy (and satisfying) snap on fit. TPU's soft protective texture kept both the machine operators and the valuable parts safe. I also produced 3D printing profiles and a detailed guide on the production of these pieces to ensure that they remained useful after my departure.
I also created tools for improving efficiency at various points in the process like templates for marking parts or caps that prevent hardware from falling into hard to reach crevices. Creating templates was accomplished by taking the existing handmade templates used by the operators and digitizing then 3D printing them with improved consistency and ergonomics. These were printed out of PLA for its consistent rigidity.