Stratasys and nTopology Design Competition: Best 3D Printed Fixture or Tool Design

The Stratasys and nTopology design competition committee is proud to announce the winners of the 2021 Best 3D Printed Fixture or Tool Design Competition.

We received around 40 outstanding design submissions collectively across the professional and student divisions.

The panel of judges for this competition was comprised of executives, designers, mechanical engineers, applications engineers and software engineers from Stratasys and nTopology.

For this challenge, we asked designers and engineers to utilize nTopology software and FDM 3d printing technology to create the most innovative and impactful additively produced jig, fixture, manufacturing aid or tool.

Finalists and winners created fixture or tool designs that were best-in-class in the following categories:

• Innovation
• Business impact
• Use of additive manufacturing to create a fixture or tool that could not have been produced any other way
• Use of additive to replace a traditional method of manufacturing it (cost, time or performance improvements)
• The best utilization of nTopology software

These finalists and winners also provided the most compelling, written narratives, highlighting why additive manufacturing was the superior or only method of fabrication for their designs.

They provided detailed explanations of the impact their additively produced tool had, or is expected to have, on their workflow, product development, production and overall business.

To reward the finalists and winners for their winning designs and narratives, Stratasys and nTopology are pleased to present:

• A free, FDM 3d printed model of the submitted design- any FDM platform-any FDM material for 1^st, 2^nd and 3^rd place (Professional & Student Divisions)
• A Stratasys Direct Manufacturing printing voucher for 1^st, 2^nd and 3^rd place (Professional & Student Divisions)
• Three (3) free canisters of the FDM material of your choice 1^st, 2^nd and 3^rd place (Professional Division)
• A 3-9 month complimentary nToplogy license 1^st, 2^nd and 3^rd place (Professional Division)
• A complimentary nTopology EDU license 1^st, 2^nd and 3^rd place (Student Division)
• A complimentary 1-year subscription to GrabCAD Shop-25 users 1^st, 2^nd and 3^rd place (Professional Division)
• A promotion in the Stratasys newsletter, website and social channels for all finalists (Professional & Student Divisions)
• GrabCAD newsletter and blog promotion on community challenge page for all finalists (Professional & Student Divisions)
• A Visa Gift Card 1^st, 2^nd and 3^rd place (Student Division)
• nTopology swag 1^st, 2^nd and 3^rd place (Professional & Student Divisions)

And the winners are:

Professional Division:

1^st place: Carlos J. Veloso, Linden, NJ

2^nd place: Nik Krueger, Brewer, ME

3^rd place: Austin Brittain , New Britain, CT

Student Division:

1^st place: Abhishek Palani and Adithya Rangarju, Windsor, Ontario, Canada

2^nd place: Lawrence Smith, Boulder, CO

3^rd place: Mingqiu Chen, Charlottesville, VA

Stratasys and nTopology would like to thank all of the participating designers and engineers for the time and hard work they dedicated to creating these designs.

Congratulations on your outstanding achievement!

Sincerely,

Design Competition Committee

For a closer look at all finalists, project submissions, photos and videos, please visit the GrabCAD Challenges:

https://grabcad.com/challenges/best-3d-printed-fixture-tool-design-competition-pro-division

https://grabcad.com/challenges/stratasys-keyshot-packaging-design-competition

Please keep an eye out for details on the next design competition coming soon!