Case Study: NXT Outdoors achieves faster design iterations and reduced installation time with Carbon's SpeedCell™ system

NXT Outdoors Redefines the Product Design Cycle with Carbon

NXT Outdoors faced slow, costly iteration cycles for its DrawLite™ draw-activated sight light because changing injection molds meant high tooling costs and long lead times. The company needed faster, lower-cost ways to iterate mechanical parts, reduce installation time, and broaden compatibility across bow models. To address this, NXT Outdoors adopted Carbon’s SpeedCell™ 3D Manufacturing system and Rigid Polyurethane (RPU) materials to prototype and produce the plastic housing and cap without switching tooling.

Using Carbon, NXT Outdoors completed six design iterations and moved directly from prototype to production parts, printing internal threads and eliminating molding delays. The redesign cut customer installation time from over 20 minutes to under 5, expanded compatibility to essentially every bow (left- and right-handed plus four thread sizes), reduced print time per part from ~56 to ~38 minutes (>25% faster), and cut Smart Part Washer cleaning time from 35 to 6 minutes (>80% faster). Carbon’s solution delivered production-ready parts at a unit price comparable to injection molding while enabling continuous customer-driven improvements.