Case Study: Turret Lathe Specialists Inc. achieves rapid, low-cost prototyping and slashes manifold cost from $2,000 to $117 with Markforged

Driving Prices Down with the Markforged Industrial Strength 3D Printer

Turret Lathe Specialists Inc., a 40+-year machine shop that handles one-off prototypes and short production runs, faced rising pressure to shorten lead times and avoid interrupting larger jobs to produce single parts. To address this, Quality Manager Daniel Shepherd selected Markforged’s desktop industrial-strength 3D printers (Mark One/Mark Two) to deliver metal-strength, fiber-reinforced polymer parts and templates on the shop floor.

Using the Markforged printer and fiber-reinforced nylon (nylon with Kevlar/carbon fiber) Turret Lathe prototyped and iterated quickly, producing accurate templates and fit parts overnight. The result: a manifold manufacturing cost dropped from about $2,000 to $117, typical Markforged part material cost $63.85 and 60 hours versus $3,101.91 and 72–120 hours for machined aluminum, and the printer paid for itself in less than three prototypes—Markforged thus improved throughput, cut costs, and eliminated interruptions to the machine shop.

Turret Lathe Specialists Inc.

Daniel Shepherd

Quality Manager