Case Study: Eaton achieves stronger, 4x cheaper and 41x faster stanchion adapters with Markforged 3D Printing

Eaton - Customer Case Study

Eaton needed a more durable, faster way to produce a stanchion adapter used in assembly line tooling to press tubes into hard plastic clips. Their jury‑rigged metal and machined polycarbonate adapters repeatedly failed under cyclic bending loads, so Eaton turned to Markforged and its 3D printing/composite tooling capabilities to solve the durability and speed issues.

Markforged supplied a 3D‑printed composite stanchion adapter made from chopped carbon‑fiber nylon reinforced with fiberglass, which withstood the cyclic loads that broke earlier parts and provided a strong locating feature for the clip. The Markforged solution let Eaton move production in‑house and drastically cut lead time and cost — from three weeks to about 12 hours and from $115 to $28 per part (≈97% faster and ≈76% cost savings), enabling much quicker, cheaper, and more durable tooling.

Eaton