Case Study: Leading Commercial Products Manufacturer achieves 98% cost savings and 85–95% faster prototyping of carbon-fiber tool handles with Stratasys

How engineers used FDM polymer additive manufacturing due to its design freedom and prototyping capabilities

Leading Commercial Products Manufacturer faced a challenge prototyping the handle for a new hand-held tool: the design needed proper balance and comfort but traditional options — a $12,500 casting mold or machining from aluminum — were slow, costly and constrained by manufacturability. To overcome these limits the company worked with Stratasys and its FDM® polymer additive manufacturing approach to explore more design freedom and faster iteration.

Stratasys printed 10 different prototype handles using ABS‑CF10 (ABS with 10% chopped carbon fiber), producing parts 50% stiffer than standard ABS. The 3D‑printed prototypes cost $200 in material versus a $12,500 mold (a 98% cost savings), and the first printed handle took 12 hours versus 1–3 weeks for machining or tooling (85–95% time savings), enabling rapid, low‑cost design validation.