Indian Springs Manufacturing Company, Inc has a long history of helping businesses move forward through design and manufacturing. Based in Baldwinsville, NY, Indian Springs is a contract manufacturing company specializing in CNC machining and manufacturing. For more than 60 years, Indian Springs has provided precision, high-quality machined parts to a wide variety of customers throughout the Syracuse and central/western New York region.
In addition to contract manufacturing, Indian Springs also manufactures and distributes several successful products including hazardous material (hazmat) containment kits and patented air cleaner kits found on many Harley Davidson motorcycles and choppers. Both sides of the business require the ability to quickly produce high-quality models for testing form, fit and function of the parts it produces, whether it is a redesigned component for Indian Spring’s Jet Scream air cleaner kit or a replacement part for a client in manufacturing.
"We tried working with an outside service bureau once, but it was just too expensive," said Shawn Ferguson, president of Indian Springs. "Our other immediate option was to create models with our manufacturing machines, but again this cost us too much time and money. We need those manufacturing machines working on production, not design, to maintain a steady flow of income. We would have to wait weeks for gaps in our production schedule to find time to create models."
The Dimension Solution
Indian Springs investigated 3D printers, liked what they saw and were waiting for the price to come down. "We looked around at a number of different brands and were impressed with Dimension," said Ferguson. "When uPrintTM came out, we jumped at it because we liked the size, speed, model quality and especially the lower price point. uPrint was the perfect fit for a shop of this size."
Designed for the desktop, uPrint requires only a 25 x 26 in. footprint and features an 8 x 6 x 6 in. build envelope. Using Dimension’s proven FDM technology, uPrint prints models in ABS, an industry-proven thermoplastic, making it ideal for testing the form, fit and function of models and prototypes. uPrint also features a soluble support removal system, allowing for hands-free removal of the model support material.
King of Beers Benefits From uPrint
Shortly after Indian Springs installed uPrint, Anheuser-Busch called and required an emergency repair on a component they needed for a timing system used in applying labels to bottles. Originally Anheuser-Busch requested the part be made out of aluminum. Since the part was not structural and the tolerances were well within the scope of the uPrint, Indian Springs suggested that the part be printed with uPrint in ABS plastic. "We saved Anheuser-Busch nearly 70 percent in production costs alone, and even more importantly, we delivered the part in just 72 hours," said Ferguson. "This would have taken us at least two to three weeks had we produced the part in aluminum."
Anheuser-Busch as thrilled with the results and Indian Springs will continue to use uPrint for such contract manufacturing projects wherever they can. Going forward, Ferguson expects uPrint to play an even larger role on the product development side of the business. "We've already seen huge savings in the prototyping we've done on a new backing plate for our Jet Scream air cleaner. We couldn't be happier with uPrint's performance thus far."