2015 Hockey World League Champions Win Trophies 3D Printed by 3DPRINTUK

Both the Australian Men’s and Argentinian Women’s hockey teams were Hockey World League champions this year. (Argentina’s team won on home soil after beating New Zealand, 5-1, in the finals.) What was even more exciting for them is that the teams received something different than the usual trophies this year. The International Hockey Federation (FIH) decided to have this year’s trophies 3D printed, and so 3DPRINTUK was asked to do the honors. The FIH wanted to move away from traditional-style trophy designs and so they chose to work with Managing Director Nick Allen and his team at 3DPRINTUK. The result is a modern and original looking design featuring plastic and walnut coiled layers, surrounded by gold colored wings, all on a walnut base.

Allen described the project as one of the most rewarding experiences that they’ve had at 3DPRINTUK. The project reportedly tested all of the team’s skill sets, “from concept design to finishing,” and it also had the team seeking outside support as well. Allen explained how working on the project helped his team refine its services:

“This project was full of lessons. Having been offering finishing and CAD in covert mode for the last year, we really wanted to push what we could do so that when we launched the services officially earlier this month we’d have some cracking case studies to show what we can do rather than just launching with no track record. We learnt our limits with what we can achieve and in what time frames we could achieve them in so we can then use this knowledge to give customers a more accurate detail of the costs and time frames needed for a project like this.”

By looking at the photographs here, you can see that the trophy design is rather elaborate, which accounts for all of the lessons 3DPRINTUK learned in the design and production process. The trophies were designed by 3DPRINTUK’s CAD team, and the wings were 3D printed using PA2200 Nylon on an EOS SLS machines. Next, the trophies were primed and sanded so they could have a smooth finish, and the rich gold color comes from chrome spray. The trophies’ bases are made from walnut, so they were milled on by Russell Scientific Instruments. Finally, Lasercut London cut the acrylic and walnut plectrum layers.

The International Hockey Federation, and the players who won the trophies, were very pleased and excited about the finished product. FIH Events manager, Sandra Harik, addressed how unique the new design is compared to past trophies:

“The players loved it (the trophy) and were proud. Thanks to 3DPRINTUK for creating these Trophies and putting all the effort to deliver a special and unique product. They are so different to what we had produced before and they were appreciated by all hockey stakeholders.”

Now we just have to wait and see if the International Hockey Federation plans to use 3D design and printing for its future trophies.  Discuss this story in the 3D Printed Hockey Trophy forum thread on 3DPB.com.