Robotics and automation

Why this sector suits printed parts

You can buy the robot, the gripper body and the controller. What you cannot buy is the part that touches your product, because it has to match a shape only you handle.

That leaves every integrator making one-offs: jaw faces shaped to a specific component, a mount that puts a camera exactly where the vision system needs it, a fixture that holds a part still while the robot works on it, a guard that fits around a cell nobody has built before. These are low-quantity, application-specific, and frequently revised — which is the profile printing handles better than any other process.

They are also usually needed now. A cell that is commissioned and waiting on jaws is an expensive thing to have standing still.

What gets made

• Gripper jaws and fingertips shaped to the part being handled, including soft faces in flexible TPU where the product must not be marked. See cobot gripper jaws and EOAT for the detail.
• End-of-arm tooling — multi-part pickup heads, vacuum cup mounts, tool adaptors and changers.
• Sensor, camera and light mounts, where the position matters more than the part does and adjustment usually happens on site.
• Cell fixtures and nests that hold a part in a known position so the robot can find it repeatably.
• Cable management, covers and light guards — the parts nobody budgets for and every cell needs.
• Spacers, adaptors and shims that reconcile two components never designed to bolt together.

How a job usually runs

First article, then the rest. One is printed and tried on the actual robot with the actual product, because a jaw that grips reliably in CAD is a different thing from one that grips reliably at speed with a part that arrives slightly rotated. What is learned goes back into the model, and only then is a set printed.

Send the part being handled if you can, or a good scan or drawing of it. The geometry of the product decides the jaw, so it is the single most useful thing to provide. Also say what the cycle time is and how the part presents itself — those change the design more than most people expect.

Reorders are straightforward: the model is kept and versioned, so a replacement set is a print rather than a new job. Jaws are consumable by nature, and this is a good thing to have arranged before a set wears out rather than after.

Where printed tooling earns its place

Light and moderate payloads at cobot speeds are the sweet spot, and it covers most of what a collaborative cell actually handles. Printed tooling is lighter than machined aluminium, which leaves more of the robot's rated payload for the product instead of the gripper.

Jaw faces are consumable by design. A printed face wears where an expensive product would otherwise be marked, and reprints from a kept model on a day's notice. For a soft face protecting a finished surface, that is the arrangement you want rather than a compromise.

Flexible TPU faces grip without marking, which is why they turn up on food packaging, finished metal, painted parts and anything cosmetic.

Every job gets an assessment of the payload, the cycle rate and the environment before anything is printed. Where a cell runs high-speed, high-payload, hot, or the part forms any safety function — a guard in a risk assessment, an interlock, a light-curtain mount — we say so at the quote and point you to the right route. Hearing that at the enquiry rather than at a commissioning audit is the difference a specialist supplier makes.

Who this suits

Integrators, machine builders, automation engineers and manufacturers running their own cells. The pattern that works best is a first article, then a set, then reorders as they wear — and it is welcome as an ongoing arrangement rather than a queue of separate jobs.

Frequently asked questions

Do you make jaws for Robotiq, OnRobot and Universal Robots?

Yes — those are the platforms most commonly asked about. What matters more than the brand is the mounting interface and the part being handled, so send the details of both. The dedicated cobot grippers page covers the design considerations in more depth.

Can you work from the part we are handling rather than a drawing?

That is usually the better way. The product geometry drives the jaw, so the physical part, a scan or good photographs with measurements all work. Tell us how the part presents itself and what the cycle time is, because both change the design.

How fast can we get a first article?

Quoting is normally same-day and a first article is typically quick, because it is one part rather than a set. Where a cell is commissioned and waiting, say so at the enquiry and priority scheduling can often be arranged.

Can printed tooling handle a production duty cycle?

For light and moderate payloads at cobot speeds, yes — with jaw faces treated as consumable and reprinted from a kept model, which is usually what you want anyway. Send the payload, the cycle rate and the environment, and you will get a clear recommendation, including where a set is better machined.

Do we get the model?

Yes, where you have paid for the design. That matters in automation, where a cell may be recommissioned years later by somebody else. See the file policy on the about page.