Overview

Completed Summer 2022

The goal of this project was to design a giveaway item for the additive manufacturing department at General Atomics (GA) that would showcase the capabilities of metal 3D printing. I wanted to create something that would highlight the geometric complexity offered by metal printers but would be more than just a paper weight or desk display. The result is a fully functional ball point twist pen, contained within a titanium shell printed with titanium laser powder bed fusion (LPBF). The design featured a lightweight skeletal structure, but still feels rigid in hand due to the strength of the titanium. It includes the General Atomics logo on the front end of the pen as well as on the bottom face, and fully customizable text on the clip. This allows special guests or GA employees to receive a completely unique example of what the 3D printing can do. The pen is build around an off the shelf core, that allows the pen to move in and out by twisting the back cap. To maximize the print volume both halves of the pen are printed as one piece connect by a small section of breakaway supports at the middle seam. After the parts are separate they are sand blasted and bead tumbled to remove most of the surface roughness from the LPBF printing process. After tumbling the logos and clip text are polished smooth to stand out from the rest of the pen.