What do you get when you combine a set of broken goggles with sentimental value, a designer with a knack for replication, and a 3D Printer? The Coolest 3D Printed Thing of the Week, 3D Printed Nylon Goggle Strap Loops, of course!

When one of Erick Wolf’s good friends came to him asking for a 3D Printed favor he couldn’t say no. He needed Airwolf 3D to revive an old friend, a set of discontinued diving goggles with great sentimental value. So, we told him no problem, creating unique parts on an Airwolf 3D is easy, its trying to resist the urge to buy an Airwolf 3D Printer that’s the hard part.

We started by assessing the damage and disassembling goggles so we could begin our reconstructive magic. They required a new set of strap loops but, we didn’t want to build them out of a material that would break the way the originals did. Luckily, we just so happen to have access to a machine that uses 3D Printed Nylon, enter the HDx.

Once apart, we redesigned the strap loops to be made with 3D Printed Nylon on the HDx. Nylon is a great material with high strength, great chemical resistance, and an all around knack for being awesome. High strength was key for this project, we didn’t want to make the same goggles, we wanted to make better, stronger goggles. The high temperature capabilities of the HDx made it possible for us to create this week’s Coolest 3D Printed Thing of the Week.   After the initial design and a couple test parts, we printed out the final set in 27 minutes. That’s right, we 3D Printed Nylon parts that haven’t existed for years in less time than it takes the delivery boy to get me a cold pizza. Now thats service! For the final touch, we dropped the parts in a cup of Rit dye and 15 seconds later you couldn’t tell the difference. As you can see, 3D printing has revived projects once thought impossible and repaired keepsakes once thought lost.

By the way, did you know that you can also dye TPU?