World Ardbeg 3D Printed Trophies
Malcolm Nicholls Limited (MNL) utilised our 3D Printing technologies and low-volume manufacturing to produce 40 3D printed trophies.
World Ardbeg Day Gold Trophies
World Ardbeg Day Gold Trophies
Ardbeg contacted Malcolm Nicholls Ltd to produce a small volume of trophies, Ardberg is a premium brand of single malt Scottish Whisky. Ardberg wanted to produce a marketing exercise called Ardbeg Day which was created to coincide with the start of the Football World Cup in Brazil.
The Ardbeggian take on the football world cup consisted of many national competitions of “Peat Football” across the globe. Peat football is essentially normal football played in a peat bog, not on a standard grass pitch – very muddy but great fun. The winning team in each country raised the Ardbeg Trophy aloft in celebration.
The bespoke trophy itself was loosely themed around the World Cup being played for in Brazil this summer. Our client wanted the Ardbeg Trophies to stand 300mm tall and weigh in at approx. 1.5Kg they wanted the trophy to have a lustrous finish.
The Process
The bespoke trophies were 3D printed using Hi Resolution Stereolithography (SLA), our highly skilled model makers hand-finished each trophy to a perfect gloss finish creating a high-end bespoke trophy for Ardbeg. These trophies were then used as a pattern for Silicone tooling, then vacuum cast in polyurethane resin, subsequently, each trophy had metalized chrome and then dipped in gold tinted lacquer. The lustrous finish, a trademark of MNL’s quality, was essential to getting the best out of the metalizing process.
Our client had 40 trophies manufactured for Ardbeg competitions worldwide. Malcolm Nicholls Ltd specialises in low-volume production methods and works alongside many businesses manufacturing small and large quantities of bespoke or custom-made trophies, we can produce one-off trophies and awards or produce a master pattern of your bespoke trophy into a silicone tool to vacuum cast and produce larger quantities of your bespoke trophy saving our clients time and money.
Why Use Low Volume Production / Low Volume Manufacturing?
With the growing demand for Low Volume Production also known as low volume manufacturing and small batch production Malcolm Nicholls Ltd can produce 1 – 1000’s of parts.
If you’re looking for a one-off bespoke top-quality part such as a trophy, or you require 1000’s customised parts such as widgets, we have the solutions to suit your needs.
It is an increasingly popular option as it allows for a smaller investment in tooling and materials while providing fast access to the market. It also acts to bridge the gap between initial prototypes and mass production.
Historically, manufacturing components in low quantities has always been a costly exercise. With the advent of 3D printing and vacuum casting many constraints previously faced can now be significantly reduced. Technologies such as SLS (Stereolithography) and FDM (Fused Deposition Modelling) can now be used (especially for non-seen parts), to produce components in quantities as low as 1s and 2s and up to thousands, but still with exceptional material properties such as flame retardancy and high-heat requirements. Traditional design constraints, usually associated with injection mould tooling for example, can now be ignored enabling designers to be more efficient and reduce part count within assemblies.
Looking to Produce Multiple Parts?
We can produce anything from one to thousands