Zortrax
The 3D printed pistol grips Celine Goberville will use at the Tokyo Olympics.
Zortrax’s 3D printing and surface finishing technology has been used to produce a custom pistol grip for Olympian silver medallist Celine Goberville ahead of the Tokyo Olympics.
Goberville is to compete in the 10m air pistol shooting event and has turned to 3D printing to ensure the pistol grip was optimised for her personal requirements. Athletics 3D, a French firm specialising in custom sports equipment for professional athletes, utilised the Zortrax M300 Dual 3D printing system and the Zortrax Apoller vapour-smoothing device for this project.
Prior to competing in Tokyo, Goberville trained with various iterations of the grip on the shooting range and also used it at the European Shooting Championships in Croatia where she won a bronze medal. This represented the last opportunity for changes to be made to the design, with Goberville requesting the surface to be made smoother.
Zortrax
Left, grip prior to smoothing and right, grip after smoothing.
“In shooting sports, there are top-level athletes who prefer the grip rough. This way, they told me, they could hold it firmly with no worries about the weapon slipping away from their hands,” explained Clement Jacquelin, founder and CEO of Athletics 3D. “Celine, however, is different. She wants the grip to be as smooth as possible. So, the changes we made to the grip after the championship went in that direction – we were working to make it as smooth as possible. And to achieve this, we used Zortrax Apoller SVS post-post-processing device.”
First, the grip was manually sanded with sand paper, and then it was put through the Zortrax Apoller. Utilising Smart Vapor Smoothing technology, the Apoller circulates MEK or acetone vapours around its sealed smoothing chamber to remove the visible layering of 3D printed parts and ensure a smoother object. This process takes up to three hours, but once complete, the grip is ready to use. Athletics 3D has supplied Goberville with two identical 3D printed grips – one to be used in the competition and one to serve as a spare – with no further design changes to be made before the Olympics.
“We have the final design nailed,” Jacquelin said. “At this point, Celine needs to familiarise herself with the grip, train with it as much as she could and feel at ease with using it. She says she’s perfectly happy with our work. Further design changes will be considered after the Olympics. For now, we are happy with what we have done and aiming for Olympic gold.”
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