We were approached by I3 composites to design and print custom bump guards for the capping rail of a sailing boat. The aim was to protect the capping rail from any paint damage caused by the movement of pulley blocks whilst racing.

In some cases, these bump guards were a total length of 600mm (and we were pushing some of our machines to their limits), however with some very clever design work we came up with an idea to split these longer parts into sections, print some drilling jigs, and then bond the parts to join them.

We used an ASA polymer for these (known as a strong, impact resistant and UV resistant), a great polymer for most exterior components which are exposed to the harsh elements, and so particularly good for use on the Super Yachts.