By Tracey Nicholls

3D printing is rarely out of the news these days and its potential for new personalised products is only just being realised.

To show how easily 3D printing can be used to rapidly make personalised products, our scientists have printed a custom-designed ergonomic pen using titanium.

How did they do it? Advances in 3D scanning technology allowed them to take detailed scans of a finger grip impression of a plasticine mould on a pen tip. This was then converted to a CAD file and printed overnight using our Arcam 3D printer. Total production time from concept to finished product was two days!

The result? A pen that fits like a glove. Check it out:

View the transcript or read more about our research in titanium technologies.