Australian Institute Of Sport (Ben Weekes)

The Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) designs and fabricates high-performance equipment for elite athletes in world-class competitions. Markforged 3D printers give AIS the tools it needs to manufacture custom one-off components with the properties that elite athletes require: high strength, durability, and minimal weight. The Institute was looking for a 3D printer to create parts onsite. Bringing 3D printing in-house increases design freedom and iteration cycles and also protects AIS’s intellectual property.

Tennis pro Ben Weekes competes in a wheelchair and requires custom one-off knee pads for maximum stability. In addition to fitting them specifically for Ben, AIS needed the pads to endure Olympic-level stress over prolonged periods of time — and keep them as lightweight as possible for performance, maneuverability, and comfort. Markforged-printed Onyx, reinforced with continuous carbon fiber filament, provided the necessary strength-to-weight ratio, giving Ben the ability to use his pads in training and competition for over 8 months without issue.