Eliminate tooling costs and lead-times for housings and covers, from prototyping to bridge production and mass customization. Deliver end-use product performance and aesthetics with 3D printing materials that offer advanced mechanical properties and long-term environmental stability.
100%
reduction in tooling
10x
faster product development
Up to 8
years tested environmental parts stability

Blur the Line Between Prototyping and Pre-Series Production

Technological innovations create new opportunities to deliver unique consumer experiences, yet they can also present daunting engineering challenges for quality, accuracy, and lead-time.

Our 3D printing solutions eliminate tooling costs and lead-times for housings and covers, and deliver end-use parts with the desired quality, accuracy, and mechanical properties. Our consultants can help you in the entire process, from application development and optimizing part performance, to streamlining your prototyping to production workflows, making them faster and more efficient. 

Virtual Reality Headset - Housings and Covers

Solving Housings and Covers Challenges with 3D Printing

  • 3D printed joystick control shroud

  • Rapid Order Fulfillment

    With 3D Systems’ solutions capable of 3D printing prototypes in less than 24 hours, OEMs can optimize their workflow to reduce the time between design iterations, enabling rapid order fulfillment and faster time-to-market. By eliminating the need for tooling, our additive manufacturing solutions reduce the duration of this process from weeks to hours, helping to save costs and improve quality. Further, in-house production guarantees part delivery for a streamlined supply chain.

  • 3D printed housing for true-to-life, fully functional assembled prototype

  • End-Use Performance

    Accuracy, precision, and mechanical properties are critical factors for end-use components and product validation. Truly functional 3D printed prototypes enable faster real-world product development and validation to take place before costly investments in production tooling. These realistic prototypes can replicate the final production product, in appearance and function, including mechanical characteristics, quality, performance, and optimized ergonomics. 

  • Mini LED flashlight prototype assembly with exceptional text quality, texture, sharp edges, and snap fits

  • Aesthetic Finishing

    Materials come in a range of colors from opaque blacks and whites to clear, and print with exceptional surface quality, similar to injection molding. 3D textures can also be digitally added to minimize downstream finishing requirements and accurately represent end-use parts. Materials are compatible with plating or painting for premium aesthetics.

  • 3D printed parts on a tray

  • Operational Productivity

    Our end-to-end additive manufacturing solutions are designed to deliver industry-leading quality, reliability, and productivity to keep your operation running efficiently for high-volume production of prototypes, bridge manufacturing, and mass customization. Maximized uptime, reduced labor enabled by downstream compatibility with automation, and minimized waste contribute to a lower cost per part and high manufacturing yield.

  • 3D printed ear plugs with exceptional surface finish for ideal fit and comfort

  • Mass Customization

    Designing and building customized components like housings and covers is part of creating next-generation consumer technology products. Tailoring these to the consumer can be costly with conventional methods. We facilitate mass-customization by giving engineers precise control over each component, to create a unique customer experience, with the capability to scale.

Customer Stories
Node-Audio Evolves Hi-Fi Sound with 3D Printed Speakers
UK-based company produces bespoke loudspeakers using selective laser sintering for more accurate, higher quality sound....
Read more
VAULT Supercharges Pre-Production with 3D Systems’ SLA
Speed, accuracy, and material selection of 3D Systems ProJet® 7000 HD makes SLA integral to pre-production process, from prototyping to packaging. ...
Read more
Figure 4® 3D Printer adds Precision and Productivity for Swedish Design Agency, Splitvision
The Stockholm-based product design agency, Splitvision Design, is among the first Nordic companies to invest in 3D Systems’ Figure 4® Standalone 3...
Read more

3D Printing Solutions that Accelerate Innovation

  • Complete Solutions Portfolio

    Our hardware, software, materials, post-processing, and manufacturing operating system (MOS) solutions offer unprecedented speed, quality, design flexibility, economics, and product reliability. 3D Systems offers the largest suite of additive manufacturing solutions for small to extra-large housings and covers, consistently delivering exceptional smooth surface finish, accuracy, fine detail resolution and repeatability in a user-friendly end-to-end process. 

  • Production-Grade Materials

    Our 3D printing materials address the widest variety of applications and performance characteristics in additive manufacturing to offer a range of features that are critical to prototyping and production for consumer technology products. Our broad portfolio of materials for housings and covers extends from selective laser sintering production plastics, like PA 12, to true production-grade photopolymers with long-term stability, biocompatibility, flame retardance, chemical and thermal resistance, electrostatic discharge (ESD) properties, and more.

  • Application Development

    Through our Application Innovation Group, we leverage years of consumer technology and additive manufacturing expertise to help you solve your most difficult design and production challenges with optimized 3D printing solutions. We provide you with application support, from advanced concept development to bridge production and mass customization.

  • World-Class Service Support

    From installation to hands-on training and consulting support, 3D Systems’ experts enable you to quickly and effectively ramp up your operation. To maximize your uptime and keep your fleet running efficiently, our world-class service organization is equipped to meet your business needs with on-call experts, field engineering services, preventive maintenance programs, and optimized equipment for high serviceability.

Learn More About our Solutions for Housings and Covers

Resources

  • a hand with tech graphics emerging with a strong glow

    3D Printing for Consumer Technology

    Discover how 3D Systems’ additive manufacturing solutions can empower consumer technology manufacturers to accelerate innovation and increase product performance.

    Get the Brochure
  • A row of 3D Printers from 3D Systems

    3D Printers Buyer's Guide

    Download your copy of the 3D printing buyer’s guide today to discover the best 3D printing technology for you.

    Get the Buyer's Guide
  • An assortment of 3D printed parts made from different materials

    Materials Buyer's Guide

    An overview of the 3D printing materials landscape. You’ll uncover a wide array of plastic materials, which deliver a vast range of characteristics such as flexibility to bio-compatibility and more, ensuring you have a material suited to your specific application’s requirements.

    Get the Buyer's Guide

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More Consumer Technology Applications

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Wearable Components

  • Application Innovation Group

    Our team can help you solve your most difficult design and production challenges with additive manufacturing solutions. Together we’ll identify your needs, working with you to optimize your designs, prototype, validate and define a manufacturing flow.
    Find out more