Weekly 3D‑Printed Highlight: Kevlar‑Reinforced Pliers

Our team dedicates time each week to design and 3D‑print a new part on our industrial printers. This practice deepens our insight into customer needs and fosters a culture of innovation. On Fridays, we host Part of the Week, a showcase where team members present their prints and the group votes on the most impressive design.

Over time we've produced everything from nearly headless Darth Vader replicas to robust ball joints for prosthetics. Most recently, Dan, one of our application engineers, printed a set of Kevlar‑reinforced pliers.

Dan’s objective was to create a lightweight yet highly durable snap‑fit hand tool. He sourced the design from Thingiverse.

The pliers feature a Kevlar “zebra” reinforcement pattern, delivering peak strength across the component while preserving the flexibility required for everyday use.

Eiger’s software offers an automatic reinforcement mode that meets the needs of 80% of our clients. However, some users prefer granular control over fiber placement and the deposition pattern of Mark Two’s continuous strands.

For these pliers, we opted for a concentric fiber layout to maximize torsional resistance. In contrast, isotropic reinforcement can be preferable for other geometries. Eiger empowers users to choose the strategy that best suits their design intent. You can specify the number of fiber rows per layer, remove reinforcement from selected zones, and fine‑tune the build—details illustrated in the image below.

Ready to bring these pliers to life in your own lab?

Download the STL file: Pliers.stl

Curious about Eiger’s capabilities or the Mark Two printer? Request a demo today!