14 DAY TRIAL // Hockey is a sport played quite a bit in the colder areas of the world, with skaters dressed in large pseudo-armors and carrying sticks they use to essentially lay the smackdown on a poor, round little object. It is that object that has drawn our attention.
To be more specific, it is the new way to make such an object that has drawn our attention, even though it probably won't catch on with the league that fast, if it ever will.
Pucks are one of the three main elements used in playing the sport known as hockey. All three have experienced some changes over the years. The puck used to be square, for example, until the 1880s when it became round.
Now, 3D printing technology has been used to make a puck for the first time, with the goal being for it to resemble traditionally made ones as closely as possible.
The 3D printed puck
After being created by the people at Proto3000, the puck was made from a mixture of TangoBlackPlus and VeroWhitePlus materials, at an A95 shore value.
Retired AHL player Jeff Prendergast was then asked to test the puck. After taking to the ice and striking the thing in every way he could think of, the man dubbed the puck decent.
Indeed, he said that regular players, especially younger ones, probably wouldn't be able to tell the difference between it and the standard one. However, he still preferred the traditional puck.
The small damage taken by the puck was the most noteworthy thing. Pucks get hit and hurled at over 100 mph / 160 kmph. It doesn't help that they hit plexi-glass and posts quite regularly.
Still, the puck was successfully 3D printed and withstood the trial by fire, so to speak, so we have to say that the experiment was a success.
The adoption of the 3D printed puck
It is probably something that won't happen actually. After many 3D printing breakthroughs that hold promise for a much better and easier accomplishment of certain tasks, this is a case where 3D printing can't actually replace conventional methods.
Making pucks isn't all that hard when the only worry in recent times has been its visibility on television. And it's not expensive either, so 3D printing doesn't have much to offer in the way of incentive.
In the end, it was just supposed to be a fun experiment on the part of the Proto3000 team, a goal which was mostly successful. Of course, if some other company decides to start a line of 3D printed pucks, they won't mind.
