3D PRINTING = SOLUTION FOR UNAVAILABLE PARTS?!
I have a 12 year old Dirt Devil vacuum that needed a part that was no longer available either from Dirt Devil, or any vacuum parts website. So earlier this year, I spoke to Felicia at Smart Tech 3D Printing in Renton. I asked her what it would cost to print off one "air director" for my Dirt Devil "Reaction Fresh D2" Model 110006 vacuum cleaner, as it was missing one of its two air directors. Because they would have to reverse engineer the part using the air director I had, the cost of printing up just that one part was too high. So, I gave them the vacuum cleaner, as otherwise I would have had to scrap it as that part was not available anywhere. I was hoping they would print it up and use it as their own vacuum cleaner in the shop.
IN THE "SPIRIT OF PIONEERING"!
Long story short, lo and behold, I later spoke to Felicia about a month or two later, and found out that they indeed went ahead and 3-D printed the missing unavailable air director. Since 3d printing unavailable parts for old vacuum cleaners (or any other old thing that would easily otherwise get scrapped) is basically unheard of, and therefore in it's "pioneering days", I told her that I would like to make a YouTube video comparing performance of their 3-D printed part versus an original part. So Felicia let me take the vacuum home to make the comparison video (see "Smart Tech 3D Printing created unavailable part for my Dirt Devil"). The video shows that their 3-D printed air director (see photo) performs about the same as an original Dirt Devil air director.
THERE IS BROAD MERIT FOR BRICK AND MORTAR!
While I was there, I gave them another assignment to print a much smaller part for a Shark Navigator brush roll. Because this part was much smaller, and easier to design and print, they email invoiced me only $56.05 for the Navigator parts. Their invoice conveniently allowed me to pay via Apple Pay, which was nice! I can't help but think that my making the video re: the Dirt Devil part may have played a role.
Anyway, another reason to hire Smart Tech 3D Printing is that they are a brick and mortar operation with a physical shop. Felicia tells me that most 3-D printing operations are over the Internet only. Smart Tech 3D Printing also operates over the Internet, but you also have the option of coming to their shop, now located (they just moved) at 138 S. 3rd Pl. in Renton WA, just across the street from McLendon hardware. Unfortunately, this option is getting rarer and rarer. BTW, street parking is easily available right in front of the shop. read more