Remember those zippy little RC cars? Well, this is a story of what happens when one breaks down in the right engineer’s orbit—and sparks something way bigger than a toy fix.
It started when one of our maintenance guys, Ray Cromer, came into work with a busted RC. Its tread was toast, and its replacement parts were long discontinued. Most people would’ve shrugged and waxed nostalgic. But not Jevon Lambright, our design engineer. He saw it as a challenge—and a perfect excuse to fire up our 3D printer.
Eighteen hours later, Jevon produced a brand-new rubber tread, custom printed and ready to roll. Ray’s RC tank lives to drive another day!
Sure, it’s a fun story. But it’s also a metaphor for how we like to push what’s possible here at Hamilton—and a preview of how we’re about to do it way smarter.
We just upgraded to a new industrial-grade 3D printer that’s not only faster and bigger but can also print with multiple materials at once—including rubber, plastic, carbon fiber-filled filaments, and even glass-filled nylon. Translation: we can now prototype complex parts that look, feel, and function like the final product. We're talking wheels with rubber treads and metal-like cores—all printed in one go.
According to Jevon, this tech is a game-changer for our engineers—more iterations, faster tweaks, bolder ideas without the fear of fails. We can now test-drive new designs without booking time at a machine shop. We’ll be using the printer not just for parts, but for smarter prototyping, fixtures, jigs, even custom engravings and laser-cut components for tags and wood pieces. This means we can catch issues earlier, move more strategically, and bring new innovations to market faster—all while giving our team more creative freedom than ever.
So whether it’s helping out a colleague or reinventing the way we prototype, our engineers now have the tools—and the tread—to go further.
From fun-sized to full-scale, and everything in between.