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Wilson shows off airless 3D-printed basketball

[Credit: Wilson Sporting Goods]

 

 

Houston Rockets' player KJ Martin used an airless 3D-printed basketball in the first round of the AT&T Slam Dunk Contest on Feb. 18, 2023. Created by Wilson Sporting Goods, who also makes the Official Basketball of the National Basketball Association (NBA), the first-of-its-kind ball comes incredibly close to matching the performance specifications of a regulation basketball, including its weight, size, and rebound (bounce). The ball, however, does not need to be inflated, because it is comprised of a black, see-through lattice with eight panel-like "lobes."

The Wilson Labs team created the design for the 3D Airless Prototype Basketball at the brand's Innovation Center in Chicago before bringing the ball to life with key partners. General Lattice provided computational design services, DyeMansion provided color and finishing solutions, and EOS provided additive manufacturing (3D printing) from its technical center, which is powered by AT&T's high-speed fiber network.

Houston Rockets' player KJ Martin used an airless 3D-printed basketball in the first round of the AT&T Slam Dunk Contest on Feb. 18, 2023. [Credit: Wilson Sporting Goods]

 

 

Dr. Nadine Lippa, R&D manager - Basketball at Wilson, was charged with "reinventing the basketball" for the company. Wilson engineers worked with its Industrial Design department to come up with several prototypes -- a process that took years to get the look, feel, and performance just right.

GL Labs, General Lattice's enterprise solutions team, worked with Wilson to streamline the design and iteration process through the use of its computational design tools and workflows.

Once the ball's design was finalized, EOS 3D printed the Airless Prototype using an EOS P 396 machine -- a medium-size selective laser sintering (SLS) powdered polymer printer with a build size of 340 x 340 x 600 mm (13.4 x 13.4 x 23.6 in.) -- using specialized materials.

DyeMansion added the finishing touches to create the smoothed finished surface and colorful outer skin by utilizing their VaporFuse Surfacing and DeepDye Coloring technology. "With basketball being a "low equipment" sport, changing the most critical element, the basketball, is no small venture," said Lester Hitch, application consultant at DyeMansion North America. "It was the focus of our team in North America to fine tune the vapor smoothing treatment, creating a consistent finish that matched Wilson team's expectations based on experience making basketballs."

Combining their respective areas of expertise, the collaboration between Wilson, General Lattice, EOS, and DyeMansion illustrates the possibilities of additive manufacturing and computational design, turning ideas into reality like never before. Wilson plans creating new iterations of the ball in the near future -- most likely involving fan and/or player input.

For now, there will be no changes made to the Wilson NBA official game ball, which will continue to be comprised of the same leather materials, eight-panel configuration, and performance specifications currently in use. An airless ball could be great for kids, though, and maybe some future version could even make it to the pros one day.

To learn more about Wilson's 3D Airless Prototype Basketball, go to www.wilson.com/en-us/explore/basketball/airless-prototype.

Sources: Wilson Sporting Goods

Published February 2023

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