In 2022, Radio Flyer added its first 3D printer to its Prototype Shop. Since then, the printers have become an integral part of the design process for the brand’s iconic ride-ons, bicycles, and other active toys.

Radio Flyer’s Prototype Shop uses Formlabs’ Fuse selective laser sintering (SLS) 3D printers and large-format stereolithography (SLA) printers to design and create parts for the company’s ride-ons, bikes, and other products. The latest 3D printer to be added to the shop, the Form 4L large-format resin 3D printer, produces hundreds of parts each month. 

“It’s really the only printer we trust if we are building a new wagon or tricycle,” says Agostino LoBello, Product Design Engineer for Radio Flyer. “We use it for functional caster pods and wheel assemblies, brake assemblies, and more. The Fuse printed parts solve a need for functional, end-use parts that we feel good about sending home with a family for testing.”

Radio Flyer uses 3D-printed parts from Fuse printers for their durability and consistency. These parts are used throughout every step of the design process until the final stage models. Once the process is complete, Radio Flyer produces the toys that are headed to consumers with injection molding. Using 3D-printed parts also speeds up the design process by having quicker, more accessible ways to change prototypes.

“Having the ability to prototype our ideas quickly because we can generate more versions and test those ideas quickly with Form 4L has allowed us to bring concepts further, faster,” LoBello says. “We can integrate new features into products that would have been difficult to before.” 

Radio Flyer’s use of 3D printing in its design process continues the company’s more than 100 years of innovation and creativity in the industry.