Decade of metal AM: KLS Martin has used 3D printing for personalized titanium medical devices for ten years.
- Polymer guides supplement implants: The company additively manufactures polyamide drilling and marking guides that transfer the surgical plan into the operating room.
- Precision is the stake: Patient-specific devices heighten the demand for precise implantation, which the tailored guides address.
- Measurement advance: A new scanner combines 0.02 mm single-frame accuracy, Wi-Fi 6 wireless operation, and marker-free optical tracking for inspection and reverse engineering.
- Post-processing software: Solukon's SPR-Pathfinder® PRO brings simulation depth, process transparency, and accurate time prediction to depowdering complex LPBF parts.
Personalised implants get the headlines. The guides that put them in place deserve some attention too.
KLS Martin, a manufacturer of implants, has been using 3D printing for personalized titanium medical devices for a decade. To supplement that supply, the company is also additively manufacturing polyamide drilling and marking guides — polymer tools designed to transfer the surgical plan into the operating room.
Why the guide matters as much as the implant
The appeal of patient-specific devices is obvious, but so is the risk. As the original reporting put it:
As additive manufacturing opens the door to personalised medical devices, we revel in the customised care and enhanced osseointegration.
But for the manufacturers and surgeons involved, it heightens the stakes when it comes to precision.
That tension is the engineering problem here. An implant built for exactly one patient only delivers its value if it is placed exactly as planned. KLS Martin's answer is an equally tailored set of surgical guides: polyamide drilling and marking guides produced additively, working alongside the titanium devices rather than replacing them.
Polymer as a complement, not a competitor
The material split is worth noting for process planners. Titanium remains the implant material; polymer AM handles the tooling that gets it into the patient. It is a pragmatic division of labor — metal where biocompatibility and load-bearing matter, polymer where speed and geometry matter — and it shows how a single manufacturer's AM portfolio can span both sides of the operating room.
Elsewhere in the sector
Two other developments crossed our desk. A new scanner offers 0.02 mm single-frame accuracy, with Wi-Fi 6 wireless operation and marker-free optical tracking, aimed at industrial inspection, reverse engineering, and on-site measurement. Meanwhile, Solukon's SPR-Pathfinder® PRO targets a persistent bottleneck in metal AM: depowdering software for complex LPBF parts, promising simulation depth, process transparency, and accurate time prediction. Different ends of the workflow, same theme — precision is becoming a software and process problem as much as a hardware one.
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