Kurt Dudley.
Selected projects / Kurt Dudley

Engineering the path
from idea to production.

Explore the systems, materials, and workflows behind my approach to additive manufacturing and scalable production.

Manufacturing sequence: simulation, parametric sliders controlling internal lattice structures, composite molding, and a finished carbon-fiber airframe
Concept visualization · Parametric controls guide the internal lattice geometry.
DESIGN FOR ADDITIVE MANUFACTURING3D PRINTED PRODUCTION TOOLINGADVANCED MATERIALS & COMPOSITES
How I approach a problem

Find the bottleneck.
Develop the whole solution.

The opportunity is often bigger than the printed part. It can be a manual task, a tooling delay, or a design workflow that prevents a good idea from becoming a viable product.

01 / Understand

Follow the workflow.

Look at what people need to accomplish, where manual labor accumulates, and what limits throughput.

02 / Identify

Find where AM adds value.

Use complex geometry, rapid tooling, or application-specific materials where they offer a meaningful advantage.

03 / Develop

Connect design and process.

Develop the geometry, material, hardware, and post-processing around the same manufacturing requirements.

04 / Scale

Plan beyond the prototype.

Build a path to repeatable production, combining additive and conventional manufacturing as volumes grow.

Selected work & development directions

Different applications.
The same systems approach.

From automating laboratory workflows to accelerating composite tooling and making customized designs manufacturable.

01 / Evol Sciences · Microfabrication

Use printed geometry to automate the experiment.

4 µm
Pixel size of the microfabrication printing system
Conceptual clear microfluidic disc in a Petri dish, with blue and yellow inputs mixing into concentration gradients

The opportunity

Combination-therapeutic research requires testing how drugs interact across different concentrations. Manual pipette dosing adds repetitive work, while planar culture dishes offer a limited representation of a three-dimensional cellular environment.

My contribution

For Evol Sciences, I developed a microfabrication 3D printing system with 4 µm pixels, alongside biocompatible, low-cytotoxicity printing resins for the cell-culture application. The system enabled three-dimensional matrices for studying drug interactions in an environment intended to better reflect aspects of in-vivo conditions than a planar dish.

I also developed microfluidic structures that automatically generated drug-combination gradients in cell culture, replacing manual pipette dosing for that step of the experimental workflow.

Why it matters

The value of additive manufacturing was not simply making a small part. It was using precisely controlled geometry and suitable materials to reduce repetitive dosing work and expand the experimental workflow for combination therapeutics.

MicrofabricationCell-culture materialsMicrofluidicsLaboratory automation
Expanded versus scanned projection: fixed local pixel pitch with scanned coverage, alongside printed microfeatures and a USAF 1951 resolution target
02 / UAV production · Rapid tooling development

Accelerate the tooling behind the airframe.

3 days
Target fabrication cycle · 72 hours
Visualization of matched male and female ceramic airframe molds in steel frames with thermal-fluid connections

The opportunity

For drone airframes, I examined thermoforming and compression molding of thermoplastic-impregnated carbon-fiber sheets as a route to producing shells in minutes. The production opportunity was compelling, but conventional aluminum tooling introduced substantial cost and lead time between design iterations.

My contribution

I identified the mold as the bottleneck and developed an approach combining SLA-defined tool geometry, ceramic backing, and a reusable steel frame. The current process targets a three-day fabrication cycle, with an optional metallized face for wear resistance and heat spreading.

The manufacturing strategy

Use additive manufacturing to make the tool quickly, then use compression molding to make the parts repeatedly. This preserves rapid design iteration while creating a route beyond direct-printed prototypes to scalable composite production.

Technical ceramicsThermoplastic compositesCompression molding3D printed tooling
The advantage

Print the geometry.
Build the tool around it.

  • Faster design changes. Reprint the shell or insert and reuse the frame, reducing dependence on long machining and supplier queues.
  • Less bulk machining. Put detailed geometry in the printed surface and structural support in the ceramic backing.
  • Engineered thermal response. Select a low-expansion backing for the laminate and add metal facing and heating/cooling channels where useful.

Concept visuals. The cross-section includes a ceramic-filled epoxy backing example; the high-temperature ceramic formulation is a separate material route. Face thickness, adhesion, thermal expansion, and cycle life are application-specific.

DAY 1 / DEFINE THE SURFACE

Print, clean & prepare

SLA shell printing, cleaning, post-cure, and surface preparation. Add a conductive seed coat for the optional metal-facing route.

DAY 2 / BUILD THE STRUCTURE

Reinforce, frame & cast

Install reinforcement and the frame, mix and pour the ceramic backing, then allow the initial room-temperature chemical set.

DAY 3 / CONDITION THE TOOL

Dry, heat & cool

Controlled staged dehydration and thermal conditioning, followed by cooling and inspection. The schedule depends on the selected chemistry and section thickness.

72-hour development target for the base fabrication route. Optional electroplating, finishing, and qualification may add time. Thermal conditioning is not a blanket claim of ceramic sintering or a validated service-temperature rating.

Compared with traditional hard tooling

A shorter path to the next iteration.

The planning comparison is a 3-day target against 5–7 days for in-house CNC aluminum or 6–8 weeks for externally sourced steel dies. These are project estimates, not universal supplier lead times.

The preliminary ceramic-route subtotal is $1,990 before SLA costs. Optional plating and final processing scope still need to be priced, so a complete cost-saving percentage is not yet established.

A low-expansion ceramic formulation can help manage tool–part thermal mismatch. Dimensional accuracy depends on the complete material stack, laminate direction, temperature cycle, and tool design.

Reference infographic comparing prepreg compression molding, hybrid molding, and sheet molding compound through charge placement, heating and pressure, and mold removal
Compression-molding reference: charge placement → heat and pressure → demolding. The infographic includes prepreg, hybrid, and SMC routes; resin chemistry and cycle settings vary.

Process references: Electroplating SLA parts · Composite tooling and thermal expansion. Timing and cost estimates supplied by Kurt.

03 / AI-enabled design · Ongoing development

Customization starts with manufacturable geometry.

“The output should be a design that can be made—not just a shape that looks convincing.”

The opportunity

AI can accelerate concept creation and customization. Its practical value grows when design freedom is guided by the material, process, and production requirements of the final product.

My approach

I build toward workflows that guide customers through intuitive product choices and translate those choices into parametrically controlled designs. Text-to-image, multi-image generation and editing, mesh generation, and AI-assisted CAD become stages in a connected development process.

My design philosophy is to begin with controllable parameters and manufacturing constraints. Tools such as nTop and Metafold are reference points for this approach; the objective is to connect topology and geometry control with rapid, application-specific customization.

Design for the next step

Constrain features such as wall thickness, clearances, material behavior, build orientation, and post-processing needs. Review the resulting geometry against the intended process so that each iteration moves toward a production-ready part and a credible path to higher volumes.

Parametric designDFAMAI workflowsMass customization
Patented innovations / 3D Printing Systems Engineering

Rethinking the
printing cycle.

My early rotational and helical printing inventions connect high-resolution exposure, continuous motion, and resin replenishment—opening a path toward larger parts and a wider material window.

US9321215B2 · US9937665B2

Explore the patented system →
Explore Kurt’s rotational printing system with radial cure zones
Patented innovations / Part authentication

Identity, built into the material.

Magnetic and optical encoding to support licensed spare parts, material-batch tracking, and individual part identification.

Explore the traceability invention →
Polymer formulation / Footwear applications

Formulate the response.
Design the experience.

High-molecular-weight polymers for footwear: developing printable elastomeric materials around the behavior a shoe needs.

A shoe can call for different responses in different regions. My formulation work explores elastic rebound, energy absorption, and temperature-responsive shape memory, alongside the lattice geometry and printing process used to deliver them.

01 / ELASTIC RESPONSE

Elastic rebound

A printed lattice deforms under compression and rebounds when released.

Explore cushioning and recovery.

02 / DAMPING RESPONSE

Energy absorption

A compression demonstration showing the sample’s deformation and recovery behavior.

Explore impact-management behavior.

03 / THERMAL RESPONSE

Shape memory

A demonstration of temperature-responsive shape recovery in a printed polymer sample.

Explore thermally activated fitting and reshaping.

04 / PROCESS DEVELOPMENT

Printing for footwear

A view of footwear-shaped parts inside the printing system from my presentation.

Connect formulation, geometry, and process.

Formulation + lattice + process
Material behavior is part of the design. I consider the polymer formulation, internal structure, and manufacturing method together to develop the intended footwear response.

Qualitative demonstrations from my presentation. These clips illustrate material behavior; they are not standardized mechanical tests or comparative performance measurements.

Kurt Dudley’s Orange Maker printing system with a circular build platform, metal frame, and blue projected lightORANGE MAKER / MACHINE ARCHIVE
Hardware behind the approach

Develop the machine.
Expand what can be made.

This is one of my top-down, multi-DLP 3D printing systems. It combines projected exposure with a rotating build plate to support printing dense parts.

Developing systems like this connects optics, motion, materials, and process control. The goal is to make useful geometries and material applications practical—and turn that capability into a repeatable manufacturing workflow.

Multi-DLP exposureRotating build plateProcess development

Actual machine image supplied by Kurt Dudley.

The ambition behind the work
0 → 1 → 1,000,000

Help an idea become a real product—and develop the design and manufacturing strategy that allows it to reach more people.

0 / Make it possible.

Identify the need, explore the opportunity, and develop the tools or processes that unlock it.

1 / Make it real.

Turn the concept into a functional, manufacturable design through focused development and iteration.

1,000,000 / Plan for scale.

Connect tooling, automation, materials, and production methods to the demands of growing volume.

Consulting & collaboration

Design with production
in mind.

Application engineering, DFAM, advanced materials, and automation—brought together around what you need to make.

Explore my services ↗
About Kurt

Helping people
make more possible.

My passion for additive manufacturing has always been about enabling people to make things.

Through Orange Maker and my consulting work, I have focused on expanding the range of useful things people can produce efficiently. That means developing printing systems, application-specific materials, optimized processes, and approaches to automated post-processing.

The AI era opens another part of that mission: making design more accessible. Manufacturing knowledge can be built into intuitive workflows that help a customer explore an idea, customize it, and arrive at something that can be made cost-effectively today.

I continue to develop this toolset and learn across disciplines so I can help inventors, designers, and companies make their ideas real and bring them to market. I’m looking for a full-time role where I can contribute this experience across design, application engineering, and scalable manufacturing, while continuing to support selected consulting projects.

From idea to manufacturing opportunity

What do you want to make possible?

Explore how my experience can support your next product, manufacturing challenge, or team.

Explore ways to work together →