{"id":34709,"date":"2017-09-25T11:36:07","date_gmt":"2017-09-25T15:36:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shapeways.com\/blog\/?p=34709"},"modified":"2017-10-02T15:26:29","modified_gmt":"2017-10-02T19:26:29","slug":"future-field-level-baseball-stadium-seats-hinges-3d-printing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shapeways.com\/blog\/future-field-level-baseball-stadium-seats-hinges-3d-printing","title":{"rendered":"Future of Field-Level Baseball Stadium Seats Hinges on 3D Printing"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Photo (CC BY-SA 2.0)<\/a> by Geoff Livingston via Flickr<\/a><\/p><\/div>\n

Todd Blatt<\/a> lives in Baltimore, about 15 minutes from Oriole Park at Camden Yards. Todd tries to get to an Orioles game each year, he says, but he certainly couldn\u2019t recite their roster from memory.<\/p>\n

Even the most rabid Orioles fan probably doesn\u2019t know Todd\u2019s name. But earlier this year, Todd became an indispensable to the team and its fans, thanks to his CAD skills and knowledge of 3D printing.<\/p>\n

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It all began with an unexpected email asking if Todd, who has a B.S. in mechanical engineering from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County<\/a>, and runs Custom 3D Stuff<\/a>, could help the Orioles maintain some of their stadium seats.<\/p>\n

Oriole Park can hold 45,971 baseball fans. About 9,000 of those seats \u2014\u00a0padded seats on the field level behind home plate and between the two dugouts; premium seats belonging to corporate and individual season-ticket holders \u2014\u00a0have a three-piece self-adjusting hinge that connects the part where you sit to the rest of the seat.<\/p>\n

The company that manufactured the padded seats sold their product line to another seating company, and the new owner doesn\u2019t make replacement brackets, which left the Orioles in a bind.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can\u2019t tell your fan, \u2018You can\u2019t come use your season ticket today,\u2019\u201d Todd says. \u201cSo I went down to meet with them.\u201d<\/p>\n

At the meeting, Orioles staff gave Todd a broken hinge and asked if he could make them a new one. So Todd measured the sample with calipers and modeled it in AutoCAD<\/a>. \u201cThere are interlocking pieces, so you have some things to factor in with spacing,\u201d he says, but otherwise the design is \u201creally straightforward.\u201d Then he ordered a 3D print of his design in Shapeways White Strong & Flexible plastic<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\t\t