Why We Print Our Cases – And Why That’s a Good Thing

Manufacturing transparency from the airlogONE team

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When people first hear that the airlogOne logger comes in a 3D-printed case, a few eyebrows go up. Fair enough – 3D printing has a reputation that doesn’t always match reality, and in airsports, where equipment takes real abuse, that question deserves a serious answer.

So let’s talk about it honestly.

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“Isn’t 3D printing kind of… flimsy?”

That reputation comes from a real place. Desktop FDM printers cranking out layer-by-layer plastic parts? Yes — those can be brittle, prone to delamination, and not exactly something you’d trust on a skydiving rig.

But that’s not what we use.

The airlogOne case is manufactured using Multi Jet Fusion (MJF), an industrial-grade additive process developed by HP. The material is PA12 – polyamide 12 nylon – printed at 2 mm wall thickness. This is the same class of technology used for structural components in automotive, aerospace, and medical device manufacturing.

At that thickness and with that process, the part is isotropic – meaning it has consistent strength in all directions, with no weak layer lines. Squeeze it, drop it, stuff it in a jumpsuit pocket: it holds.

Compare that to a typical injection-moulded consumer plastic shell. Those are often 1…1.2 mm thin to keep tooling costs down and cycle times short. A thinner, cheaper moulded part is not automatically the tougher option. Ours is thicker, denser, and produced without the corner-cutting that volume economics push manufacturers toward.

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Why Not Aluminium?

Aluminium looks tough. It is tough. But there’s a fundamental problem for a device like ours: radio frequency physics.

The airlogOne relies on GPS for precise position tracking and Wi-Fi for fast data sync with your phone or laptop after the jump. Metal enclosures block RF signals. A full aluminium shell would cripple both – you’d lose GPS lock, degraded Wi-Fi range, or both.

High-end RF-transparent engineering plastics are the correct choice for any device in this class. Every serious GPS sports tracker, from cycling computers to aviation handhelds, uses a plastic shell for exactly this reason. We’re not compromising on materials; we’re making the technically correct call.

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The Real Advantage: Iteration Without Penalty

Here’s where MJF printing goes beyond just “good enough” — it gives us something injection moulding fundamentally can’t: freedom to refine between production runs.

With a moulded tool, you cut steel once and you’re committed. Every design tweak means expensive rework or a new tool. That’s fine for mass-market products where geometry is frozen at launch — but for a product like ours, developed alongside a community of CP pilots and freefall athletes, the ability to incorporate real-world feedback quickly is a genuine competitive advantage.

We can adjust port placement, ergonomics, clip geometry, or labelling between batches – without a six-figure tooling conversation. You benefit directly: the unit you receive reflects everything we’ve learned from units in the field before yours.

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The One Honest Caveat: Surface Finish

MJF parts have a characteristic matte, slightly grainy texture. They’re not mirror-smooth like a glossy injection-moulded shell.

We think this is a reasonable trade-off – and not just because we have to say that. The textured surface actually provides better grip when handled with gloved or sweaty hands, and it doesn’t show scratches the way a high-gloss surface would. It also gives the device a distinctly technical, purposeful look that we’ve grown to appreciate.

If you were buying a consumer gadget for the shelf, finish perfection would matter more. You’re buying a precision instrument for the sky. We’d rather it grip than gleam.

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The Short Version

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We’re proud of the manufacturing decisions behind the airlogOne – not because they were the cheapest or the most conventional, but because they were the right ones for what this device needs to do.