Control Stick for a Zeiss A-SCAN machine.

myminifactory

When the control stick on our A-SCAN machine at the Eye Surgery center where I work broke, I was called in as the repair tech to see if I could fix it. The original stick had snapped off at its base, and there's a button right in the middle of it. I tried calling every single person I could think of to get a replacement, but no one had any luck - they all told me that replacements were nowhere to be found! That meant we'd have to buy either a brand new machine or a refurbished one, which would cost us anywhere from $20,000 for the new one to several thousand dollars for the used one. Since I happen to have a 3D printer at home, I thought it was a great opportunity to put it to use. So, I took apart the machine, removed the part that the broken stick was attached to, and brought it back to my house on Friday night. By Monday morning when we opened up again, the machine had been fitted with a brand new 3D-printed replacement control stick, and everyone thought I must have bought a whole new machine! The best part is that this new one is even stronger than the original and has been running non-stop for at least a year now. Not only did I save my company a ton of money by fixing it myself, but I also got to use my 3D printer to create something truly useful and impressive - something that's been making our lives easier ever since!