Radio Flyer's most iconic product, the iconic Original Little Red Wagon®, might evoke images of traditional American culture from the mid-20th century. But the Chicago-based company hasn't settled for the past — leading the industry for over a century requires a constant commitment to new technologies and innovative ideas. 3D printing has been a key factor in the company's enduring position as a world-leading manufacturer of children's ride-ons, including wagons, scooters, tricycles, go-karts, electric bikes, and more.
Radio Flyer's product development team uses 3D printing all day, every day. Their Prototype Shop relies on Formlabs ' fuse selective laser sintering (SLS) 3D printers, as well as large-scale stereolithography (SLA) printers, to help them stay on design deadlines and create products that bring smiles and create lasting, heartwarming memories.
We spoke with Agostino LoBello, Product Design Engineer at Radio Flyer, who supports the evaluation and implementation of new technologies in the workshop's machinery. The new Form 4L large-format resin 3D printer has significantly shortened production times for high-precision vendor approval parts and increased production volume for full-scale prototypes, which can now be completed the next day. Combined with 24/7 functional prototype production on the Fuse Series printers, the Form 4L enables the workshop to produce hundreds of parts each month.
“One of the first things we 3D printed with the 4L as soon as we received the machine was a seat for the Stingray Ride-On, and we actually used that 3D printed part in meetings with external vendors. The speed and dimensional accuracy of the machine have made a huge difference to our workshop. We can now successfully print boxes that are the full size of the machine's print area — previously, when we tried to print that size with the Form 3L, the box and its lid wouldn't fit together properly. Before the Form 4L, we usually opted for CNC machining with our router or assembling parts from SLS prints instead.”
Agostino LoBello
Product Design Engineer, Radio Flyer
Fuse delivers strength and practicality for family testing.
The original SLS -printed prototype (left), the SLA 3D- printed and painted Roadshow prototype (middle), and the actual Bubble Buddy Walker Wagon product for final production.
Beloved toys can be played with for years and last through generations of families. Radio Flyer creates durable products and is committed to producing the highest quality and safety standards.
The secret behind its durability lies in a rigorous prototyping process , where every component undergoes rigorous testing. Since the company added its first Fuse 1 machine in 2022 and the Fuse 1+ 30W in 2023, Radio Flyer's Prototype Shop has been able to quickly produce functional prototypes for components such as seats, ball bearings, handlebar grips, and many others, using Nylon 12 powder , allowing engineers and designers to immediately test and develop them.
“It’s the only printer we really trust when we’re developing new wagons or tricycles. We use it to produce functional parts like caster pods for wheels, wheel assemblies, brake assemblies, and many more. Parts printed with Fuse meet the requirements for functional and end-use parts, and we’re confident enough to send them home to our families for testing.”
Agostino LoBello
Product Design Engineer, Radio Flyer
Families are one of the most challenging consumer groups to please, and when it comes to child safety , product durability is paramount. Machine-printed parts in the Fuse Series accelerate the early prototyping phase, allowing teams to confidently perform multiple testing rounds without needing to reprint parts with each test.
Dependence on dimensional accuracy.
The Bubble Buddy Walker Wagon® was prototyped using Radio Flyer's Fuse 1+ 30W SLS 3D printer with Nylon 12 Powder material, and is shown here as a multi-part assembly prototype.
Although Radio Flyer products are designed to be sized appropriately for children, they are still significantly larger than the average 3D printer's build volume, including those in the Fuse Series . Therefore, prototypes are often constructed in smaller pieces that can be printed within the printer's build volume and then assembled later.
The self-supporting printing bed of the SLS 3D printer allows multiple parts to be arranged together in a single print (build). Therefore, even if the requester needs to assemble the parts after printing, they can still receive all the parts at once, and large parts don't necessarily slow down the iterative development process.
“Another advantage of Fuse is that when we need to divide large parts to fit into the printer's print area, those parts have to fit together perfectly. Even if we print one today and another tomorrow, we can rely on the machine to provide the same dimensional accuracy every time. Parts printed on different days can still fit together perfectly,” LoBello said.
The printers in the Fuse Series consistently produce highly accurate parts, leading design and engineering teams to increasingly trust the technology. Previously using FDM 3D printers, Fuse delivers superior precision, allowing them to learn more from prototypes without having to worry about supports or anisotropic geometries before moving on to tooling.
“Our team views parts printed from Fuse just like parts actually produced by injection molding. We are confident that what we send to the printer will produce parts that accurately match our specifications and have sufficient quality for their intended use as functional, end-use parts.”
Agostino LoBello
Product Design Engineer, Radio Flyer
Speed and volume of production with SLS 3D printing.
During the summer, the busiest time of the year, Radio Flyer's two Fuse Series printers operate continuously, typically using more than 20 kilograms of Nylon 12 Powder per month.
Each Radio Flyer product category, such as wagons, e-bikes, or scooters, contains numerous products and components within that category, resulting in constant new product development projects. SLS- printed parts are used at every stage, from early proof of concept to the final models submitted for consideration by potential buyers or partners.
Injection molding is not suitable until the customer has confirmed the order and production quantity. Therefore, Radio Flyer leverages the low cost per piece and high throughput of the Fuse Series printers to reach that stage quickly and cost-effectively.
“The Fuse printer runs 24/7, typically printing one job a day, and sometimes two if the print time is shorter. During the summer, which is the busiest time and we have to experiment with many different concepts every day, we use about 20 to 30 kilograms of toner per month, ” LoBello said.
The addition of SLS printing capabilities has shifted some aspects of Radio Flyer's workflow from FDM and outsourcing to more in-house manufacturing. They can now progress further in product development before needing to enter the tooling or molding stages, confident that parts printed with Fuse can ultimately closely replicate the results of parts produced using injection molding .
“It has speeded up our workflow. We don't need to outsource as much production as before, and from an engineering and product development perspective, we need to fine-tune and specify fewer rounds before sending designs to the factory,” LoBello said.
Reducing gaps with Form 4L.
The Form 4L enabled Radio Flyer to rapidly print large parts, allowing design and engineering teams to confidently meet critical deadlines because they knew they could thoroughly experiment, refine, and test all their concepts.
Radio Flyer 's product development process began to rely more on SLS 3D printing . The large SLA 3D printers they previously used, like the Form 3L, received very few requests from the team, but with the introduction of the Form 4L, the situation began to change.
“We often need parts quickly for design review. The previous larger machine options couldn't produce parts fast enough, and I think where the Form 4L fills that gap is speed. It's fast enough that our 3D printing technicians can now run multiple prints a day,” LoBello said.
Faster print times and a higher number of print cycles per day allow the team to develop concepts more thoroughly and gain a deeper understanding of how each product addresses specific needs.
“We spend a lot of time focusing on designing our products and considering every possible use case. We ask, ‘How will people use this? What would they like to add to it?’” LoBello says. The speed and power of 3D printing is one way to find all the possible answers to these questions.
“The ability to quickly prototype concepts, because we can create multiple versions and test those concepts rapidly with Form 4L, allows us to develop ideas further and faster. We can integrate new features into the product that were previously difficult.”
Agostino LoBello
Product Design Engineer, Radio Flyer
Improvements in accuracy and reliability.
Before Radio Flyer adopted the Form 4L internally, new product prototypes for electric bikes (e-bikes) and e-bike accessories were primarily printed using the Fuse Series machines. However, the improved reliability and dimensional accuracy of the Form 4L has given the team confidence that printed parts are accurate and can be easily processed post-printing for final approval.
Before the Form 4L was introduced, the Prototype Shop team received very few requests for large-format SLA printing because the product design team was becoming dissatisfied with insufficient dimensional accuracy. “When we were prototyping, each piece had to fit together perfectly; otherwise, it would be distracting and prevent us from learning as much as we could from design reviews,” LoBello said.
If a product team wants to request in-house part manufacturing, instead of resorting to their existing CNC machine operator or a high-cost, industrial 3D printing service company, they need complete confidence that they will receive the part they need, especially when there are time constraints. If errors occur, “This is a significant improvement compared to the Form 3L. We have a much higher level of confidence that the Form 4L will be able to deliver the functional parts we intend to produce,” said LoBello.
After Form 4L became the preferred option, the team began receiving more and more requests to print SLA parts for roadshows— events where Radio Flyer's product development and sales teams would meet with retail buyers to demonstrate new products and concepts. The team needed parts with a surface finish that was virtually indistinguishable from parts actually produced using injection molding.
“These parts have to be very precise because we use them to demonstrate to retailers what they are about to buy. For the average person who isn't an expert, it has to look like a finished product, and the parts printed with Form 4L are helping us get to that point,” LoBello said.
A timeless and elegant product, requiring extra testing.
Rapid and reliable prototyping using both SLA and SLS 3D printing has enabled Radio Flyer to continuously develop new variations of its iconic toys and family products, providing families with the tools to create lifelong memories.
Trusted and loved by families for over 100 years, Radio Flyer has built a brand legacy of innovative, high-quality products that have brought joy to generations of families. Combining beautiful product design with functionality and safety required intensive testing and refinement, and genuine feedback from users – 3D printing made this process possible for Radio Flyer.
By utilizing industrial-grade 3D printers like the Fuse Series and Form 4L in-house, their design team can experiment, refine small details, and rely on their prototypes to closely resemble the final product.
The addition of the Form 4L also unlocked new capabilities for the Prototype Shop , enabling it to do something previously impossible—produce highly accurate models that are virtually indistinguishable from injection-molded parts in less than a day. The speed, precision, and reliability of the Form 4L allow Radio Flyer to do what it does best: blend tradition with modern technology to create toys that combine the best of both worlds.
To learn more about the Fuse Series or Form 4L, please visit our website.
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