Vijay Raghav Varada
Co-founder and CEO of Fracktal Works, Bengaluru. Trained as an engineer at Manipal Institute of Technology, where Fracktal began in 2013 as a robotics project that needed a machine nobody sold. Leads a company that designs and builds industrial FDM 3D printers and runs an on-demand manufacturing floor for drone, automotive and medical customers, with SLS on the way. Writes here about building hardware in India, what 3D printing actually costs, and what the machines do on a production floor.
vjvarada.com3D Printing in the Railway Industry
A passenger coach is built to run for thirty or forty years. The company that moulded its armrest end caps may not last ten. Somewhere in…
Vijay Raghav Varada · 5 min read3D Printing in Engineering: From Concept to Functional Prototype
Every product goes through the same ladder: a sketch, a shape you can hold, a version that works, a version that survives testing, and finally the…
Vijay Raghav Varada · 4 min read3D Printing in Dentistry: Models, Aligners and Surgical Guides
Dentistry adopted 3D printing earlier and more completely than almost any other field, for a simple reason: every patient is a one-off. A crown, an aligner,…
Vijay Raghav Varada · 4 min read3D Printing for Entertainment: Props, Costumes and Sets
A prop department has always been a small factory that makes each thing once. A helmet for one scene, a weapon that has to look right…
Vijay Raghav Varada · 4 min read3D Printing in Jewellery: Investment Casting and Direct Printing
Jewellery was one of the first trades to make money from 3D printing, and it did so quietly, by replacing one step in a process that…
Vijay Raghav Varada · 4 min readHow to Get a Part 3D Printed by Fracktal: Upload, Quote, Delivery
Getting a part printed by us is a short process, and most of the delay people experience with any print service comes from the file rather…
Vijay Raghav Varada · 4 min readFDM, SLS, SLA or Metal: Which 3D Printing Process for Which Part
"3D printing" is five different processes that share a file format. Choosing the wrong one is the most common reason a printed part disappoints: a nylon…
Vijay Raghav Varada · 4 min readPreoperative Planning with 3D Printed Anatomical Models
3D printed anatomical models turn a CT or MRI scan into an object a surgeon can hold, cut, drill and plan on before the patient is…
Vijay Raghav Varada · 4 min read3D Printed Jigs, Fixtures and Gauges: A Design Guide
3D printed jigs and fixtures are the highest-return part anyone prints. A fixture is needed in ones, changes constantly, and is used hard, and every one…
Vijay Raghav Varada · 5 min read3D Printed End-Use Parts: When Production Printing Pays
3D printed end-use parts are production parts made without a tool: the housing, the clip, the duct or the bracket that ships in the product, printed…
Vijay Raghav Varada · 4 min read
Have a part to make, or a machine to choose?
Upload a CAD file for a DFM-checked quote, or talk to an engineer in Bengaluru about the right printer for your floor.