3D Printing for Motion Control: Regner SLS Case Study

Regner is a Catalan OEM building custom linear actuators for powered wheelchairs across Europe and Australia, robotics platforms, and industrial equipment ranging from thumb-sized smart motion units to 6,000 N high-duty devices. Every actuator ships custom-engineered, which makes prototype lead time the single biggest constraint on delivery. By moving prototype production in-house on a Sinterit Lisa SLS platform, Regner halved delivery times across the board, opened up small custom batches, and shifted 3D printing for motion control from a service-bureau bottleneck into overnight in-house cycles, with fatigue-test-grade parts ready the same day they print.

Background: motion control for healthcare, robotics, and industrial markets

REGNER® is a well-known OEM of motion control solutions, from control boxes to linear actuators, with a fast-moving customer base across multiple sectors. Headquartered in Girona, in northeastern Spain, the company has built its reputation on world-class support and cutting delivery times in half through flexible manufacturing and agile R&D.

Healthcare is one of the largest end markets. Most powered wheelchairs worldwide, from Europe to Australia, are equipped with Regner technology to prevent circulation problems for people who have suffered spinal injuries or age-related mobility loss. Electric linear actuators move users through a variety of postures, increasing comfort and quality of life for people with limited mobility.

Beyond healthcare, Regner serves robotics, special vehicles, industrial equipment, and home automation, where electric motion offers technical advantages over hydraulic or pneumatic systems. The product range covers high-duty actuators moving loads up to 6,000 N down to thumb-sized smart motion solutions. In every product, the actuator housing is a critical feature: it protects internal parts from the external environment, doubles as the gearbox, and carries the moving components.

The challenge: custom housings designed from scratch every time

Every Regner actuator starts from a specific customer brief. Different designs may appear similar at a glance, but each housing demands thorough development and testing for the application. Friction or wear between moving parts leads to failure in the field. Mechatronic systems development for motion control usually takes many months once homologation and certification cycles enter the schedule.

Lluís Llenas leads prototype production in Regner's mechanical development department. He holds postgraduate studies in 3D prototyping. The Girona headquarters has run a wide range of prototyping machines over the years.

Before the move to Sinterit, the team used FFF and photopolymerisation 3D printers and produced thousands of prototypes. Both technologies hit the same ceiling. Durability and surface finish fell short of reliable fatigue testing or pre-production runs. Anything beyond a rough visual prototype required outsourcing to an SLS or Multi Jet Fusion service bureau, lifting costs and stretching lead times.

Why Regner chose Sinterit SLS for in-house prototyping

Selective laser sintering produces functional, isotropic-strength parts in real engineering polymers. Fatigue testing demands exactly that. After weighing in-house options, Regner picked the Sinterit Lisa PRO for three reasons: compact office-grade footprint, no special ventilation, and a polymer library covering housings and load-bearing components.

"The FFF and SLA parts are a good choice to get a physical impression of the designs and to assemble rough prototypes. But when it comes to producing reliable prototypes to be verified in our fatigue tests or to send functional samples to our customers for validation, SLS is the only acceptable choice." Lluís Llenas, Mechanical Design Engineer at Regner

3D printing for motion control: the in-house Sinterit workflow

Once the Lisa PRO was installed, Regner's prototype-production economics changed. SLS parts now print in a matter of hours, get fatigue-tested the same day, and feed back into the next overnight cycle. The same machine handles small custom batches without tooling change, no matter how complex the design. Regner's SLS workflow now covers prototypes and short-run production on one platform.

"The Lisa PRO 3D printer has up-dated the services we offer to our customers. In the past, short runs were not an option for us. Now we can be more flexible and agile than ever." Lluís Llenas, Mechanical Design Engineer at Regner

Three operational shifts stand out:

• Delivery times cut in half. Prototype lead time falls from external-bureau weeks to overnight cycles, which compounds across every project running in parallel.

• Small custom batches viable. Short-run production runs on the same printer as the prototypes, with no tooling change between batches.

• Pre-production fatigue testing in-house. SLS parts hold up under the load and wear conditions actuator housings are tested for, which was not the case with FFF or SLA.

What this means for Australian motion control and healthcare manufacturers

Regner technology already sits inside Australian powered wheelchairs and assistive-mobility devices. Local supply chains feel the impact directly. Australian motion-control OEMs, rehabilitation equipment manufacturers, and custom mobility-aid producers face the same economics. Every product is built for a specific user or installation, and tooling-led prototyping prices most projects out.

In-house SLS sidesteps the trade-off. The Sinterit platform fits the brief on three counts. It needs no dedicated production space. The material library covers polyamides plus an ESD-safe option for electronics-adjacent components. The capital outlay sits inside Australian R&D Tax Incentive territory for qualifying SME spend. For mobility-aid and rehab equipment makers, the workflow makes SLS-led custom manufacturing viable at SME scale.

Which Sinterit SLS printer suits motion control work today?

Lisa PRO, the printer Regner originally bought, has since been superseded. The current production-grade flagship is the Sinterit Lisa X, a faster, larger-build evolution of the same compact SLS platform. Lisa X handles Sinterit PA-12 Industrial for structural housings and Flexa Performance TPU for soft-touch buttons, gaskets, and over-moulded grip components.

For smaller engineering teams not yet at production volume, the Sinterit Suzy runs the same workflow at a lower entry cost. Both printers fit Regner's office-grade footprint and overnight-cycle pattern, so the workflow translates directly.

Our Sinterit Lisa X overview covers the platform in more detail. For two other in-house SLS case studies see our Nabson aviation R&D case study and our Rotite product development case study.

Frequently asked questions

What is 3D printing for motion control?

3D printing for motion control is the use of additive manufacturing, usually SLS, to produce actuator housings, gearbox carriers, brackets, and other functional motion components. SLS suits the application because parts hold their geometry under load and survive fatigue testing.

How does SLS suit custom actuator manufacturing?

SLS prints functional engineering polymers without tooling, so each custom housing can be produced in hours rather than weeks. Regner's team prototypes in the morning, tests against fatigue criteria the same day, and revises in the next print cycle.

Can SLS produce small custom batches affordably?

Yes. The same Sinterit Lisa platform that runs prototypes also runs short production batches without tooling change-over. Regner now offers short-run custom motion control products its previous workflow could not support.

Which Sinterit printer suits motion control today?

Lisa X is the current production-grade choice, replacing the Lisa PRO Regner originally bought. Suzy fits earlier-stage engineering teams at a lower entry point. Both share the same compact, office-grade footprint and material compatibility.

What materials does Sinterit SLS support for motion components?

Sinterit Lisa X supports PA-12 Industrial and Smooth for structural housings, PA-11 CF and Onyx for higher-strength components, PA-11 ESD for static-sensitive electronics-adjacent parts, Flexa Performance TPU for soft-touch and over-moulded features, and Polypropylene for chemical-resistant applications.

Is in-house SLS faster than outsourcing prototypes?

Yes, by orders of magnitude once volume crosses a few parts per week. Regner previously waited for external SLS and Multi Jet Fusion bureaus to fit jobs into their queues. Bringing production in-house collapsed lead time to overnight cycles and removed supplier-fee mark-ups.

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Want to bring custom motion control prototyping and small-batch production in-house? Talk to our team about the Sinterit Lisa X, the Suzy, or the right powder library for your actuator housings, gearbox carriers, or end-use components. We can also help you map the capital outlay against your current outsourced prototyping spend.

Want to view our range of Sinterit SLS printers? Click here.

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3D printer 3D printers additive manufacturing case study custom manufacturing healthcare in-house manufacturing linear actuators Manufacturing medical devices motion control prototyping REGNER Sinterit Lisa X SLS 3D printing small batch production