{"id":506,"date":"2015-05-18T08:57:56","date_gmt":"2015-05-18T12:57:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ssww.com\/blog\/?p=506"},"modified":"2026-06-12T14:03:11","modified_gmt":"2026-06-12T18:03:11","slug":"hoola-hoop-clip","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ssww.com\/blog\/hoola-hoop-clip\/","title":{"rendered":"3D Printers and Product Creation"},"content":{"rendered":"

Working at S&S is fun for me, I get to use both my undergraduate engineering and graduate marketing background. On the marketing side, I get to manage the classic 4P\u2019s (product, price, place and promotion) of our Sports and Games lines, and on the engineering side, I get to design, develop, and bring new products to market.<\/p>\n

Recently S&S has started to sell 3-D printers and that means we now have a few that we can use when developing new products.\u00a0 Instead of designing an item and then investing thousands in dollars in production tooling to see if my design was correct, I can now print out a 3-D prototype.\u00a0\u00a0 The prototype allows me to see, touch, and even try out a design to see if its correct or needs further improvement. \u00a0\u00a0Better yet, in some cases, I can design a part and print it out all in the same day instead of waiting 2 to 3 months for a production mold.<\/p>\n

\"3D<\/p>\n

An example of item I\u2019ve been working on is a clip for use with hula hoops.\u00a0\u00a0 There are already a number of products on the market that allow hula hoops to be clipped together, but none that allow two hula hoops to be clipped together side by side.\u00a0\u00a0 I’ve always thought this concept would be neat! Once clipped together, kids could then hula 2 to 3 hoops at once, they could be placed on the ground to provide a toss target with a greater depth, or allow hoops to be rolled a further distance without falling over.<\/p>\n

\"pe<\/a>With this in mind, I designed a simple clip on my CAD software that could snap onto two of our Spectrum Super Hoops<\/a> or No-Knott Hoops<\/a>.\u00a0\u00a0 The advantage of my design is that it allows the clip to be placed on the outside of the hoops when hula hooping or on the inside when trying to roll hoops.\u00a0\u00a0 Once my design was done, I uploaded my file to the MakerBot software that creates a file that can be used to print prototypes to our 3-D printer.<\/p>\n

The initial design worked okay, but did not grab the hoops tight enough.\u00a0\u00a0 I modified my original design to make the clips wrap around the hoops a little more and to increase the width of the clip.\u00a0\u00a0 The 2nd<\/sup> versions worked much better.<\/p>\n

I took a number of 3-D printed hoop clip prototypes to the recent Shape America Nation PE Teachers Conference in Seattle where PE teachers could see them and provide feedback. The clips were well received and I even offered to send a few teachers that had 3-D printers at their schools the file that would allow them to print some of their own clips.<\/p>\n

\"S&S<\/a>Based on the positive feedback, we are moving ahead with production tooling that will allow the clips to be produced in high volume and a much lower cost than printing them one at a time.\u00a0 \u00a0If you have a 3-D printer and would like to download load the file to print your own clips, leave a comment and we will send you the file. If you do print some clips, note that 3 clips are usually used to secure two hoops together and are equally spaced around the perimeter of the hoop.<\/p>\n

Author: Brian Feeney, Merchandising Manager of Sports, Recreation & Physical Education for S&S Worldwide<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Working at S&S is fun for me, I get to use both my undergraduate engineering and graduate marketing background. On the marketing side, I get to manage the classic 4P\u2019s (product, price, place and promotion) of our Sports and Games … Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":551,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false},"categories":[3,32,18],"tags":[108,109,37,73],"yoast_head":"\n3 D Printers, Physical Education and Hoola Hoops<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ssww.com\/blog\/hoola-hoop-clip\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"3 D Printers, Physical Education and Hoola Hoops\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Working at S&S is fun for me, I get to use both my undergraduate engineering and graduate marketing background. On the marketing side, I get to manage the classic 4P\u2019s (product, price, place and promotion) of our Sports and Games … Read More\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.ssww.com\/blog\/hoola-hoop-clip\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"S&S Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/SSWorldwideCatalog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2015-05-18T12:57:56+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-06-12T18:03:11+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.ssww.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/3D-hoop-clips.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"313\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"235\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@ssworldwide\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@ssworldwide\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Staff Blogger\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ssww.com\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.ssww.com\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"S&S Blog\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.ssww.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ssww.com\/blog\/hoola-hoop-clip\/#primaryimage\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.ssww.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/3D-hoop-clips.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.ssww.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/3D-hoop-clips.jpg\",\"width\":313,\"height\":235,\"caption\":\"3D printer used in classroom\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ssww.com\/blog\/hoola-hoop-clip\/#webpage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.ssww.com\/blog\/hoola-hoop-clip\/\",\"name\":\"3 D Printers, Physical Education and Hoola Hoops\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ssww.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ssww.com\/blog\/hoola-hoop-clip\/#primaryimage\"},\"datePublished\":\"2015-05-18T12:57:56+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-06-12T18:03:11+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ssww.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/067fa565b8672b10ade872f1f91d5a82\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ssww.com\/blog\/hoola-hoop-clip\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.ssww.com\/blog\/hoola-hoop-clip\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ssww.com\/blog\/hoola-hoop-clip\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.ssww.com\/blog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"3D Printers and Product Creation\"}]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ssww.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/067fa565b8672b10ade872f1f91d5a82\",\"name\":\"Staff Blogger\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ssww.com\/blog\/#personlogo\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8e35c2a3741b91db8c258e940c9e94c1?s=96&d=blank&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8e35c2a3741b91db8c258e940c9e94c1?s=96&d=blank&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Staff Blogger\"}}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"3 D Printers, Physical Education and Hoola Hoops","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.ssww.com\/blog\/hoola-hoop-clip\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"3 D Printers, Physical Education and Hoola Hoops","og_description":"Working at S&S is fun for me, I get to use both my undergraduate engineering and graduate marketing background. On the marketing side, I get to manage the classic 4P\u2019s (product, price, place and promotion) of our Sports and Games … Read More","og_url":"https:\/\/www.ssww.com\/blog\/hoola-hoop-clip\/","og_site_name":"S&S Blog","article_publisher":"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/SSWorldwideCatalog","article_published_time":"2015-05-18T12:57:56+00:00","article_modified_time":"2026-06-12T18:03:11+00:00","og_image":[{"width":313,"height":235,"url":"https:\/\/www.ssww.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/3D-hoop-clips.jpg","path":"\/var\/www\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/3D-hoop-clips.jpg","size":"full","id":551,"alt":"3D printer used in classroom","pixels":73555,"type":"image\/jpeg"}],"twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@ssworldwide","twitter_site":"@ssworldwide","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Staff Blogger","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.ssww.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.ssww.com\/blog\/","name":"S&S Blog","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.ssww.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/www.ssww.com\/blog\/hoola-hoop-clip\/#primaryimage","inLanguage":"en-US","url":"https:\/\/www.ssww.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/3D-hoop-clips.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.ssww.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/3D-hoop-clips.jpg","width":313,"height":235,"caption":"3D printer used in classroom"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.ssww.com\/blog\/hoola-hoop-clip\/#webpage","url":"https:\/\/www.ssww.com\/blog\/hoola-hoop-clip\/","name":"3 D Printers, Physical Education and Hoola Hoops","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ssww.com\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ssww.com\/blog\/hoola-hoop-clip\/#primaryimage"},"datePublished":"2015-05-18T12:57:56+00:00","dateModified":"2026-06-12T18:03:11+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ssww.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/067fa565b8672b10ade872f1f91d5a82"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ssww.com\/blog\/hoola-hoop-clip\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.ssww.com\/blog\/hoola-hoop-clip\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.ssww.com\/blog\/hoola-hoop-clip\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.ssww.com\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"3D Printers and Product Creation"}]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.ssww.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/067fa565b8672b10ade872f1f91d5a82","name":"Staff Blogger","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/www.ssww.com\/blog\/#personlogo","inLanguage":"en-US","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8e35c2a3741b91db8c258e940c9e94c1?s=96&d=blank&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8e35c2a3741b91db8c258e940c9e94c1?s=96&d=blank&r=g","caption":"Staff Blogger"}}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.ssww.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/3D-hoop-clips.jpg","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p5ZmKf-8a","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ssww.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/506"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ssww.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ssww.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ssww.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ssww.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=506"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/www.ssww.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/506\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":41753,"href":"https:\/\/www.ssww.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/506\/revisions\/41753"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ssww.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/551"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ssww.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=506"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ssww.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=506"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ssww.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=506"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}