Sleeves unitarily formed by additive manufacturing for mounting on rotating shafts of commercial printing machinery

A sleeve for mounting on a mandrel of a commercial printing machine, which mandrel in operation of the commercial printing machine is rotatably driven about an axis of rotation of the mandrel, which defines a fixed length and an external surface from the axis of rotation of the mandrel, the sleeve comprising:

• a core defining a hollow shell having a length elongating along a central axis of rotation of the sleeve;
• wherein the core defines an inner surface that defines a hollow interior extending along the length of the hollow shell;
• wherein the core defines an outer surface that is spaced apart in a thickness distance from the inner surface, wherein the thickness distance is measured in a radial direction from the central axis of rotation of the sleeve;
• wherein the thickness distance of the core is configured to render a diameter of the core resiliently expandable and contractable by a selective introduction and removal of pressurized air between the external surface of the mandrel and the inner surface of the core in a manner sufficient to permit the sleeve to be selectively mounted onto the mandrel, tightly grip the mandrel to render the core non-rotatable with respective to the mandrel, and dismounted from the mandrel;
• wherein the inner surface of the core is continuous and devoid of any radial deviation along a length thereof at least equal to the fixed length of the mandrel;
• wherein the core is formed of a thermoplastic material;
• an intermediate shell elongating along the central axis of rotation of the sleeve and defining an inner surface defining an interior space between the intermediate shell and the core;
• and
• a first support structure elongating along the central axis of rotation of the sleeve and disposed in the interior space between the intermediate shell and the core and configured to resiliently expand and contract between the core and the intermediate shell during respective mounting and dismounting of the sleeve on the mandrel of the commercial printing machine.