ProPlate

A catheter design team is in late-stage prototype on a steerable electrophysiology platform. The mechanics are right. The shaft construction is right. The pull wire actuation feels clean at the handle. But the deflection is inconsistent across units. Some tips curl smoothly to the target angle. Others whip past it. Some return to neutral cleanly. Others hold a residual bias. The team checks the wire tension, the braid layup, the handle linkage. Everything passes inspection. T

Endoscopic instrument design is one of those areas where the plating decision gets made too late. The mechanical engineering is finished, the substrate is locked in, and then someone realizes the distal tip needs to show up under fluoroscopy, the hinge needs to stay free, and the electrode needs to deliver clean energy without signal loss. Plating becomes a finishing problem instead of what it actually is: a design problem. Teams developing endoscopes, micro-forceps, electros