The Upload

Learn the key benefits of integrating onshore suppliers into your supply chain to better respond to global events and challeneges.

Choosing to use ABS, polycarbonate (PC), or combining them is a popular way to get strong machined, printed, or molded parts. There are a lot of similarities, but also some significant differences that might help you find just the right one for your parts.

Industry 4.0. is unfolding in real time and the conversation on digitization, automation, and the present and future state of manufacturing is generating quite a buzz. Let’s unpack some common buzzwords we hear on the subject and how they relate to digital manufacturing.

Despite their widely varying applications, many electronic devices have at least one thing in common—the circuit boards and other components that make them work are all in an enclosure.

When comparing potential manufacturing processes against criteria like price and lead-time, there are many things to keep in mind. Different processes require different processing times, different types of materials, and most likely, different part design requirements and considerations. Today, we’re going to cover part design cost drivers.

The automotive industry’s accelerated move to a future of software-based, battery-powered, electric and autonomous vehicles (EVs, AVs) has been well documented.

When it comes to getting a fabricated sheet metal part that is consistent with a complex set of technical requirements, ensuring that a supplier has all the necessary information to generate an accurate quote is the first (and most important) hurdle to cross.

Protolabs also won a Leadership Award in the “Collaborative Ecosystem” category, specifically honoring our new digital quoting platform and revamped digital thread.

Thin walls in injection-molded parts can present a variety of issues. Dive into these considerations to ensure optimal part molding and performance.

Hey! Who’s a fan of organic chemistry? [crickets] OK, you may not have liked studying it, but without those chains of carbon-based molecules life would be rough. So here at Protolabs we’re all about paying our respects to those special groups of bonded atoms called polymers.

There’s one of only a few 3D printing processes that is possible at both a desktop- and industrial-level. It’s fused deposition modeling (FDM), although you’ll sometimes see it referred to as fused filament fabrication (FFF). It’s a great printing process to create prototype parts to test fit and form. Because it prints using thermoplastic material, it also delivers parts that are functional when in a high-heat environment, or when exposed to chemicals or mechanical stress.

A game-changing innovation race with high market-share stakes is taking place in the automotive sector these days as the industry makes a quantum shift from internal combustion engines (ICEs) to electric vehicles.