The Upload

The majority of the roughly 2 million packages stolen each year happen in December, as holiday shopping ramps up and the world awaits near-daily Amazon deliveries. This year we're helping Mark Rober with his latest Glitter Bomb creation.

Perennial fan-favorite, DUCK!, is ready to take on foes large and small, this winter on The Discovery Channel’s popular program, BattleBots. Powered by Protolabs, the wily veteran of several seasons has some great new features in version 3.0.

Part of the confusion could lie in the history and development of the technology. Over the past several decades, 3D printing has earned a solid reputation as an essential process for prototyping parts.

Speed to react to a shifting economy is creating a new set of standards for product and process development. All this leads us to a new set of challenges causing a re-evaluation of strategies for design and process verification and validation.

Our new digital quoting platform took home the gold in the software category of the 2021 LEAP (Leadership in Engineering Achievement Program) Awards.

When you’re printing really large parts in metal, it’s great to have a choice of materials. Aluminum and Inconel 718 both make a lot of sense, but which one is the best for your application?

Often, injection molding is considered the most cost-effective production option for SKUs with estimated annual usage in the low-thousands for volume. It comes down to economies of scale—you just set up once to run tens or hundreds of thousands of parts. The highest volumes often bring you the lowest per unit price tags. But, the production setting also typically carries something else with it if you’re thoughtful—cost control, and lots of it.

Machined surface finishes are typically adequate for most parts, but sometimes the standard finish needs to be modified for aesthetic or functional purposes.

Our injection molding facility in Plymouth, Minn. has been inducted into the World Economic Forum’s Global Lighthouse Network, recognizing our industry leading efforts to implement Fourth Industrial Revolution technologies.

Tough economic times and supply chain woes require advanced design and production techniques for injection molding. Digital manufacturing keeps you on-time with automation that helps avoid hiccups in your supply chain.

Supply chains are critical to success, but are often incredibly complicated. Let’s take a look at external supply chains within the National Laboratory system and how digital manufacturing fits in.

Sometimes the coolest inventions are right at your fingertips. The Finger Flyer Hoverboard is a fun toy, but also a great teaching tool that explores aerodynamics. Find out how we helped manufacture this remote control-free quadcopter drone.