Online manufacturing portal Protolabs has added the Carbon platform to its portfolio of production-grade additive manufacturing technologies, launching in the USA this month.
“We are committed to supporting that demand in a technology-agnostic manner so that our customers get the best possible parts from the best possible 3D printing technology,” said Greg Thompson, Protolabs’ global product manager for 3D printing.
Thompson added that the technology will be going through an extensive internal assessment – giving it the ability to print parts with high reliability and repeatability, and helping to provide design expertise to customers to get the best out of more advanced designs associated with 3D printing using the Carbon platform.
RPU70, a rigid polyurethane with properties similar to an ABS, is one of the first materials available through Protolabs
“Carbon’s software technology can help develop both a range of lattice design and unique surface finish treatments similar to Mold-Tech finishes,” said Thompson. “However, these are not part of the standard software packages for the DLS technology and would be a collaborative project with our customer, Protolabs, and Carbon’s internal engineering team.”
RPU70, a rigid polyurethane with properties similar to an ABS and FPU50, a flexible polyurethane that is similar to a molded Polypropylene will be the first materials available through Protolabs.
Assuming all goes well there’s some scope for Carbon-built parts for Protolabs customers in the UK in the future.
“Currently all of our Carbon capacity is located in the United States. We are excited to learn from the launch in the US market and bring the Carbon technology to Europe when appropriate,” Thompson concluded.
Protolabs is one of largest suppliers of custom 3D printing services in the world, producing more than 100,000 printed components every month across six different additive manufacturing technologies.
“An important part of Carbon’s strategy is to empower engineers around the world to design and bring to market better products made with Carbon’s Digital Light Synthesis technology. We’re proud to partner with Protolabs, a key player in the industry, to make the Carbon Platform accessible to its customers,” said Phil DeSimone, Carbon’s chief customer officer and co-founder.
