About Us
Our Design & Engineering team is committed to creating the best possible solutions for your project needs. We brand, design, and engineer your project to perfection with detail-oriented workmanship and innovative creativity.
Protoduction 3D partners with businesses to transform ideas into tangible, high-quality 3D printed parts. From design optimization to expert printing and post-processing, we streamline your journey, saving you time and resources.
What We Do
Protoduction 3D invests in the latest additive manufacturing technologies to provide superior quality prototypes and low volume production. From small, intricate stereolithography models requiring high-resolution, to the largest SLS and MJF printing for more production grade parts. With a vast portfolio of material choices and additive manufacturing technology processes to choose from, we provide a custom solution to fit your needs. In addition to additive manufacturing, we also provide 3D scanning services from scan data to solid model, as well as scanning parts for inspection results. Protoduction 3D clients receive unparalleled personalized service resulting in exceptional high-quality products and on-time delivery
Technology at Our Disposal
Multi Jet Fusion (MJF) By HP
Multi Jet Fusion is a powder-based technology but does not use lasers. The powder bed is heated uniformly at the outset. A fusing agent is jetted where particles need to be
selectively molten, and a detailing agent is jetted around the contours to improve part resolution. While lamps pass over the surface of the powder bed, the jetted material captures the heat and helps distribute it evenly.
Ideal applications for HP Multi Jet Fusion:
- Low-volume production of complex end-use parts
- Prototypes for form, fit and function testing
- Prototypes with mechanical properties to rival those of injection-molded parts
- Series of small components as a cost-effective alternative to injection molding
Stereolithography
Stereolithography or SLA is a form of 3D printing technology that creates parts in a layer by layer fashion using photo polymerization of a resin. Each resin layer is about as thin as a piece of human hair. Those thin layers then make up the body of the solid 3D part. Ultraviolet light cures each resin layer until the complete part has formed.
Ideal applications for Stereolithography:
- Proof-of-concept models
- Transparent parts
- Sacrificial pattern for casting metals
- Hearing aids and other medical devices (bio-compatible material)
Direct Metal Printing
Direct Metal Printing (DMP) is a high precision laser directed 3D printing process that uses metal powder particles to selectively build up thin horizontal layers one after the other. This allows for the production of metal parts with challenging geometries that are not possible using traditional subtractive of casting technologies.
Ideal applications for Direct Metal Printing:
- Production of small and extremely complex shapes with no need for tooling
- High quality parts ideal for R&D and serial part manufacturing at the tightest tolerances
- Topology optimized parts and mass customization
- Complex and thin-walled structures allow significant part weight reduction
Selective Laser Sintering
Selective laser sintering (SLS) is a process that uses a high-power laser to sinter small particles of polymer powder into a solid structure based on a CAD model. SLS has been a popular choice for engineers and manufacturers for decades because of its low cost, high productivity, and variety of materials.
Ideal applications for Selective Laser:
- Wind-tunnel test models
- Design verification
- Patterns for investment casting
- Short run end-use components
Benefits of 3D Printing
Time-to-Market
3D printing allows ideas to develop faster than ever. Being able to 3D print a concept the same day it was designed shrinks a development process from what might have been months to a matter of days, helping companies stay one step ahead of the competition
Save Money
Prototyping injection mold tools and production runs are expensive investments. The 3D printing process allows the creation of parts and/or tools through additive manufacturing at rates much lower than traditional machining.
Mitigate Risk
Being able to verify a design before investing in an expensive molding tool is worth its weight in 3D printed plastic, and then some. Printing a production-ready prototype builds confidence before making these large investments. It is far cheaper to 3D print a test prototype then to redesign or alter an existing mold.
Clear Communication
Describing the product you are going to deliver is often misinterpreted since it leaves construction up to the imagination. A conceptual picture of the product is better than the description since it is worth 1,000 words, but getting to hold the tangible product-to-be, in hand, clears all lines of communication. There is no ambiguity when holding the exact, or at least a very close, representation of the product.
Feedback
With a prototype you can test the market by unveiling it at a trade-show, showing it to potential buyers or investors, or raising capital by pre-selling on Indiegogo or Kickstarter. Getting buyers’ response to the product before it actually goes into production is a valuable way to verify the product has market potential.
Get The Feel
One thing you can’t get from a picture or virtual prototype on the computer screen is the way something feels in your hand. If you want to ensure the ergonomics and fit of a product are just right, you must actually hold it, use it and test it.
Personalize It
With standard mass-production, all parts come off the assembly line or out of the mold the same. With 3D printing, one can personalize, customize and tweak a part to uniquely fit their needs, which allows for custom fits in the medical and dental industries and helps set people apart in the fashion and jewelry world.
Build Your Imagination
In the modern boom of digital art and design, the possibilities are not only accelerating but limitless. One can now 3D print almost anything they imagine after drawing it up virtually. In a relatively short time, an idea, concept, dream or invention can go from a simple thought to a produced part that you can hold.
Square Hole?... No Problem!
The limitations of standard machining have constrained product design for years. With the improvements in additive manufacturing, now the possibilities are endless. Geometry that has been historically difficult or impossible to build; like holes that change direction,
unrealistic overhangs, or square interior cavities, is now possible and actually simple to construct
Fail Fast, Fail Cheap
Being able to test ideas quickly and discover what doesn’t work accelerates discovery leading to an ideal solution. 3D printing allows a product developer to make breakthroughs at early stages that are relatively inexpensive leading to better products and less expensive dead-ends.
