The Upload

Desktop 3D printers are an attractive option for some companies—but how well will they work for you?

Unique products are amazing until parts break and you can’t obtain replacements. Enter 3D printing.

New EDM technology rapidly removes printed parts from build plates, reducing cost and lead time.

3D printing offers a wealth of opportunities to iterate rapid prototypes for testing and more.

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.

There’s one fundamental thing you need to know about threading and assembling inserts into 3D-printed parts: What you can and can’t manufacture depends on the material properties of both the part and the insert. A second thing to keep in mind: It pays to design for standard taps and inserts whenever possible.

At our current point in time in the evolution of additive manufacturing, 3D printing serves as both a blessing and a curse with young engineers—thankfully, Protolabs gets it.

We recently hosted a customer roundtable on leveraging 3D printing for end-use production. Listeners got a behind-the-scenes look at how tech startup, OVR Technology, used HP Multi Jet Fusion 3D printing to reduce development time on its R&D product roadmap.

The crew at Hacksmith Industries are pros in taking fictional ideas from comics, movies, and video games, and making actual functioning prototypes. So naturally, we teamed up to help them create creating the world’s fastest grappling hook winch, made famous on The Mandalorian series.

Explore the variables involved in calculating the cost of 3D-printed parts.

A speedier method for one of the fastest 3D printing processes and new light-sensing, color changing material top this month’s search for innovation.

Explore options available for building and post-processing clear parts for 3D printing.