Post Injection Moulding Part Drilling & Tapping

 

Hole and thread provision post process for Injection Moulding parts. Drilling: The process of adding holes that may be too small to mould or are too costly to incorporate into the tool configuration or process.Tapping: Tapping is when a hole in the part is modified in order to allow for screws to be inserted – the tapping process creates a thread within the hole.Typical lead times of 3 - 5+ business days

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3D Printed Metal Part Post Machining

 

3D metal printing or (DMLS) provides the ability to design parts that can free the designer to explore and create geometries beyond the limits of any other production process.  To supplement this process, Protolabs offers a special post-processing of DMLS components to create superior surface finishes and features.

Options:

• Production of complex geometries within a short time frame

• Precise finishing of the surfaces (e.g. lustre turning)

• Compliance with exact tolerances

• Extensive selection of threads

• Building of sub-assemblies

• Typical lead times of 5+ business days

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Anodising

Benefits of anodising

• Corrosion resistance for longer life

• Hard surface for wear resistance

• Improved visual appearance

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Benefits of Protolabs combined CNC and anodising service

• Fast, anodised CNC components shipped +5 days after CAD upload

• From quantity 1, no minimum order quantity

• Simple vendor management, fully inclusive interactive quote

 

Anodising aluminium applies a thin, protective coating, forming a protective oxide layer creates a barrier against corrosion. You have the choice of decorative anodising, in a range of colours or hard anodising, the most durable anodising finish available on machined aluminium parts.

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• Quick anodising: As well as fast manufacturing, add plating in just +5 days.

• Single source partner: ISO and RoHS compliant.

• Multiple geometries and all aluminium materials.

 

Types

• Decorative anodising to ISO 7599.

• Hard anodising to ISO 10074.

• Looking for chromate coatings, find out more

 

Materials we can anodise

• Aluminium 6082 and 7075 decorative and hard anodising

 

Colour Options

• Decorative anodising: Clear and black

• Hard anodising: Clear and black

 

Blanking, plugging and masking

• Available options:

  • Blanking/ plugging of threaded holes (typically at least 1 thread is used for jigging and will be un-coated)

  • Smooth finish or matte bead blasted finish. All parts are etched before anodising, this gives a smooth finish on an "as machined" finish and a matt finish on a "light bead blast" finish.

• Unavailable: masking or post machining of specific regions and glossy finish.

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3D Printing Paint and Finishing

Protolabs provides a wide range of options for surface finishing. These services are for individual parts or entire assemblies. We operate a specially equipped finishing department, with a dedicated team to support your project from preparation to shipping of the parts.

Our finishing services include:

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• Assembly of sub-components

• Project support and individual consulting by our account management team

• Surface treatment of finished parts (e.g. grinding and polishing)

• Painting (including all preparation work)

• Paints and varnishes supplied to all applicable standards (RAL, Pantone, ...)

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Pad Printing
Industrial Pad Printing (also known as tampography or tampo printing) is a printing process that transfers a 2D image onto a 3D object by using a silicone pad to transfer the image onto virtually any shaped surface.
 

From a simple single colour digit on a medical instrument, through to a 4-colour image on a consumer electronics housing (such as a brandname or logo).

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Due to the silicone pad having unique properties, it is able to pick up the image from a flat surface and transfer it on to a variety of surfaces including: flat spherical, cylindrical, textured, concave and convex

• Typical lead times of 7+ business days

 

Materials that can be pad printed

• Plastics and Metals

Note: We will advise if some materials are not suitable for pad printing

 

What are the Benefits of Pad Printing?
 

• Permanent marking suitable for indoor & outdoor applications

• Can print on a wide variety of surfaces and finishes

• Cost effective production (no need to apply separate labels)

• Fast prototyping

• Low to high volume

• Single to full colour production

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Laser Etching

 

Laser Etching (also known and laser marking or laser engraving) utilises a highly precise laser beam to apply a permanent mark to a wide range of materials including many different plastics and metals.

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Part reference and logos can be laser etched or marked on parts where moulding in the mark is not possible. Marking aluminium parts post anodising is also available.

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• Single source partner to get finished parts shipped in days

• Typical lead times of 5+ business days

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Materials

• Plastics and metals

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Applications

• Bar codes, date codes, QR codes,

• Serial numbers, part numbers, material codes

• Copyright/trademarks and logos

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Chromate Conversion

 

Benefits of Chromate Conversion

• Helps prevent corrosion

• Retains conductive properties of aluminium.

• Good basis for paint

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Chromate Conversion coating is a type of conversion coating used to passivate aluminium alloys.
It is primarily used as a corrosion inhibitor, primer, decorative finish, or to retain electrical conductivity

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• Surtec 650 - is a hexavalent chromium free passivation for aluminium, suitable for alloyed and cast aluminium. It is also used as a pretreatment before lacquering, powder coating and gluing. Electrically it has a low contact resistance and good electrical conductivity.

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We offer

• Flexible solution across multiple geometries

• Single source partner to get finished parts shipped in days

• Typical lead times of 5+ business days

 

Types

• Surtec 650

• Looking for Anodising

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Materials

• Aluminium 6082, 7075 and 2024

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Vapour Smoothing

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If you want all the advantages of 3D printed parts – complex geometries, cost effective low production runs plus the sort of smooth finish that you get from injection moulding, thanks to vapour smoothing you can have it all for components manufactured from PA-12 (SLS), PA 11 (MJF) and Ultrasint™ TPU-01-88A (MJF).

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What is Vapour Smoothing?

Following production of the parts using selective laser sintering or Multi Jet Fusion, we transfer them into a smoothing chamber that can hold several components at one time.  They are then heated before solvent is added.  Using controlled evaporation, the vapour from this agent spreads across all of the parts’ surfaces where it creates a controlled chemical melt.  This reduces the peaks and troughs on the surface by liquifying and redistributing material evenly in a carefully controlled atmosphere.

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Once finished the equipment evacuates the finishing agent to a collection vat so there is no residue left on the parts.

 

General information

• Automatic post processing technology (therefore reliable and repeatable, also for complex geometries) to smooth surfaces

• Excellent mechanical properties from powder-based technologies and great aesthetics

• Significant reduction of surface roughness (values by material available in the material data sheets)

• Sealed surfaces (water and air tight, easy to clean)

• Improved mechanical properties (especially elongation at break and impact strength)

• It can be combined with additional post processing steps, e.g. inserts, assembly, painting

• Typical applications in the automotive industry, mechanical engineering as well as consumer products and personalised medical products

 

Design guidelines and technical considerations:

Maximal part size: 500 mm x 300 mm x 300 mm

Minimal wall thickness: 1,5 mm (thinner walls will not be properly smoothed)

Minimal hole diameter: 8,0 mm (depending also on channel length)

Depending on geometry, for PA-12 White material sintering structures may stay visible (i.e. smoothing has primarily a haptical effect – if part must be completely smooth optically, then infiltration must be requested)

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Examples of common application:

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Industrial machinery

When a customer needed a small quantity of air supply tubes, 3D printing the part allowed us to produce a solution in TPU that includes features that are hard to achieve with injection moulding, such as undercuts.  Vapour smoothing also meant that the finish was comparable to IM and ensured leak proofing for the application.

 

Medical industry

3D printing is an ideal technology for medical applications, where for example orthopedics need matching to the individual patient. Vapour smoothing allows us to produce more aesthetic designs that are comfortable, easier to clean and sweatproof.

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Automotive industry

By smoothing and leak proofing 3D printed parts, it makes them suitable for tanks, fluid bearing pipes and ducts, vale covers and oil sumps. One of our recent applications was to produce a display holder using TPU for use in a workshop or garage for testing equipment during maintenance. Vapour smoothing produced a smoother, more tactile and aesthetic solution.

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