Design Aid Shows Resins and Materials Interacting

By DE Editors

Proto Labs (Maple Plain, MN), an online manufacturer of custom CNC-machined and plastic-injection molded parts for prototyping and short-run production, has introduced a new design aid that demonstrates the interaction of resins and surface finishes available from its Protomold injection molding division. The aid, called the Protogami, is available to those involved with the design or purchase of prototype or low-volume parts. Some assembly is required.

The Protogami.

The Protogami is made up of 3-dimensional flexagons that, when fully assembled, create a kaleidocycle that exposes a different set of faces as it is rotated. Protogami’s framework is made of polypropylene, and the parts were designed to be produced in a straight-pull mold. Each rotation of the Protogami displays six distinct resins side-by-side in one of four finishes. This demonstrates that the look of a particular finish can vary depending on the resin to which it is applied.

Resins include actel, thermoplastic elastomer (TPE), acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS), high-density polyethylene (HDPE), polycarbonate (PC), and glass-filled nylon (PA-GF). Finishes include two industry standards from the Society of the Plastics Industry (SPI) and two Protomold proprietary finishes. The former are SPI-A2 (grade #2 diamond buff, 1-2Ra) and SPI-C1 (600 grit stone, 10-12Ra). The Protomold proprietary finishes are a non-cosmetic finish to Protomold discretion known as PM-FO and a Protomold texture, SPI-C1 followed by a medium bead blast, designated PM-T2.

Protogami comes with a fold-out informational guide on the materials and finishes as well assembly instructions.

Register to receive your Protogami here.

Learn more about the Protomold injection-modeling service.

View an interactive demo on Protomold price quoting capability.

Learn more about Protolabs’ Firstcut CNC service.

Register to receive a demo model of the Protomold Torus.

See why DE’s editors selected Protogami as their Pick of the Week.

Sources: Press materials received from the company and additional information gleaned from the company’s website.