Protolabs Announces Carbon DLS Launch

Digital manufacturer Protolabs has added the Carbon platform to its portfolio of production-grade additive manufacturing (AM) technologies. With Carbon Digital Light Synthesis (DLS), Protolabs’ customers can move into production faster and more cost-efficiently than ever before with 3D printing.

“We recognize that market demand for additive manufacturing has moved beyond prototyping and is being leveraged to create fully functional parts at much larger scale,” says Greg Thompson, Protolabs’ global product manager for 3D printing. “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.”

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.

“We’re very excited about the manufacturing options the Carbon technology offers to our customers,” says Vicki Holt, President and CEO at Protolabs. “It provides a cost-effective production solution for geometric complexities that cannot be molded or otherwise fabricated. We are committed to maintaining our market leadership in being a single source supplier for on-demand services across a multitude of manufacturing methods, and Carbon will help us do that.”

Carbon DLS is frequently used for intricate designs that are challenging to mold and durable 3D-printed components for end-use applications. Protolabs is offering materials comparable to ABS and polycarbonate, which have consistent mechanical properties akin to injection molding.