Proto Labs posts new speed record with System 3R as co-driver

When it is seen how Proto Labs uses a System 3R pallet system in the ever tougher “lead time race”, it is easy to see why the company asserts that it is the world’s fastest supplier of both CNC milled and injection moulded components.

When it comes to speed, operational reliability and repeatable precision, Protomold and Firstcut, the two elements in the company’s operations, both benefit greatly from System 3R’s Macro system. This applies equally to the manufacture of moulding tools and the milling of components.

All workpieces are mounted on Macro pallets. Thanks to the properties inherently offered by the patented 3Refix system’s guaranteed positioning, they can then be moved from one machining process to another without jeopardising precision, no matter how many such moves the total process requires.

“Over the last four years, System 3R has undoubtedly helped us cut lead times considerably, if not to say dramatically. Speed is the essence of our mission to supply customers with injection moulded or machined components,” reveals Lee Ball, production director.

“Protomold is really fast in supplying injection moulded parts to customers. We would not be able to produce moulding tools fast enough if we couldn’t first make the necessary graphite electrodes. Macro is with us all the way. Furthermore, the system is so easy to use!”

By combining the production processes in its Haas CNC milling machines and Agie-Charmilles die-sinking EDM machines, Proto Labs can rapidly supply parts made in the desired material. This is vital not only in each prototype project but also in the production of test pieces and the reproduction of unavailable, obsolete or faulty components. Proto Labs also lends a helping hand when inventors need a “working model” based on initial ideas and drawings. What if Leonardo da Vinci had had this possibility!

Protomold can produce multicavity moulds in sizes up to 750 x 500 x 200 mm. Very cost efficiently and at very short notice, it can also deliver injection moulded parts in series up to 10,000. This is something it had to do for Asylum, the production company that was responsible for a memorable Santander advertising campaign on British TV last year. The resultant large red plastic bricks were used in the advert to build an exact scale model of McLaren’s F1 car.

Macro pallets transport the mounted electrodes precisely and securely in the EDM process from the tool exchanger. With the same precision, workpieces are positioned in Macro chucks on the CNC milling machine’s machine table. Stability is thus assured and the pallet, along with the workpieces, can be easily lifted out if an urgent job comes in. This gives great flexibility in the production process. There is no negative impact on precision and reliability when preprogrammed job cycles are interrupted.

“Our customers’ rapidity to the market is mirrored in the rapid service we can give them. Nowadays, speed is important on the ever more competitive global market,” states Lee. “We could never have achieved our reputation as ‘the world’s fastest’ without System 3R’s help in setting the pace!”