Selective laser sintering (SLS) relies on CO2 laser for heating and fusing durable thermoplastic powders, creating versatile parts with high elongation at break. It is among the popular additive manufacturing or 3D printing technologies for building parts for various applications, such as production tools, aerospace, aviation, machine components, and wearables. A reputable SLS printing service would use powder nylon (PA12) and its variants, such as glass-filled, to create custom prototypes and end-use parts.

CNC machining is a manufacturing technology and methodology that keeps evolving with new technological breakthroughs. It keeps up with the latest product trends and manufacturing requirements. CNC machining services provide high-precision, high-speed, and reliable rapid part manufacturing solutions to build custom plastic or metal products with a series of drill bits and tools. If you’re like most discerning product designers or engineers, you may want to choose them for their cost-effectiveness, efficiency, speed, accuracy, and safety.

Injection molding may be the rapid tooling solution you’re looking for to produce low-volume production-grade parts from production resins. It’s a form of end-use prototype manufacturing that lets you make prototypes similar to production parts with reduced costs and lead times. You just have to ensure you’re choosing the right injection molding services that can deliver what they promise. Here are the things you should keep in mind to make an informed choice.

Cast urethane parts or vacuum casting can produce high-quality parts quickly and cost-effectively without the lead time and expenses associated with production tooling. Many manufacturing companies in China may offer the service, but not all of them are as reliable as HLH Prototypes. You can rely on them to cast parts of any size to make any product, such as car bumpers and headphones. The company carries a wide range of materials to suit your project.

Are you building a prototype plastic part? It’s crucial to pick a suitable material, but that process can become intimidating as different plastics vary in durability, aesthetics, and strength. Even when prototyping, you’ll want to produce a production-grade prototype that lets you evaluate your product’s performance in the real world. Here are some tips to reduce your guesswork in choosing plastics for your prototype.

Are you looking for a fast and accurate solution to producing parts and prototypes? Consider low-volume injection molding as one of your options. This rapid prototyping technique is incredibly reliable and offers high precision, giving it an edge over other alternatives. But like any other technology, rapid injection molding has its disadvantages.

China is a known manufacturing powerhouse in the world, but this doesn’t make it easier to find the ideal machining specialist for your project. There are many options available, and while they serve international and local clients, only a handful are proven reliable and cost-effective, making them highly preferred by discerning product designers, engineers, and manufacturing companies. Here are tips to help you pick the right CNC machining services in China.

Discerning product engineers, designers, and manufacturers rely on 3D printing services in China to create functional and aesthetic models, low-volume production parts, master patterns or models, and quick fit, form, and function prototypes. Reputable and established service providers are versatile in their offerings by investing in the latest technologies in additive manufacturing. Apart from Selective Laser Sintering (SLS), Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM), and stereolithography (SLA), they offer solutions like Direct Metal Laser Sintering (DMLS) and ProJet MJP.

DMLS, or direct metal laser sintering, applies a high-wattage and precise laser to fuse powdered metals and alloys, creating fully functional metal components based on your CAD data. DMLS prototyping allows you to remove time-consuming aspects in product development, such as tooling. Moreover, it allows you to build objects with complex geometries cost-effectively and quickly from a range of materials, such as aluminum, titanium, copper, stainless steel, and tool steel.

Additive manufacturing or 3D printing continues to influence the future of manufacturing as it opens more prototyping and low-volume end-use possibilities. Today, you can access many 3D printing technologies, with SLA and SLS among the widely used ones. Both are known to provide high-quality precision prototypes and parts, but some projects may require an SLS prototype over another made through SLA. Knowing the differences between these two methods can help you make an informed choice for your project.

Googling the best prototype companies will result in many options that can overwhelm you. However, they are not one-size-fits-all. Depending on your needs, what’s best for another business may not be for you. That’s why you must think about your requirements and design to pick a suitable prototyping partner.

Sheet metal is a hard-wearing material that is easy to manipulate into your desired geometry using various techniques. Prototyping with this material allows for an inexpensive and quick process, especially when you need enclosures, housings, and other components for communications and medical products. Service providers also offer various metals for building sheet metal prototypes, including stainless steel, aluminum, brass, cold-rolled steel, and galvanized steel.