Automated and Live Help: The Best of Both Worlds

If you’ve had much contact with Proto Labs™ — our products, our quarterly Journal, monthly design tips, online design guides and the like — you know about our automated processes. Available 24/7, FirstQuote^® and ProtoQuote^® interactive quotes can supply free detailed design feedback and pricing overnight based on your uploaded 3D CAD model.

Both are incredibly smart systems, running on the industry’s largest compute cluster, but sometimes you just need to talk to a human expert. That’s what our customer service engineers (CSEs) are here for.

Nobody knows your needs better than you do, but our CSEs eat, sleep, and breathe machined and injection molded plastic parts, so there’s hardly a parts-related question they can’t answer.

• Is there something in your ProtoQuote or FirstQuote design analysis that you’d like to talk about? Call us.
• Wondering about the right resin for a specific need, whether a sharp corner will cause stress in your finished part, or the possibility of sink in a thick wall? That’s what we’re here for.
• Wondering how to eliminate or minimize draft requirements? If there’s a way, we’ll know about it.
• What about the possibility of knit lines weakening a molded part?

Our CSEs can run a computerized ProtoFlow^® analysis that you can download to see how resin will flow into the mold and whether it will cause potential problems.

Once you get a layout for approval, we can work with you on matters of gate and ejector pin placement to make sure that they don't effect your part’s functioning or cosmetics. And once you’ve received your parts, we’re still here to help. Prototypes are often just one step in a process, so if you’re thinking about further modifications, our CSEs are available to help with those critical decisions or just to be a second pair of eyes. It’s all part of our commitment to you, our customer. We’re here to get you prototypes that work and to do it in days or weeks (rather than months) and at prices you can afford.

The final decisions are yours, of course, but we’ve got smart systems and smart people standing by to help. For automated assistance, information, and quotes go to protolabs.com. For live help, call us at 877-479-3680.

ProtoQuote is new and improved! Try it out today:

Upload your 3D CAD model and we will e-mail you an informative quote.

ProtoFlow® Analysis
Select ProtoQuotes include a ProtoFlow analysis to predict potential mold fill issues.
Watch a video demo.

Design Guidelines

As always, you can visit the Protomold Design Guide for helpful Rapid Injection Molding design information.

Plastics Trivia Question

Poll (Trivia is still on summer vacation): Do you think you'd be likely to use the free services of Proto Labs CSEs?

 A. I know exactly what I want and how to get it, so thanks but no thanks.

 B. I think that between my knowledge and ProtoQuote/FirstQuote, I can probably get what I need.

 C. I’ve never contacted a CSE for help, but it’s nice to know they’re there.

 D. I’ve actually spoken to a CSE about something I was doing or thinking about doing.

 E. Thank goodness for CSEs; I don’t know how I’d get by without them.

Last month's question/results:
Poll: How familiar are you with the use of side actions in injection molding?

A. I regularly design injection-molded parts that require side actions.

B. I am comfortable with design that requires side actions, but I only use it occasionally.

C. I think I could design parts that require side actions, but I haven't actually done so.

D. I'm still not sure how to use side actions.

E. I just got here. What are side actions?

The correct answer is:
.

The responses are represented in the following chart:

Suggestions

Please e-mail suggested topics for future Design Tips, questions for future Designer Surveys, and obscure bits of Plastics Trivia to news@protomold.com.