Pavel and Štěpán met at primary school and successfully graduated from the same technical high school in České Budějovice. Pavel then went on to the University of West Bohemia in Pilsen, Faculty of Electrical Engineering, while Štěpán chose the Czech Technical University in Prague, also the Faculty of Electrical Engineering. 

THE ORIGIN OF PROTOPRINT
The common idea to develop the field of 3D printing was born during an unexpected meeting a few years later. Thanks to valuable experience, PROTOPRINT was founded in 2016 and the friends joined forces to help bring value to the dynamically growing additive manufacturing market. The development of a delta 3D printer (PROTOPRINT DELTA), the concept of which was already on paper at the time, was in full swing. During two years of prototyping, testing and consulting with the 3D printing community, it became increasingly apparent that the fundamental problems that plagued many 3D printer owners were not just the design itself, but also the material fusion system.

HOT-END TITAN and RAPTOR
In 2018, PROTOPRINT has shifted its efforts from the vast majority to the development of the TITAN hot-end, which will be compatible with most FDM/FFF 3D printers, size-matched to the most widely used hotends, and will excel in most comparable features to other hotends on the market. The technical challenge was solved only after abandoning all existing concepts and designing an ingenious system of homogeneous heating in the inner ring core of the heat element and insulating it from the external environment with Zirconia ceramics (used, among others, in the space industry). Thanks to this insulation, less heat is radiated to the surrounding environment and energy savings are achieved. The positioning of the temperature sensor in the contact zone of the heating element ensures very accurate sensing without thermal inertia.

The final name of the latest generation hot-end RAPTOR is a compound of the words "RApid ProTOtyping Repeater". The entire design of the heating system is patent-pending since 2020 and is the only solution of its kind on the market.

RAPTOR NOZZLE
Part of the concept for the entire hot-end was the design of a very simple "cold change" nozzle system while eliminating material spillage, something every large printer has encountered more than once. In addition, the RAPTOR Nozzle has special coatings to ensure extreme hardness, abrasion resistance and excellent slip resistance. These features also make it one of the top performers in demanding extrusion applications such as printing carbon filaments and high-temperature industrial polymers. It is worth noting that the integrated thermal brake system on the nozzle itself is also patent-pending.

DURABLACK
After successful testing, feasibility verification and fine-tuning of technical shortcomings with RICE, the plan was to also produce a regular size nozzle that would be compatible with the vast majority of hot-ends on the market so as to bring the ability to print demanding materials to customers who are not yet considering hot-end replacement. The parameters and features of the nozzle have been kept identical to the RAPTOR Nozzle. The DURABLACK nozzle is thus one of the top nozzles on the market.The name represents its features and appearance. Durable & Black = DURABLACK.

Pavel and Stepan's goal has always been to take the world of 3D printing one step further and provide professional tools to make 3D printing easier, more controllable and therefore more affordable. Today they are working hard on a prototype of the ultra-light Dual-Direct-Drive extruder THUNDER which should combine all the advantages of the solutions developed so far.

Pavel "Marko" Sedláček and Štěpán Janás