3D Printing is great! Now what?

The product design and development process demands the use of a vast array of digital and physical tools.

If you don’t work with a full service prototyping bureau like Prototype Projects, you’ll need to know your way around not just the CAD software used at the start of the process but also the myriad prototyping processes.

Knowing which process to specify at each stage of the product development process and the properties that can be achieved from each process is not always as straightforward as it sounds

Neither is knowing when not to use certain prototyping processes!

Design software, 3D scanning hardware and software, simulation software, SLA, vacuum casting, FDM, Laser Sintering and CNC milling are just some of the tools that are available to product designers and design engineers from the earliest concept phase of their product development.

Plus, apart from the prototyping processes themselves, a range of finishing procedures (for instance spray painting) are available to add final detail to presentation or concept prototypes and enhance the impression of a finished product.

Unless the product designer knows pretty much everything about the possibilities, it can be hard to specify exactly what’s required at the end point.

Usually there is no substitute for research and leg work to find the right solution(s).

Unless, that is, your prototyping partner offers expert advice as part of their service.

Back to 3D printing.

It has many applications, but it also has limitations which arise simply from the fact that it is an ‘additive manufacturing’ technique – which means it’s not always the most suitable or appropriate of technologies to use.

In its favour, 3D printing offers designers and engineers a highly effective prototyping method for proving concepts, where fast turnaround and complex shapes are involved and where cost-effective multiple iterations are needed.

But it’s not always the answer.

The point is this: it is always worth assessing the right prototyping method for your particular part requirement.

3D printing might be the answer, but there are lots of other tried and tested traditional prototyping methods to look at too.

If you want to know more about what’s right for your own unique requirement, it pays to ask your prototyping bureau. After all they’re the prototyping experts.