What are the key aspects of rapid prototyping

Successful rapid prototyping could be the difference between beating your competition to market or heading back to the drawing board. Lucky for you, one of our Application Engineers, Tommy DuPuy, shared some of his tips for successful rapid prototyping.

Application Awareness
What is the prototype going to be used for? Most likely it will fit into one of the four group types below:
Testing Prototype – Form testing, fit and assembly testing, functional testing, ergonomics testing
Marketing Prototype – Focus groups, sales and marketing models, graphic design & packaging, communication tools
Tooling Prototype – Vacuum forming, plastic injection molding, rapid tooling, metal forming
Manufacturing Prototype – Jigs & fixtures, transportation, inserts, production line testing

These groups focus on a different applications. For example, prototypes used for marketing purposes will need more emphasis on aesthetics and how you want your end-product to look. But, if your prototype is for testing, you need to make sure it has the strength and functionality of what you want the end-product to act as.

Access to Equipment and Materials
3D printing materials Once you have figured out what group your application fits into, you then must decide the type of material you want to use. The application drives materials. As we stated before, all printers are different and offer different materials, which can be better or worse for your application. Printers are also different in the way they build a part which also influences your end product. The printer and materials you have on hand may not always be sufficient for how you want your prototype to be, so it’s important to take stock before you start.

Quality
As discussed previously the fidelity or the accuracy of the product required will dictate what type of process and post-processing you would need. The quality of the prototype as compared to your final product or subcomponent also needs to be considered. As high-fidelity prototypes cost more, they should be considered in terms of return on investment.

The life of the prototype is also crucial when deciding the technology. For example, if the parts have fasteners that will be used frequently, then machined or metal inserts are a better option than 3D printed threaded or self-tapping holes.

Material selection also plays a vital role in terms of the quality of the prototype. If the functional elements are linked to special material properties, such as surface finish and durability, then choosing additive manufactured parts might not be the best choice.

Quantity
The number of required prototype parts are essential in deciding the process as some prototyping technologies are only cost-effective for smaller quantities. For additive manufacturing parts volume also plays a crucial part in costing as bigger parts will require more time to print compared to smaller parts. As a rule of thumb, the following rules apply.

Complexity
The complexity of the part and intricacy of the features will also dictate the rapid prototype process selection. Additive manufacturing is good for producing very complicated small parts, but one should be cautious about the final design because of complicated means very expensive mass production.

Parts that are eventually produced by injection moulding, various forms of castings can be prototyped using 3D printing while machined parts can be 3d printed or manufactured using conventional forming or subtractive manufacturing processes.

WKproto is a professional rapid prototyping and low-volume production manufacture specializing in 3D printing, CNC machining, and Vacuum Casting. Our factory and parter factories enable rapid prototyping of designs from our customers and low volume production for market verification.

We have three factories. 3D printing factory meets the demands of most 3D printing services with 100 SLA machines, 10 SLS machines, 10 MJF machines, 10 SLM machines, and 20 FDM machines. CNC machining factories for processing metals, plastic and more materials with more than 200 machines for CNC milling/CNC lathes/EDM / Wire EDM and the Vacuum Casting factory is for low volume production for ABS、PC、PP、PE、PA、POM、PMMA、PVC.