Rapid Prototyping

Intorduction

Rapid Prototyping helps design and turn ideas into reality quickly and efficiently, enabling real-time product design feedback and concept testing. It is a group of techniques used to quickly fabricate a scale model of a physical part or assembly using 3D CAD design data.

Benifits

Limitless design - 3D printing is capable of producing shapes impossible to make with traditional manufacturing techniques.
Short time to market - Fast and efficient prototyping stage leads to shorter time to market, so a new product can bring in revenue sooner.
In-house fabrication - Functional testing parts & Prototypes are made entirely in-house which contributes to better intellectual property protection.
No lead times- R&D staff can iterate through different designs rapidly which make their work more efficient.

Workflow in rapid prototyping:

STEP 1

CAD design: A new product is designed using a CAD software.

STEP 2

Digital pre-processing: A set of instructions is created based on the CAD model for the 3D Printer.

STEP 3

3D printing: A model is fabricated on a 3D printer.

STEP 4

Evaluation: A physical prototype can be used for testing or can be used as a functional testing.