Done right, rapid prototyping streamlines product development, providing wholly positive results.
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Here is an example: Traditional prototyping for injection molding often involves new tooling and molds for each iteration, but creating multiple, expensive steel molds to test a part may not be the best use of this technology. Rapid prototyping aims to save you money by altering that step. One way is to use injection molding with comparatively inexpensive aluminum molds, or prototyping using 3D printing, CNC machining, or sheet metal fabrication, depending on your part design. With any of these, you’ll be able to manufacture your prototype at a fraction of the cost. Depending on your needs, your final iteration can then use injection molding for high-volume production.
Rapid prototyping typically involves digital manufacturing processes, which invite collaboration during the iteration phase, using a computer-based model of a part called a digital twin—a virtual version of a physical (or soon-to-be physical) part. The digital twin travels through a virtual version of the manufacturing floor, identifying potential manufacturability issues before the real work begins. Collective stakeholders can identify any issues in the digital version of the file, respond to that, and provide input before final manufacturing begins. Once a prototype has been manufactured, that physical object can be shared with others for their evaluation.
When prototyping, you want to use the fastest manufacturing method available to make your parts. That decision will be informed by your end part, but if you just need a part manufactured for which you can test form, fit, and function, it helps to choose the simpler/faster process to enhance iteration speed. As mentioned above, there are solutions that not only speed development, but also reduce costs.
Rapid prototyping allows for fast tweaks to design so you can customize the parts you need. Whether you intend to offer end users variations of color, material, or functionality, this method will speed manufacturing of individual parts for evaluation.
No one wants to go to full production quantities without proper testing and validation. At the core of rapid prototyping is a process that can detect flaws early in the development process, either via user feedback or functional testing. This can help avoid issues later in your product’s life cycle.
Something not often thought about is the fact that rapid prototyping gets you your parts faster. That reduces costs because you avoid the expense of waiting for parts and reduce go-to-market delays. Here are some additional ways to reduce costs:
Using a digital manufacturer moves your parts from CAD model to prototype faster than traditional manufacturers. It also has the bonus of offering design for manufacturing (DFM) feedback to ensure that your part doesn’t have issues that would prevent it from being manufactured.
Remember, it’s just a prototype. This isn’t your final part. Let’s say your final product needs to be made in an expensive material, such as titanium. If all you need is to confirm basic specifications and fit, any other metal (or in some cases, even plastics) will work well when evaluating part design.
Typically, these are aesthetic or protective coatings that simply are not necessary at this stage. Unless you need to validate the fit of a finished part within your application, eliminating finishes and other secondary operations such as smoothing on prototypes will save you money and time.
Think about the elements of each part that are most crucial to you and concentrate on nailing those down. Before prototyping, it helps to have a goal regarding what you would consider a minimum viable prototype (MVP). The MVP allows you to properly evaluate how your part works within the context of your application. Aim for that and you will likely have greater success more quickly.
Additive layers of 0.002-0.006 in. (0.051-0.152mm) typical, 0.004 in. (0.mm) maximum layer thickness
Thermoplastic-like photopolymers SLS Selective Laser Sintering Laser-sintered powder Additive layers of 0.004 in. (0.102mm) typical Nylon, TPU DMLS Direct Metal Laser Sintering Laser-sintered metal powder Additive layers of 0.-0. in. (0.020-0.030mm) typical Stainless steel, titanium, chrome, aluminum, Inconel FDM Fused Deposition Modeling Fused extrusions Additive layers of 0.005-0.013 in. (0.127-0.330mm) typical ABS, PC, PC/ABS, PPSU MJF Multi Jet Fusion Inkjet array selectively fusing across bed of nylon powderAdditive layers of 0.-0.008 in. (0.089-0.203mm) typical, only 0. in. (0.080mm) offered
Black Nylon 12 PJET PolyJet UV-cured jetted photopolymerAdditive layers of 0.-0. in. (0.015-0.030mm) typical, only 0. in. (0.030mm) layers offered
Acrylic-based photopolymers, elastomeric photopolymers CNC Computer Numerically Controlled Machining Machined using CNC mills and lathes Subtractive machined (smooth) Most commodity and engineering-grade thermoplastics and metals IM Injection Molding Injection-molded using aluminum tooling Molded smooth (or with selected texture), including industrial standard finishes such as SPI grades and Mold-Tech Most commodity and engineering-grade thermoplastics, metal, and liquid silicone rubber SM Sheet Metal Fabrication Conventional press brake sheet metal fabrication including permanent hardware, and welding Orbital sanded or straight grain brushed, and “#4” (304-#4 stainless) Aluminum, stainless, steel, copper, brass, and moreUse the decision tree below to narrow down which factors are of highest importance to you based on where you are in the prototyping process, referring as needed to the definitions below this decision tree infographic.
Definitions vary and may differ at different organizations, but the definitions below may be used as a starting point.
A physical model made to demonstrate an idea. Concept models allow people from different functional areas to see the idea, stimulate thought and discussion, and drive acceptance or rejection.
Manufacturing some or all parts of an assembly, putting them together, and seeing if they fit properly. At the gross level, this checks for design errors, such as placing two tabs at 2 in. (50.8mm) spacing and the mating slots at 1 in. (25.4mm) spacing. At the fine level, this is a matter of minor dimensional differences and tolerances. Obviously, any test involving tolerances needs to use the actual manufacturing process or one which has similar tolerances.
Evaluating how a part or assembly will function when subjected to stresses representative of what it will see in its actual application.
Testing properties that may change with time and that are important for a product to remain functional throughout its expected life. Life testing often involves subjecting the product to extreme conditions (e.g., temperature, humidity, voltage, UV light, etc.) to estimate in a shorter period of time, how the product will react during its expected life.
Testing specified by a regulatory or standards organization or agency to assure parts are suitable for a particular use such as a medical, food service, or consumer application. Examples include Underwriters Laboratory (UL), the Canadian Standards Association (CSA), the U.S. Food and Drug Agency (FDA), the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC), the International Standard Organization (ISO) and the European Commission (EC).
As mentioned earlier, many engineers use 3D printing for prototyping and then switch over to injection molding for production quantities. It makes sense in terms of cost and time saved. Industries including aerospace and medical device typically take this path during their product’s life cycle. So, how do you set yourself up for success moving from 3D printing to injection molding? Here is a basic overview but note that we also offer more detailed information.
It is important to put a lot of thought into a part’s design, being cognizant of the different DFM requirements that 3D printing and injection molding have. During prototyping, don’t box yourself into a corner with fancy geometries that print beautifully but can’t be replicated via injection molding. Our interactive DFM feedback during quoting can provide helpful guidance.
Beyond that, consider the environment your parts will need to withstand. Choose designs and materials that can survive whatever will be thrown at them.
Designing and manufacturing multiple prototypes enables you to explore different design options, features, or aesthetic variations without committing to the costly tooling for injection molding too early. This allows for a more comprehensive understanding of what works best for the intended application and market. It also speeds up the period of time necessary to evaluate different iterations.
Transitioning to injection-molded parts requires specific design methods such as uniform wall thickness and draft angles. Maintaining a uniform wall thickness ensures the mold fills evenly, preventing defects. Adding draft angles to the design facilitates the easy ejection of the part from the mold. These are considerations that must be included when moving to injection molding, even if not present in a 3D-printed prototype.
Even the same material can act differently when printed vs. molded. Material selection for injection molding depends on various properties, including mechanical, physical, and thermal characteristics. Manufacturability, including resin flow and how well it fills the mold features, is essential. Cosmetic appearance and cost also play significant roles in the material selection process.
Prototyping using 3D printing is often the fastest way to iterate. Changes can be made in a CAD model, leading to quick turnaround of your updated prototype. While cost and deadlines are crucial factors, using affordable production methods can help control costs. Digital manufacturing can also accelerate product development, shortening both prototyping and production timelines. This approach helps optimize the overall efficiency of the transition from prototyping to production.
Prototype models help design teams make more informed decisions by obtaining invaluable data from the performance of, and the reaction to, those prototypes. The more data that is gathered at this stage of the product development cycle, the better the chances of preventing potential product or manufacturing issues down the road. If a well thought out prototyping strategy is followed, there is a far greater chance that the product will be introduced to the market on time, be accepted, perform reliably, and be profitable.
What is the best way to get a prototype made? The answer depends on where you are in your process and what you are trying to accomplish. Early in the design process, when the ideas are flowing freely, concept models are helpful. As the design progresses, a prototype that has the size, finish, color, shape, strength, durability, and material characteristics of the intended final product becomes increasingly important. Therefore, using the right prototyping process is critical. In order to most effectively validate your design, pay close attention to these three key elements of your design: functionality, manufacturability, and viability.
If your prototype can faithfully represent the attributes of the end-product, it is by definition functional. These requirements often include such things as material properties (e.g., flame resistance), dimensional accuracy for fit-up with mating parts, and cosmetic surface finishes for appearance.
If your prototype design can be repeatedly and economically produced in a manner that supports the requirements of the end product, it is by definition manufacturable. These requirements include the ability to maintain the functionality of the design as described above, keep the piece-part cost below the required level, and support the production schedule. No matter how great a design is, it will go nowhere if it can’t be manufactured. Make sure your prototyping process takes this into consideration.
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Finally, even if your prototype design is functional and manufacturable, it doesn’t mean anyone will want to use it. Prototypes are the only true way to verify the viability of the design in this sense. If your design can also pass the challenges associated with market trials (e.g., trade show displays, usability testing) and regulatory testing (e.g., FDA testing of medical devices), you’re well on your way to a successful product launch.
The road to insourcing your prototyping can be a long, yet knowledge-filled journey. Hopefully our previous discussions on rapid prototyping in-house have educated and inspired you to take the reins on manufacturing your own prototypes. Now it’s time to think about how to find the best CNC for rapid prototyping.
Once you’ve decided to take the plunge, where do you begin? After you’ve tackled the question of whether to use additive or subtractive methods, it’s time to start picking the machine that’s right for you. If you decided that a CNC machine is part of your solution, you’ve come to the right place! Let’s take a deep dive into the CNC universe and help make sense of it all.
Before looking outward for the right CNC machine, it’s best to look inward at your product line up. Understanding the requirements of your own products will help define what machine is the best fit for your prototype lab. Define what materials you’ll be working with, what dimensional tolerances you need to hold, and what sort of geometric features you need to create.
Besides the mere functionality of the machine, it’s also critically important to examine what it’s like with day-to-day use.
There is an extremely wide variety of CNC machines available for your consideration – it can be a daunting task when presented with all the options. Not to worry, though – this is where you fall back on the basic questions: tolerance, shapes, and materials. Keeping these in mind will help make choosing the right machine a lot easier.
Let’s break it down:
Commonly used for steel sheet metal, a CNC plasma cutter is an affordable, fast, and efficient way to burn through a variety of conductive materials. While there are some multi-axis plasma cutters on the market, they are commonly 2 axis machines. The drawbacks of CNC plasma cutters in rapid prototyping are its inherent limitations in 2 axis form, relatively poor cut quality, and hefty workplace safety requirements. Unless you’re enhancing a fabrication/welding process in your prototyping facility, a CNC plasma cutter is probably not your best bet.
A step up from plasma, CNC laser cutters have grown in popularity in recent years and it’s easy to see why. Lasers can cut a wider variety of materials besides metal, including plastics, wood, and fabrics, all with relative ease.
As well, they can quickly create detailed (yet shallow) engravings. On top of that, they work very quickly and are typically cleaner, self-contained units.
However, there are some issues with using laser that need to be considered. Lasers use immense amounts of heat to break through the material, which can harden edges, making them more brittle. Also, despite being quite accurate, laser cuts will leave a slight taper on edges, which can hinder dimensional accuracy needs.
Since laser cutters are typically 2 axis machines, they are limited on what features they can create. While they can ablate away layers to create greater feature depth, they do so very inefficiently with regard to energy consumption and time, at the cost of potentially warping the part from excessive heat. This narrows the effective use of CNC laser cutters considerably, especially for rapid prototyping.
Waterjet cutting is an effective way to cut thin or thick material of nearly any type. Using high pressure water along with an abrasive media, called garnet, water jet is a great substitute for laser or plasma cutting. It also creates less waste by using a closed-loop water circulation system. The downside to all of this comes with the cost of up-keep; maintaining filters, pumps, and nozzles can be a significant task. When comparing to CNC laser cutting, CNC waterjet is fairly inaccurate, typically only capable of holding a 0.005” tolerance, however, the cut quality may be nicer.
While routers are a type of CNC milling machine, they are usually categorized completely separately. This is primarily due to their design: CNC routers have a gantry frame construction, with a large bridge spanning over the machine table. This inherently allows for a large work envelope without sacrificing floor space. CNC routers are typically tasked with milling large panels of wood, plastic, or softer metals, like aluminum.
They also have the ability to mill with all 3 axis which allows for more complex features than the previous three machines, such as counterbores, chamfers, and pockets.
Keep in mind, if you’re new to the concept of machining, learning to use a CNC router will have a steeper learning curve than the other items mentioned. There’s a lot to learn about machine control, cutting strategies, milling tools, etc… Also, routers are typically disregarded by most machinists because of their lack of rigidity and accuracy, thus making them a distinct upgrade from CNC waterjet, but not quite as precise as a CNC mill.
Lathes are an essential part of the history of machining. Being called “mother of machine tools” dating back as far as the 13th century, lathes have since evolved to adopt CNC technology, and are still integral to manufacturing today.
Unlike the previous equipment, lathes are built to machine round parts exclusively. Where a CNC Router has stationary material and a spinning tool, lathes have spinning material and stationary tools.
This is highly ideal for cylindrical parts, like bolts, tubes, and washers, especially when very tight tolerances are necessary (less than 0.001”).
While a lathe is extremely capable and useful, it may not be your first choice when building your prototype lab. Unless your products are ideal lathe parts, like those mentioned above, a lathe is a bit too focused to be a well-rounded rapid prototyping machine.
A CNC mill is one of the most common tools to see in a prototyping lab – and for good reason. Mills are robust, and flexible machines, that are suitable for a wider variety of parts and materials then the other machines mentioned. Allowing for complex features, like threaded holes, deep pockets, and 3D surfaces.
Typical CNC mills use a “C frame” design – a spindle that moves up and down, and a table that moves left/right and back/forth. With an extremely heavy build and large footprint, they are quite reputable for their precision, often holding tolerances of 0.001” or less – a quality that most of the aforementioned machines are not well known for.
The biggest hurdle to overcome with CNC mills isn’t “What can it make?”, but “Who can make it?”. There are layers of complexity to using a CNC milling machine – first, the operation of the control is an art unto itself. Typical CNC controls are extremely capable, but quite intimidating. With a vast array of buttons, switches and knobs, alongside a deep structure of software functions and menus, most controls will likely have you holding onto a user’s manual for dear life.
Then there’s the setup of the machine, which is a critical task for creating quality parts. This involves alignment of workholding to the machine’s axis, loading and measuring of tools, and setting correct program parameters. When done improperly, in the best case; you have successfully made scrap parts and need to start all over again. In the worst case; you have broken tools, workholding and machine – creating a serious dilemma and effectively making “rapid prototyping” an oxymoron.
Last, but not least, there’s programming. Aside from operating the machine, there’s a bit of skill required to programming a part in a CAD/CAM software. This, luckily, is getting easier all the time, with excellent options like Autodesk Fusion 360 which can simplify the process for new users. However, the hardest part is often not with applying toolpaths, but with setting the right parameters. Choosing the right cutting tool, feed rate, spindle speed, depth and width of cut, can be an uphill battle – and it changes by what material you use, and what features you make.
There are a lot of options, but the answer seems straight-forward; the most well-rounded rapid prototyping solution is CNC milling. However, the barrier to entry is real. Having an experienced CNC machinist on staff becomes a prerequisite, and as you may have heard, finding a qualified CNC operator is not getting any easier.
The issue is clear – there’s a skills gap in manufacturing that needs to be addressed, but even if drastic measures were introduced now, it will be many years before skilled labor starts in the workforce.
DATRON has been listening to this concern over the past decade, and they know just how to solve it.
While computer power and capability has made significant strides over the past decade, the typical CNC control has not. It’s still as cumbersome to use as ever, making alternative manufacturing technologies like 3D printing even more desirable. If convolution is the problem, then the solution is simple, or rather, the solution is to simplify.
Simplification is the goal with DATRON’s next control. Next is designed from the ground-up to focus on ease-of-use, without sacrificing industrial capability. With a familiar tile-based design, not unlike a smart , next is uncluttered and easy to understand immediately. Besides a pleasant visual design, next incorporates clever software engineering to make setup easy. The CAM Wizard walks you through loading the program, setting the tools, even probing the workpiece, as painlessly as possible.
Upgrading the control is just one way DATRON makes CNC milling more approachable. Setting up workholding has been optimized by utilizing a conical grid system, for quick and repeatable fixturing without any need to manually align. As well, accessories like vacuum tables make machining plate material quick and painless.
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