I’ve used them. They have designs you can buy or you can create your own. I used them to make some small pieces. I wasn’t impressed with the quality, but I might give them one more try.

I read a recent article from Popular Mechanics where they used shapeways.com to make a PM logo paperweight.

Derp.

@ Jack – depending on the 3D model’s nature, it can stand in for a physical prototype, yes.

For 3-D printing, you’ll need a volumetric model anyway, so it can’t hurt. Programs like CATIA and SolidWorks give you another edge, however. A 3D model can be “rigged” with all the mating components modeled as though they were physical entities, and largely obeying the laws of physics. You’re not exactly going to build a particle accelerator and discover the Higgs Boson in such a simulation, but for simple mechanical devices up to and including a jet engine, all the moving parts can be set in motion and shown off. Creating an animation from such a model is generally pretty straightforward. If you’ve ever seen youtube videos of objects being taken apart in a 3D rendering, it’s generally a piece of software like this that’s been used. There’s a few in particular that deal with firearms, and the whole gun is cut away and disassembled as it’s “firing” – something you can’t do with a physical model. Various chunks can be made transparent to show the operation of internal parts. Not a bad deal.

Nothing quite beats a physical prototype that actually works, but a 3D render of the device working as intended is a close second, particularly if you can get a quote on the manufacturing cost. CATIA and SolidWorks can generally generate tool paths for CNC machines, which for a molded part is exactly what you’d need, give or take the draft angles for the mold.

Hope that sheds some light on your situation ;-)

Jack,

Jack,

I was looking through the Prototypes forum today and saw this link to a resource for do-it-yourself casting and molding supplies. Looked cool. Check out some of their video tutorials to see if it might be useful for you too.

http://www.alumilite.com/index.cfm

Rion

You sound like an engineer. I’m trying to build a prototype now for an item that will end up being one piece molded out of silicone. My engineer friend did a nice drawing for me in the form of a 2D PDF doc. Are you suggesting a 3D drawing for use IN LIEU of a prototype, or as additional SUPPORT for a prototype? I think I’m going to have to mold the prototype somehow in order to test my concept. I’m just wondering if a good 3D drawing could be a reliable stand-in for an actual prototype as part of a submission process. Do you have any thoughts to add?

3D printing is EPIC.

Like any tool, though, it has its applications. Sometimes conventional machining operations are cheaper, but for items that would normally be injection molded or cast, a fused deposition modeling printer is about perfect, especially if you can integrate off-the-shelf components for moving parts.

I’ve seen some parts made by shapeways and other 3D printers (we had one at my college) and things like ball bearings were OK, but it would be better to design a part like that with a recess to accept a standard ball bearing, since there is a minimum resolution that leads to a little bit of slop/bumpiness to mating surfaces.

Otherwise, they’re pretty wicked in terms of quality, and not highway robbers when it comes to price, considering the alternatives ;-) (by alternatives I mean an injection molding rig that can cost tens of thousands of dollars for even a simple part geometry!)

Thanks Andrew, seems their site is down for a bit, but will check it out later.