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- Must I have a prototype before going to production?
- How many types of prototype can you do?
- Will the prototype be good enough to take photos for use in sales promotion?
- (Must I have a prototype before going to production?) --- Yes and No. No when the product you want us to manufacture is a mature one that you've been producing, or you are very confident that the design as is shall be good for production that you do not need something solid in hand for further study/testing. Yes when your product is of an artistic nature, and you've only given us some sketches to proceed (like a cartoon character). You'll need a prototype to confirm the shape and style from different view angles, and we need it to do a 3D scan to proceed with the tooling, say for plastic injection molding. Our experience shows a prototype a lot of times can highlight problematic areas that are not necessarily noticeable on paper with even 3D renderings. Client can keep modifying the prototype until they feel satisfied, whereas with the tooling, say injection molding tool, once made, subsequent modification will not only be costly (sometimes even impossible), but will generally shortens the life expectancy of the tool significantly. (Back to Top)
- (How many types of prototype can you do?) --- Basically four types.
- 1 Manual- made by skilled sculptors. This is about the only way when given only a few sketches or photos. Most comics and cartoon character figure prototypes are made this way. Though "digital sculpting", where the sculptor crafts his work on the screen using a 3D mouse with force feedback is now available, we have not adopted such technology yet. Materials used is modeling clay. Silicone rubber molds can be made off the model to replicate more in polymeric materials.
- 2 Computer Numerical Controlled (CNC) machining--- this option is possible if the design is in 3D format. See our "Prototype Examples" section for samples made this way. Material can be nylon, ABS, wood, styrofoam etc, depending on the application.
- 3 Stereolithographic (SLA) - this is a relatively new technology, and requires a 3D input like the CNC prototypes. This requires special machines not unlike inkjet printers, where the prototype is sprayed droplet by droplet of material to form a layer, and then keep adding to the layers to complete the desired geometry. There is size limitations, and depending on model of machine used, the prototype can be a bit fragile sometimes for functional testing
- 4 Experimental injection tool - this is for plastic injection molded products. Some times a customer will require a relatively large quantity of prototypes for some reasons (like they have a large sales team, for example), and the above three methods will deem inadequate. This technology uses an experimental injection tool that will be good for only about 2,000 to 5,000 cycles, depending on it complexity, that costs about a fraction of a proper tool. This is not a bad option as an interim tool to test the market. (Back to Top)
- (Will a prototype be good enough to take photos for use in sales promotion?) --- Absolutely. This is one common usage for the prototypes. A regular plastic injection tool would take 45 to 60 days to complete. Most clients would want their promotion materials much sooner than that. Some clients even make their decision to proceed or not basing on feedbacks on the prototypes. (Back to Top)
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