1. to quickly visualize and test product form and shape
In the early design development stages of a project our designers and engineers use 3D printing to assess and visualize the basic 3D design and proportion of a product concept or part.
We’ve sketched ideas and sometimes created simple 3D models by hand in cardboard or foam. The client has often seen the images and favoured a direction so the next step is to create 3D printed versions. 3D prints of product concepts are a great way to present 3D ideas to a client. It gets the message across clearly and easily.
They might not work mechanically but we can show the basic idea of a mechanism or a mechanical concept and how it might fit together or come apart. This is often used for assessing a proof of concept.
3D prints are very useful in the early stages of a product design that needs to be ergonomic like a hand held object, headgear or wearable. It provides an accurate ‘feel’ of a concept and represents the correct proportions of a product or part.
We create quick and simple computer aided design or CAD drawings of a 3D model with basic resolution and program this type of 3D print.
Hand built foam models are still useful, depending on your foam modeling skills. In the time it takes to hand make one foam model you can 3D print three models.
With 3D printing via a CAD model you can quickly iterate, replicate a model multiple times and add details for review.
2. to test how product mechanisms and product parts fit together
As a product development consultancy we’re often designing and engineering fabricated or injection molded parts. We simulate injection molded parts with the additive process. There are limitations with this.
We use 3D printers for prototyping. We don’t build parts to suit a printer. It’s very different to how a consumer or hobbyist would use a 3D printer. When a consumer makes a product with an off-the-shelf 3D printer, the machine is optimized for this.
Actual injection molded parts are created from the subtractive tool making process, where you cut away metal to make an injection mould tool which has plastic injected into it to create a plastic part.
When simulating parts that will be made by different processes, we’re not using 3D printers in a typical way. Injection molded parts can have overhangs and undercuts, we dial in to create support structures to have it print perfectly.
3. to build supports, tools and jigs for bench test prototypes
We build bench test prototypes for various projects. As an example, for a project where there’s a lot of fluid mechanics, we have to test a lot of sensors and support tubes full of fluid. We 3D print fixtures to hold the electronic gear in place. The fastest way to do this is to build block-like models that print quickly. Within a day we can have the hardware fixtures made and built for a proof of concept prototype.
One of our big skillsets is making 3D data, rather than being efficient machinists and model makers in a workshop. We can create a part in CAD much faster than milling it in a machine. We have both skill sets, but creating a 3D digital file and printing is much faster and easier.
rapid prototyping and 3D printing in product development
rapid prototyping and 3D printing in product development
3D printing lives under the broader umbrella of rapid prototyping. Rapid prototyping is any process that creates a rapid prototype. It’s usually an additive process, meaning it adds material to build a part or product.
Subtractive processes like Computer Numerically Controlled or CNC machining are also classed as rapid prototyping.
rapid prototyping is a computer numerically controlled process
Rapid prototyping is mostly a CNC process. First used in the 1950s, CNC machines were mills, cutting mills or milling machines.
Rapid prototyping now encompasses everything from CNC mills and laser cutting machines, to the many types of additive 3D printers, including CNC weaving machines. There are a lot of rapid prototyping technologies we can use to create rapid prototypes.
3D printing and the additive prototyping process
At outerspace we use 3D printing because it’s additive. Instead of cutting away material and creating waste, we build what we need. It’s cleaner, safer, less wasteful, quieter, cheaper, more accessible and suits many applications.
There are many types of 3D printing. We use the Fused Deposition Method or FDM.
FDM works like a high-tech hot glue gun. A filament of plastic is extruded out from an extrusion head and control device. This is the CNC component. Layer-by-layer the filament is fed through to build up an object.
Plastic filament is easy to source, and is formed from a low cost material that’s easy to build with.
It’s much easier than using a CNC mill where you might need a polymer block cut to size, placed on a jig in a machine for example.
The filaments we use are typically Poly Lactic Acid or PLA, and PETG or Poly Ethylene Terephthalate Glycol – modified.
PLA is a bioplastic but it only decomposes in industrial waste systems. It’s a bit contentious. You can’t recycle a lot of FDM plastics. So there’s work to be done there!
PETG is modified for lower temperatures. It’s commonly used in medical packaging because it’s easy to thermoform. There are recycling streams for PET but not PETG unfortunately.
You can technically reuse PLA – grind it up and extrude it again.
how we use 3D printing in product development
1. to quickly visualize and test product form and shape
In the early design development stages of a project our designers and engineers use 3D printing to assess and visualize the basic 3D design and proportion of a product concept or part.
We’ve sketched ideas and sometimes created simple 3D models by hand in cardboard or foam. The client has often seen the images and favoured a direction so the next step is to create 3D printed versions. 3D prints of product concepts are a great way to present 3D ideas to a client. It gets the message across clearly and easily.
They might not work mechanically but we can show the basic idea of a mechanism or a mechanical concept and how it might fit together or come apart. This is often used for assessing a proof of concept.
3D prints are very useful in the early stages of a product design that needs to be ergonomic like a hand held object, headgear or wearable. It provides an accurate ‘feel’ of a concept and represents the correct proportions of a product or part.
We create quick and simple computer aided design or CAD drawings of a 3D model with basic resolution and program this type of 3D print.
Hand built foam models are still useful, depending on your foam modeling skills. In the time it takes to hand make one foam model you can 3D print three models.
With 3D printing via a CAD model you can quickly iterate, replicate a model multiple times and add details for review.
2. to test how product mechanisms and product parts fit together
As a product development consultancy we’re often designing and engineering fabricated or injection molded parts. We simulate injection molded parts with the additive process. There are limitations with this.
We use 3D printers for prototyping. We don’t build parts to suit a printer. It’s very different to how a consumer or hobbyist would use a 3D printer. When a consumer makes a product with an off-the-shelf 3D printer, the machine is optimized for this.
Actual injection molded parts are created from the subtractive tool making process, where you cut away metal to make an injection mould tool which has plastic injected into it to create a plastic part.
When simulating parts that will be made by different processes, we’re not using 3D printers in a typical way. Injection molded parts can have overhangs and undercuts, we dial in to create support structures to have it print perfectly.
3. to build supports, tools and jigs for bench test prototypes
We build bench test prototypes for various projects. As an example, for a project where there’s a lot of fluid mechanics, we have to test a lot of sensors and support tubes full of fluid. We 3D print fixtures to hold the electronic gear in place. The fastest way to do this is to build block-like models that print quickly. Within a day we can have the hardware fixtures made and built for a proof of concept prototype.
One of our big skillsets is making 3D data, rather than being efficient machinists and model makers in a workshop. We can create a part in CAD much faster than milling it in a machine. We have both skill sets, but creating a 3D digital file and printing is much faster and easier.
We design in CAD in SolidWorks then print. The 3D data is converted to a set of commands for a 3D printer via Computer Aided Machining or CAM software, like Orca Slicer. Creating CAM data for 3D printers is usually referred to as slicing. Because 3D printers work layer-by-layer.
Our designers and engineers use customized, more expert level or sophisticated CAM software with hundreds of parameters, from wall thicknesses in specific conditions to fan speeds in the machine at various levels.
We create a set of profiles that contain preset parameters for different use cases or conditions.
fast form study models vs accurate models with structural integrity
For fast form study models that don’t need to be structurally or mechanically sound, the settings in this profile can make paper thin walls at high speed, with specific cooling settings and reduced resolution. You can crush these parts in your hand, but it’s great for form studies. If a change is made in the morning, we can get a bulky part like this printed in a couple of hours, rather than waiting overnight.
Then there’s the polar opposite – a profile that’s designed for accuracy and structural integrity. This is when we slow the printer speed down and create thick walls, with filled in sections to make the 3D print dimensionally accurate.
We also do manual calibration. Print a test piece, measure it and work out what the skew of the 3D printer’s axes are. 3D printing machines come with factory settings that can be inaccurate. We work out the inaccuracy in a machine, and account for that. It’s a calibration process within a profile.
For a small consumer electronic product that needs a lot of small electronics and components to be packaged to fit inside. We manage the fit of the parts.
If the electronics engineering team has created a printed circuit board or PCB, we take that 3D data and print a simulation of the board to test fitment in a product or part.
external 3D printing agencies
We don’t use FDM printing agencies because the quality we are getting is matching or surpassing what can be provided.
We use external providers when we need machined prototypes created on a CNC mill. This is very specialised and requires specialist CAM software to operate a CNC mill.
If we need to print a very large object in one piece, where the size is beyond the boundaries of our printing machines, we will use an external agency, but we can build large objects in sections in our lab.
SLA printing in resin
We have a stereolithographic or SLA printer for creating prototype parts in resin. Resin printers are generally more accurate but they have limitations. We can produce parts made in flexible materials. It’s a different printing process to FDM.
An SLA printer has a vat of resin, that is usually cured with lasers or UV light. There are a lot of different processes used. The typical one is with a UV LCD screen that displays UV light that shines through an LCD screen with a mask of the layer you want to create. It cures the resin layer-by-layer.
We use our SLA printer for smaller accurate end-of-stage prototype parts for products that need a good aesthetic finish. For example to simulate a decorative glass component on a consumer product or clear components on medical products.
The CAM side is more involved as we print parts upside down, using supporting parts and preventing resin pooling as the resin drains through a part and warping of a part. We use Lychee Slicer CAM software for these parts.
We also print flexible materials with SLA to replicate softer molded parts.
using printers beyond their specifications and tweaking the 3D printing process
Plastic absorbs water and this effects the 3D printing process. Water creates steam in the printer nozzle creating tiny defects in a 3D print. We’ve built a process to store and dehydrate our material stock to keep it clean and dry so the quality of our prints is high.
Plastic filament in use is stored in its own feeding unit that also dehydrates. By having the filament dehydrated at all steps of the printing process, we print things to a higher quality than is typical with the style of machines we have in the lab. This closes the gap between us and external prototypers.
We work with clients across a broad range of industries to bring their product ideas to life!
Talk to us about your product design and development needs.
authors
BROWSE THE TEAM
Ross Perry
Enzo Kocak
Tim Garrow
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