The main purpose of making prototyping is to verify the research and development of new product. At the same time, we can check the appearance of products, assembly of complexity and reasonable of structure. General clients will check the suitable methods for prototyping according to the characteristics and function of products. Then, how to select the manufacturing method of rapid prototyping. 

According to the material of products, general specking, we will select CNC Machining for metal products. CNC Machining has good advantages of high precision and quality. And CNC Machining can save time and cost with fast production.  However, plastic products are easy to get deformed because of high temperature, the precision is lower than CNC Machining.  

Also, we will suggest using 3D Printing to make some prototypes with small size and complex structure. 3D Printing as a new technology, which brings lots of conveniences to our work and daily life.  Using 3D Printing technology to make products, one the one hand, it can make up for the deficiencies of traditional technologies; on the other hand, it can save time and cost. 3D Printing contains two methods, one is SLA, the other is SLS. The materials can be resins, nylon and nylon fiber, which can meet various requirements of customers.

If customers want to do low volume production and save cost to verify the design of products, we will suggest doing silicone mold vacuum casting. According to the complexity of products, one silicone mold can copy 10-15 pieces products. The service time of silicone may be shorter if the structure is complex. The main advantages of silicone mold are fast production time, low cost. 

Above are some basic manufacturing methods of making prototypes. Also, there are lots of factors need to be considered during manufacturing, such as quality, lead time, prices and services after-sale. Feel free to contact us at enquiry@nice-rapidtooling.com to get more information if you have prototypes need to be made.