Students find that rapid prototyping methods are the right way to produce three-dimensional parts from their project designs.

This 3D view was created by David Erven in Autodesk’s Maya software before being downloaded to Solid Concept’s rapid prototyping system for creation.

Students are particularly in need of prototypes for senior projects, theses, and even home grown designs that can showcase their design understanding and ability. What they don’t have is access to the cash needed to buy a high cost 3D printer or a high-end additive prototyping system. That’s where outsourcing comes in.

Solid Concepts has been the preferred outsource for prototypes of student designs at SCI Arc for a number of years. According to one student, David Erven, “We always get the best pricing from Solid Concepts, so it’s easy to just use them for all our needs.”

David’s senior project was an artistic design, a three dimensional dihedral tile. The idea was to create an engaging piece that not only looked artistically fresh, but also allowed him to learn and practice designing on Maya, an Autodesk 3D design and animation software package that is also used in the movies.

“It’s not easy taking something from your mind and putting it into the computer, let alone something that can be prototyped into an actual part that can be handled in the physical world,” David says about his dihedral tile, which went from the interface between him and his computer into a tangible design. “The tile was completely my design,” he says.

David used Solid Concepts strictly as a prototyping house. The dihedral tile was produced on a stereolithography (SLA) system. SLA models are produced very quickly, in a matter of hours rather than the days it would take to machine the same part.

All that is needed to produce a prototype is to start with CAD geometry, IGES or STL data. “The data translation was fairly simple. In Maya you can save your design as an STL file,” David says. “The most difficult part of the design was in bridging the links of the cells to one another in a way where they are cohesive and engaging.”

Solid Concepts offers several options for finishing, such as color-matched painting, texturing, and pad printing, so that models have the look and feel of being production parts. For the three dimensional dihedral tile, it was more a matter of producing an ornamental piece that exhibited all the design features, so additional post process work was not necessary.

“All I needed was a smooth design with enough structural integrity to be handled for evaluation,” David says. “I was happy with the white color, too, because it made the design look pure and light.”

In the past, prototyping may have been outsourced to a machine shop for creation from simple drawings. The problem is that complex designs like David’s dihedral tile could never have been machined. He would have had to simplify his design in order for it to be built within the limitations of the machine tools available.

Today, many companies and universities are considering 3D desktop printing machines as an alternative to outsourcing, but that means they would have to deal with the high initial costs of buying one of those systems. Plus, they’d be tied to a single technology, which might not allow for all the potential needs of the designers.

That’s why outsourcing has maintained its place in the prototyping market. Furthermore, by outsourcing to a company like Solid Concepts, users can be sure that they’ll have access to the latest technologies and the latest materials available for any particular needs they might have. “And at an affordable cost,” David adds.
 
With the company’s latest introduction, ZoomRP.com, not only will students at SCI Arc receive the high quality work they are used to, but they’ll also get the job done at a much faster turnaround time. In fact, ZoomRP.com provides same-day shipping of parts that qualify through its online interface — allowing customers to receive the part via FedEx Priority Shipping the next business day.

Overall, like many of the projects being prototyped by SCI Arc students, David’s project was unique because of its detail and its emergent qualities, which speak for themselves. “Solid Concepts was the best for getting durable, quality prototypes,” David says. “The final part was 100 percent accurate to the Maya design.”