Hello all!
I am sure that these questions have been answered many times, but I’m having trouble finding the right search query to find the answers easily, so I figured I’d just come by and ask.
I have a couple of idea for products that I’d like to build nonworking prototypes for using 3D printing. A few questions:
1. Where should I look for a company that allows me to design my prototyping parts at home using software, that I can then in turn submit the designs to the company to be print?
2. I have questions regarding the physical size that 3D printing is able to print. I had thought about purchasing a 3D printer for home and tackling it this way, but I couldn’t imagine the inexpensive ones that I can afford are able to print things bigger than small trinkets and such? Am I wrong about this?
If if it helps, the products I’m looking to prototype may be as wide as 2 feet, with a depth of 1.5 feet and perhaps an inch in height. I’ll also be needing to print cylinders as long as a foot and a half. There will also be some unique curving to the pieces rather than just totally flat surfaces.
That all being said, what is my best route here? Any guidance would be much appreciated!
Hi Alex!
For your first question, you can use a Hub here or look for prototyping shops/machining shops in your area. Each one has its own advantages and disadvantages. The advantages of using Hubs is that it will be cheaper than using an actual prototyping shop and might be faster, depending on the shop’s turnaround time. The disadvantage of using Hubs is lack of equipment and materials, as well as less experienced operators. Prototyping shops more often than not have access to industrial grade printers, so they can print much larger and with more useful materials. Very few Hubs have product design experience, or the experience to know how to improve your part so it’s just as strong but uses less material.
In regards to the size of your part, you are correct that most printers in the price range of the average person will not be able to print as large as you need. My Axiom (a $5k machine) can’t even print that large, and that’s really at the edge of the consumer market. For those size prints, you’re talking an industrial printer or a very large DIY one. You could split it into smaller sections and print that way on a smaller machine, then seam it together once it’s done. But you’re probably better off finding a larger printer to do it so you get a nice model that will reflect the final product. You can upload the design here once it’s done and see if anyone can print that large (Hubs automatically removes printers that can’t) or find a shop to do it for you.
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Hello Alex!
I don’t know of any prototyping shop that allows you to design you parts at home. However, there are quite a few free cad-packages that work very well.
The other solution is to go to a hub, of which there are quite a few with great cad-capabilities.
For sizes of your parts, they will be a problem for most hubs, but a number of them are able to print that large and have a big stock of material available (myself included). If you are looking to purchase a printer, you will most likely have to spend way more than 10000 Euros, or design and build it yourself.
Before I got my large printer I split most of the parts that I made into several pieces, and had quite good results from that, but had to spend a good amount of time both designing the parts in such a way that they fit assembly as well as sanding the seams to hide them, so if you can I would recommend you to find a hub with a printer big enough to fit your parts in one piece.
Good luck with your project!
//Oscar
Hi Alex!
I think your questions were already well answered. To print such a large model, we usually separate it into smaller parts and the result can still be rather good.
But may I know your requirements on printing resolution? And what kind of printer do you want, FMD printer or SLA ones or other kinds? I may know of some printers which have a large build volume but won’t break the bank.
Wish you all the best!
Carl
