3D Prototype Designer

September 7, 2015 by 3D Prototype Designer

3D Design Modeling Thickness Guidelines for 3D Printing Models and Prototypes With Different Material

wall thickness for 3d printing material — Wall Thickness Design For 3D Printing Material

Before you decide to 3D print (and ideally before you start to design your model), you should know the basic guidelines for your printing material of choice.
PLEASE NOTE; when 3d designing using long protrusions with counterweight without any support at one end you will probably need additional thickness than the stated below minimums to support the counterweight.

3d printing wall thickness support — 3D Printing Wall Thickness Support

ABS palstic
Minimum wall thickness 1 mm
Minimum details on a larger support 03 mm

AL or Alumide
Minimum wall thickness 1 mm
Minimum details on a larger support 0.4 – 0.5 mm

AG or Silver
Minimum wall thickness 0.5 mm
Minimum details on a larger support 0.3 mm

BS or Brass
Minimum wall thickness 0.5 mm
Minimum details on a larger support 0.3 mm

BZ or Bronze
Minimum wall thickness 0.5 mm
Minimum details on a larger support 0.3 mm

CE or Ceramics
Minimum wall thickness 5.0 mm
Minimum details on a larger support 2.0 mm

HS or High Detailed Stainless Steel
Minimum wall thickness 3.0 mm
Minimum details on a larger support 0.2 mm

MC or Multi Colored
Minimum wall thickness 2.0 mm
Minimum details on a larger support 0.8 mm

PA or Polyamide
Minimum wall thickness 1.0 mm
Minimum details on a larger support 0.3 mm

PG or Prime Gray
Minimum wall thickness 1.0 mm
Minimum details on a larger support 0.5 mm

RE or Printable Resin
Minimum wall thickness 1.0 mm
Minimum details on a larger support 0.3 mm

RL or Rubber Like
Minimum wall thickness 1.0 mm
Minimum details on a larger support 0.5 mm

ST or Steel
Minimum wall thickness 1.0 – 3.0 mm (depending on X, Y or Z dimensions)
Minimum details on a larger support 0.9 mm

WD or Wood
Minimum wall thickness 3.0 mm
Minimum details on a larger support 1.5 mm

3D Printing Design and Manufacturing Design guidelines are not always the same. If you do not have experience with designing for 3D printing, minimum wall thickness is an often encountered error. In the virtual world of rendering your model you may have any dimension or be as thick or thin as you want. However; if you would like to make a model in the real world using 3D printing keep in mind the minimum thickness rules. After you build your 3d printed prototype you can go back and change the thickness on your 3d design for the manufacturing process. And of course, depending on which manufacturing production process and material you choose you will need to have your design conform to the new rules of thickness and design for the manufacturing process, material and sometimes even the particular manufacturer.

Please keep in mind that the 3d printing wall thickness guidelines stated above are only general guidelines and your 3d print design may vary from within the stated guidelines to outside the stated guidelines. Always check with a professional in regards to your specific project.

A message from Anthony the president/owner:

I’m here to assist and service inventors, companies and organizations with all their 3D Printing.

September 7, 2015 by 3D Prototype Designer

Minimum Wall-Thickness for 3D Printing ?

3D printing wall thickness may vary somewhat from 3d printer to 3d printer and another factor to be considered is material. Getting your model 3d printed just right will become much more complicated initially if the walls of the model are near or below the minimum wall thickness. You might inadvertently cause a hole in your 3d printed mesh (3d printed wall) for example. Or more commonly, make one part just a tad bit too thin which will cause it not to be 3D printed at all.

3D printing with ABS plastic is one of the more popular materials so we’ll use that material as our example 3d printing material. A wall thickness of at least 1mm minimum is a good rule thumb. Generally speaking I’d like to see closer to 2mm thickness when 3d printing especially when using minimum angle support 3d printer settings. However when using long protrusions with counterweight without any support at one end you will probably need to add thickness.

wall thickness for 3d printing design — 3D Printing Wall Thickness

Before you decide to 3D print (and ideally before you start to design your model), you should know the basic guidelines for your printing material of choice. You can find specific information about the required wall thickness for each material in our 3d modeling design guide.
Please keep in mind that the 3d printing wall thickness guidelines stated above are only general guidelines and your 3d print design may vary from within the stated guidelines to outside the stated guidelines. Always check with a professional in regards to your specific project.

A message from Anthony the president/owner:

I’m here to assist and service inventors, companies and organizations with all their 3D Printing Service Requirements.

August 15, 2015 by 3D Prototype Designer

CAD Design – IGES & STEP Manufacture Product Design

Major benefits of CAD design program includes the following:

Easy Reproduction: you can recreate the CAD drawing with faster turn-around time and make as many copies as you need.
CAD Design – IGES & STEP Manufacture Product Design
3D Modeling: 3D modeling from CAD designs can be used to quickly establish a benchmark prototype design.

Automatic Simulation: The 3D CAD geometry can be utilized to imitate real-time process, which helps give you management of the efficiency of the design before building a prototype.

Higher efficiency: Since opportunity demands and CAD designs are rationally connected, a change in design is unquestioningly shown into the designing instantly.

Access Control: With CAD services it is achievable to limit some customers from obtaining critical project information and designs.

Savings: The hand sketch method may need hundreds of documents, but with CAD each Drawing is customized, saved digitally to save time and money.

What is CAD Design Blog Page

Many manufacturers will request a CAD Design in a STP, STEP or IGS, IGES file design drawings format for designing molds or pricing manufactured parts for your invention idea or product.

IGES or IGS Files (design file format used in the manufacturing process) stands for Initial Graphics Exchange Specification and is a file format which defines a vendor neutral data format that allows the digital exchange of information among Computer-Aided Design (CAD) systems. It can be used by many CAD programs as a standard ASCII text-based format for saving and exporting vector data, and can store wireframe models, surface or solid object representations, circuit diagrams, and other objects. The IGS format has become the default standard file format for transferring 3D model files between the different CAD software packages. Once a user has created a model file in one specific software to send it to another user who does not have that same program without any concern whether or not the recipient will have the ability to open or view the file.

STEP or STP Files (design file format used in the manufacturing process) is a file extension for a 3-D graphic file used by CAD software. STEP stands for STandard for the Exchange of Product model data. STP files are used to store 3D image data in an ASCII format, following the standards defined in ISO 10303-21 : Clear Text Encoding of the Exchange Structure.

A message from Anthony the president/owner:

I’m here to assist and service inventors, companies and organizations with all their CAD and Manufacturing Design Drawings.

May 27, 2015 by 3D Prototype Designer

What Is A Functional Prototype

A Functional Prototype is a sample or model of a product built to test a concept or process or to act as a visual prop to be replicated, improved and learned from. It is a term used in a variety of contexts, including semantics, design, electronics, and software programming but most common in product development. A visual prototype is designed to test and try a new design to enhance precision by inventors, investors and potential consumer users. Visual prototyping serves to provide a visual product impact instead of an individual imagined view.

Functional prototypes are the step between the mental formalization and the actual look, feel and basic function of an idea, invention or new product.

Functional Prototype Building using 3D printing, fabrication and “off the shelf” parts is usually the best for building and developing real life functioning prototypes. Don’t underestimate the importance of a “Functional Prototype”. Don’t try to cut corners by skipping the functional prototype stage and moving forward without having shown yourself and others how your product functions. As they say; a picture is worth a thousand words and a functional physical prototype will help convey your seriousness and professionalism about your new product or invention.

A message from the 3D Printing Expert Inc. president/owner:
functional prototype design and building company
I’m here to help inventors, companies, investors and organizations with all their 3D Printing and Functional Prototype building. I will provide you with Expert 3D Printing and Fast Track Functional Prototyping Services.

Thanks for taking the time to view this functioning prototype post page.
I look forward to hearing from you,

Anthony
772-934-6014

More on Different Types of Prototypes

May 10, 2015 by 3D Prototype Designer

What Is A Visual Prototype

A visual prototype is a sample or model of a product built to test a concept or process or to act as a visual prop to be replicated, improved and learned from. It is a term used in a variety of contexts, including semantics, design, electronics, and software programming but most common in product development. A visual prototype is designed to test and try a new design to enhance precision by inventors, investors and potential consumer users. Visual prototyping serves to provide a visual product impact instead of an individual imagined view.

Visual prototype creation is the step between the mental formalization and the actual look of an idea. There are several ways to create a visual prototype and I have numbered them in the most usual product development procedure;

1) Visual rendering or drawing (two dimensional).

2) Visual 3d model or cartoon (3 dimensional look) may be viewed on paper or on a computer screen or monitor). Often this visual prototype step is skipped if step number 3 is going to be implemented. Step number 3 can supply you with step number 2 visuals.

visual 3d prototype model — Visual 3d Prototype Model

CAD or solidworks visual prototype model — CAD or Solidworks Visual Prototype Model

3) CAD or Solidworks visual model (multi dimensional) and usually viewed on a computer screen or monitor. CAD and Solidworks and other less common 3d modeling design programs are essential in moving for forward with a 3d printing of your invention or product and also needed to make exact size molds for the manufacturing processes such as plastic injection molding.

3D Printing or physical prototype building — 3D Printing or Physical Prototype Building

4) Actual physical prototype using methods of construction such as fabrication, 3D printing and off the shelf parts when available are usually the best for building a real life visual prototype for testing and show. Don’t underestimate the important of a “Visual Prototype” and don’t try to cut corners by skipping the visual prototype stage and moving forward without having shown yourself and others what your product may look like. As they say; a visual physical prototype takes your idea and turns it into reality and will help convey your seriousness and professionalism about your new product or invention.

A message from the 3D Printing Expert Inc. president/owner:
prototype design
I’m here to help inventors, companies, investors and organizations with all their 3D Printing and Visual Prototyping. I will provide you with Expert 3D Printing Fast Track Visual Prototyping Service.

Thanks for taking the time to view this “Visual Prototype” web page.
I look forward to hearing from you,

Anthony
772-934-6014