Service 02
Rapid Prototyping
One route in for a printed part, a machined part or a board. You send geometry; you get something you can hold, fit and test.
- Additive
- FDM · SLA · SLS
- Subtractive
- CNC milling · Turning · Sheet metal
- Electronic
- PCB fabrication · Assembly
The exchange
What you send, what you get back
Formats and artefacts, stated up front. If a job cannot be described this way it is not ready to start, and that is a cheaper conversation than the first revision.
What you send
- STEP or STL geometry
- Drawings with critical dimensions
- Gerber / KiCad / Altium output
- Material and finish preference
What you get back
- Physical part
- As-built notes
- Revised CAD where the build forced a change
Method
How the work runs
Four steps, in this order. The sequence is the point: each one is there to make the next one cheaper to get wrong.
Design for manufacture
Before anything is cut, the geometry is checked against the process: minimum feature size, tool access, support strategy, how it will be held.
Route
The part goes to the process that suits it rather than the process we happen to prefer — printed where geometry wins, machined where surface and stiffness win.
Build
The part is made, finished and dimensionally checked against the drawing you supplied.
Return
You get the part plus the as-built notes: what changed, why, and what to watch on the next revision.
Qualifiers
What we will and won't claim
Read these before you brief us. They are the parts of the job we cannot promise away, so we say them first rather than last.
- Lead time depends on process, material and queue — we quote it per job rather than advertising a number.
- Prototype parts are for fit, feel and test. They are not certified production components.
Also from Proto
The rest of the process
These are written up separately because they are briefed separately — not because they run apart.
Send us the part
A brief, a sketch, a scan or a STEP file is enough to start. Tell us what it has to do and we will tell you what we would need to do it.