Short answer…it’s probably not expensive relative to what you’re asking for. It’s that society programs us from birth to think plastics and other physical goods are “cheap” thanks to clever design for manufacturing at scale. Here’s why… We recognize that AM parts can be “expensive” relative to other plastic parts you might have seen available off the shelf. In this post, we’d like to walk you through one way of thinking about pricing on plastic part fabrication, both conventionally and with digital manufacturing. A common example we give is the “spork” offered at your favorite fast food restaurant. Fast-food restaurants can give these away for free because they make them in the 10M+ / yr and therefore their $500K mold that produces them can be amortized. It’s part of a pleasurable eating experience in the United States to have a fork + spoon combined. But to make just 1 (one) plastic spork with that manufacturing process (plastic injection molding) would
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12 ways to document your new hardware concept
12 ways to effectively document your new hardware business concept / idea without needing an engineer. TLDR: Take photos of the problem / sketch out the use case. Pictures are worth 1000 words. Write down a basic description of how you believe your hardware concept solves the problem(s) at hand. Who cares? List at least 3x different types of people who you believe would want this solution. Write down 3x different types of people who you believe would pay for this solution. See the difference there? Materials? List the top 5 materials you think the hardware product should be made from. Other tech? Are there any other features which are not simply passive materials that are required for your concept to function properly? Electrical engineered circuits? Software interactivity? Patent worthy? Try to identify at least 10+ aspects / features of your concept that are new, useful and non-obvious. Patent ready? Review your work and then write down 10+ steps on
What does it cost to design and fabricate a prototype?
This is the question on every Maker’s mind. What does it cost to bring my idea to life? It’s nearly impossible for us to tell you without having a basic understanding of your project goals. We’re going to attempt to define a generic rubric here to give you a better idea of how far your money can take you. Two simple, yet largely true, mantras we see our data proving correct are: “You get what you pay for” and “Time is money” As we attempt to provide guidelines on You3Dit pricing, we’ll use a rating system similar to what you might see in a Zagat guide to restaurants $-$$$$$.
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