February 20, 2024
Intro
Prototyping can be the most important phase of any project. This is your time to get feedback and position yourself to start a full production run thanks to the insight you get from your prototypes. A simple change during the prototyping phase can save countless time and money during a full-scale production run.
In this guide, we’ll walk you through all of our prototyping services offered at Rapid Axis. We’ve helped countless companies make the most out of their prototypes, and you’ll quickly see why so many businesses choose us as their manufacturing partner.
Machining
As a machine shop, a lot of our services revolve around our machining equipment. These are the machines you think about when you picture a traditional machine shop: CNC milling machines, CNC lathes, and CNC turning stations.
For a lot of companies, our machining operations are everything they need for prototype parts. Let’s dive into how each group of machining equipment might help you.
CNC Milling Machines
CNC milling machines are the best way to make custom parts that aren’t cylindrical. These machines are controlled by computers and complicated programming, with some help from our experienced machining experts.
Milling machines are great for prototype parts because they’re completely customizable and they work really quickly. In the world of prototyping, those are two very valuable factors.
This translates to faster turnaround times, reasonable pricing, and full customization of each part.
CNC Turning Machines
CNC turning machines, like lathes, are great for working with cylindrical parts. Our CNC turning machines can provide drilling, boring, facing-off, changing OD and ID, and threading cylindrical parts.
A lot of people will defer to CNC turning machines whenever they need a cylindrical prototype. Turning machines have all the benefits of milling machines, but they excel mostly with cylindrical pieces.
COTS (Manual) Machining
COTS, second operation, or manual machining is when you buy a part from one place, and then have it customized and machined at another place. For a super simple example, you might buy a length of 80/20 T-slot then go to a machine shop to have them cut it to the right length.
With our COTS machining services, your freedom for design is wide open. You can save time and money by buying a pre-made part, and then utilizing our skills and machinery to fine-tune and customize the part, making it a perfect prototype for your operation.
This is often the better option as compared to changing your assembly to meet the dimensions and mounting position of an off-the-shelf item.
COTS machining will add more functionality to your prototypes, while saving you time and money on designing a prototype part from scratch.
Sheet Metal Fabrication
Another very popular service that we see companies choose in their prototyping phase is sheet metal fabrication. You might use sheet metal to create shrouds, safety guards, mock-ups of parts, housings, and eventually jigs and fixtures when you’re ready for full-scale production.
Oftentimes, sheet metal is less expensive to work with than CNC-machined thick metal parts. The material costs are lower, and there is more manufacturing equipment that can deal with thinner sheet metal than thick stock metal.
Our sheet metal services are high-quality, fast, and repeatable. This can save your team time and money through your prototyping phase.
3D Printing
3D printing is another incredibly common manufacturing option that people utilize during their prototyping phase. In our opinion, it’s the best way to make a prototype in the modern era.
Our 3D printers are fast, incredibly cost-effective, can create high-quality prototype parts, and allow for greater design freedom. This can dramatically speed through any prototyping phase, allowing you to make multiple iterations of the same part in a matter of hours or days, rather than weeks or months.
Within our facility, we have access to cutting-edge plastic, resin, and metal 3D printers that you can utilize for your next prototyping project.
Plastic and Resin 3D Printing
Plastic and resin 3D printers are classic machines that most engineers have worked with or at least heard of in the past. Our plastic and resin 3D printers go above and beyond the printers you might have in your garage, though.
Our 3D printers are industrial-grade options that can repeatedly hit tight tolerances as low as ±.002”, and print with a wide variety of plastics, nylons, resins, and much more.
Plastic and resin 3D printers are the best options if you want a quick mock-up of your part for fitments or various testing. They are incredibly fast and unbelievably affordable to work with — often, we can get a 3D-printed part to you much earlier at a much lower cost than our CNC-machined prototype parts.
Metal 3D Printing
Metal 3D printing is a more modern option that offers all the same features you love about plastic 3D printing. The only difference? These parts are made out of pure metal. Mechanically, they’re indistinguishable from a CNC-machined part made from the same metal.
Our metal 3D printing gives you more useful information about your prototypes if the final product is also going to be made out of metal. You can use these parts to go through destructive testing, fitments, and real-world tests to make sure your designs are perfect before you move into full-scale production.
Plus, metal 3D-printed parts are very professional-looking and can be easily finished with polishing and a coating to make them look even better. This can help you get buy-in from stakeholders, generate buzz in the market, or secure funding for full-scale production.
A lot of companies utilize our metal 3D printing services for prototyping, and even low-volume production — that’s how great the final parts turn out. Just like any other 3D printing operation, metal 3D printing is an affordable, fast, and reliable way to get your prototypes made.
Finishing Steps
Even though it’s just a prototype, parts will often require some sort of finishing to make sure they’re perfect for your needs. Whether you just need a physical model of your part, or you need to get investment from stakeholders, your prototypes can look a lot better with some finishing steps.
We offer a wide range of finishing steps that will make every prototype look more professional and even include branding from your company.
Conclusion
At Rapid Axis, we know what goes into making high-quality prototype parts. People choose our services because we offer such a wide range that can help you get through your prototyping phase quicker and more affordably.
If you want to get started today, get a free quote from our team. Our full-service machine shop can handle your needs. Consider Rapid Axis for your next prototyping project if you want faster, more affordable, higher-quality results.