Does 3D printing mean electronics engineers need to release their inner artist?
1 min read
Allowing people to build almost anything, simply and cheaply, 3D printing is the hobbyist's dream tool. It's also a technology which brings a new meaning to the term 'rapid prototyping', and gives electronics engineers the opportunity to present their prototypes or demo boards in a much more attractive way.
How a product is presented to a potential customer can make a real difference to how well it is received. Even if a product exhibits amazing functionality, demonstrating it on a breadboard or pcb rarely makes a great first impression.
But house the board in an aesthetically pleasing box and there is more chance the customer is drawn in to admire the device's performance. The degree of sophistication in the box's design can vary from a simple container to a working model with moving parts and a sleek form factor.
Imagine a new mobile phone prototype. 3D printing allows the engineer – or designer, or even perhaps artist – to build one or more mock-ups of the phone's casing at a very early stage. Together with improved presentation qualities, the casing means the entire prototype can be checked thoroughly to ensure case and internal components are correctly matched. Volume manufacture can then proceed with 100% confidence.
Of course, the same process can be applied equally well to any other electronic product. 3D printing offers R&D divisions an easy and cost-effective way to deliver more complete design proposals – to both internal stakeholders and external customers.
Compared to traditional methods of rapid prototyping, 3D printing offers greater speed, lower cost and more versatility. The materials used offer good robustness as well as a palette of many colors that can be used to create multicolored objects. It is easy to see how 3D printing is quickly becoming the rapid prototyping process of choice. The challenge to electronics engineers is: Are you ready to let out your inner artist?
