MATERIALS • PROCESSES
For example, new 3D printers that can combine diff erent materials and print in hundreds of thousands of colours are being developed to reduce the time and expense taken by painting or assembling 3D printed products and components after they’ve been printed. Eurecat Technology Centre in Spain has also recently developed a 3D printer that incorporates a virtual reality representation of the printing job, so it can be monitored, tweaked and changed in real-time, further helping
to save time and costs and improving accuracy. There is also huge investment in refi ning a 3D printing process using metal, which is set to transform the construction industry, as well as providing new opportunities to design engineers who are developing new metal components and
products. But perhaps some of the biggest hype recently has
Prototype of a shower product called FloStem, designed by 3Form Design
❝ The idea that a single prototype will be able
to represent the design intent and be all things to all departments without spending the time and money on the design process is how optimism missteps expectations ❞
been around developing materials for rapid prototyping that have an internal structure that can be manipulated to alter certain properties. Ceramic foam ink allows for ‘tunable’ microstructures within the material, allowing for strength, durability and shape to be altered and experimented with, adding even greater value and scope to the prototyping process. Adidas has demonstrated something similar with its newly launched FutureCraft 4D trainers. Turning away from 3D printing, Adidas has used ‘digital light synthesis’ to create the soles of the trainers, a technique that uses light to sculpt a liquid resin with elastic properties, which is then set in shape under heat. The process is fully ‘tunable’, allowing for diff erent levels of cushioning and stability across a single element to create tailor-made trainers based on a customer’s running data. The future of prototyping is certainly very exciting,
but however sophisticated the techniques become, the role of the prototype in the wider design and development process remains the same: a single prototype cannot answer all the problems or questions. Only a well-staged process that knocks down the fears one by one, by considering the best type of prototype to use and when to use it, will get you where you want to be without leaving you bankrupt. ●
Austen Miller is senior partner at 3form Design.
www.3formdesign.com
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