3D Printing Prototypes: Form, Fit and Function
Learn more about Form, Fit and Function for 3D printing prototypes with Account Manager Colin Caufield from Fathom.
In this short video, Colin talks about 3D printing for San Francisco Bay Area entrepreneurs Aaron Latzke and David Delcourt of Siva Cycle who wanted to create a production-like prototype for their Kickstarter project.
Read the Full Case Study / / Siva Cycle
There are three F’s to rapid prototyping — we like to talk about form, fit and function. The example that we have here is something that we did for a client of ours, Siva Cycle. It is a device with internal gears and parts that interlock and it connects to the hub of a bicycle. As you pedal, the wheel turns gears on the inside, generating electricity which charges the battery. The form of this, as you can see, is that you can hold it in your hands. You can see how it really feels. you can feel the weight of it and imagine how it attaches to a bicycle. The fit is testing all of the components that come together — the internal gears that turn each other, the way it locks into the hub of the bicycle and just the general accuracy in what they were looking for in their product. Specifically, how close it is to the CAD files they made. This is a great example of testing all three F’s in rapid prototyping — form (how it feels), fit (how everything comes together) and function (how it actually works when you put it on the bike).
