Engineering Design Transforms Ideas into Products and Makes Good Products Great

To create or improve products, engineers rely on a number of proven approaches which include CAD Work, 3D Design, Industrial Design, Technical Analysis, Reverse Engineering, and Technical Documentation.  Learn more about how RapidMade can help.

CAD Work

• 3D print preparation
• 2D to 3D conversions
• Design for manufacturing conversions

3D Design

• Contract design work
• Custom design
• Product design
• Conceptual design
• Proof-of-concept design
• Design for manufacturing

Industrial Design

• Aesthetics
• Use-ability
• Ergonomics
• Anthropometrics
• Research

Technical Analysis

• Stress analysis
• Motor/actuator sizing and selection

Reverse Engineering

• File Conversions
• Existing part to 3D CAD
• 3D scan to parametric CAD model

Technical Documentation

• Manufacturing drawings
• Machine layouts

Training

• User manuals
• On-site installation

Pittsburgh Bridge 3D Scanned to Produce Replicas - a Home Run in the Making

Our friends at Direct Dimensions in Owings Mills, Maryland, will be "creating a 3D CAD model" of the Roberto Clemente Bridge in our hometown of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.  The resulting files will then be used to create 3D prints of the bridge for an upcoming RAPID + TCT show being held in Pittsburgh in May.

Pittsburgh, long recognized for its sports accomplishments, is becoming well known as a Center of Excellence in Additive Manufacturing as well.

OMDOG Performance Canine Headgear Lets Your Dog Ride Safely in Style

RapidMade gets to work on many cool new product ideas.  Given our love of dogs - we have a dog-friendly workplace, this project has been a favorite...

"OMDOG performance canine headgear started as a simple idea — to build a custom helmet for Charlie the Dog, who rides around Portland, Oregon in a cargo bicycle. When the decision was made to duplicate and improve the design, we contacted Rapid Made. They were responsive and excited about the project. They quickly 3D scanned our prototype, reverse engineered it, and made it easy for us to review and approve the CAD model before printing. Rapid Made helped us take an idea that started as a cardboard model made from a pizza box turn it into a viable product design. They're providing us with manufacturing options within our budget and well suited for our target market. We are extraordinarily grateful to have found Rapid Made!"

"Crash Course" in 3D Printing and Additive Manufacturing

3D Printing and Additive Manufacturing Glossary

The terms 3D printing and additive manufacturing are used interchangeably. They refer to a group of new technologies and processes that allow parts, models, and (in some cases) assemblies to be built three dimensionally.
Additive manufacturing is often best explained by how it differs from other types of production. Metal machining is a common and proven form of subtractive manufacturing: you start with a block of metal and cut away material until you are left with the desired design. Additive manufacturing, on the other hand, builds from a 3D model and only adds material where it is needed.
This is done by slicing a CAD modeled object into thin layers, sometimes as thin as 16 microns (0.0006in), and building each layer in succession. This unique manner of creating things allows for amazing new designs and geometries not previously possible with traditional manufacturing. For instance:
- Parts can now be made that have incredibly complex internal structures that cut out weight        while maintaining structural integrity
- Many design constraints (like requiring draft and undercuts) that limit traditional manufacturing  are obsolete
- Additively manufactured parts can be post-processed with traditional processes to improve  functionality or aesthetics
- Original masters for traditional casting processes can be produced easily and quickly
- Interlocking parts can be created without the need for assembly

3D printing is currently a hot topic. It's a rapidly growing market expected to reach $20 billion by 2020. Deemed “The New Manufacturing Revolution” by The Economist and Wired, additive manufacturing will dramatically affect the way things are made in the near future. Some experts believe it will help reinvigorate American manufacturing, while others believe it will democratize production of goods and every house will have its own 3D printer.
Whatever the future holds, see the reverse side of this sheet for a brief glossary of terms that will help you navigate the worlds of additive manufacturing.

Common Acronyms
FDM: short for fused deposition modeling (tradmarked by Stratsys) and also known as fused filament fabrication (FFF). See: material extrusion, thermoplastic
SLS: short for selective laser sintering. See: powder bed fusion
DMLS: short for direct metal laser sintering. See: powder bed fusion
SLA: short for stereolithography apparatus. See: vat photopolymerization

Types of additive manufacturing
Vat photopolymerization: this process builds parts by using light to selectively cure layers of  material in a vat of photopolymer.
Material jetting: this process builds parts by depositing small droplets of photopolymer    (similar  to an inkjet printer) which are then cured by exposure to light.
Binder jetting: this process creates objects by squirting a binding agent into a powdered material.
Material extrusion: this process creates objects by extruding thin filaments of thermoplastic to build layers. It is often likened to a tube of toothpaste or a syringe.
Powder bed fusion: this process selectively melts fine layers of powdered plastic or metal into solid objects using a laser.
Sheet lamination: this process builds parts by trimming sheets of material and binding them together in layers.
Directed energy deposition: This process builds or repairs parts by using focused thermal energy to fuse materials as they are deposited on a substrate.
Materials
thermoplastic: plastic that softens when heated and solidifies when cooled
photopolymer: a liquid plastic that hardens permanently when exposed to light

Common Materials

Material                   Strength               Flexibility              Surface Finish           Feature Detail
Zcorp Composite1   ★★★☆☆☆           ★☆☆☆☆☆            ★★★☆☆☆                 ★★★★☆☆
FDM Plastic              ★★★★☆☆           ★★★☆☆☆            ★☆☆☆☆☆                 ★★☆☆☆☆
Objet Plastic2           ★★☆☆☆☆           ★★★★★★            ★★★★★★                 ★★★★★★
SLS Plastic               ★★★★☆☆            ★★★★☆☆            ★★★☆☆☆                 ★★★☆☆☆
Printed Metal            ★★★★★☆           ★★☆☆☆☆             ★★☆☆☆☆                 ★★☆☆☆☆
DMLS Metal              ★★★★★★           ★★☆☆☆☆             ★★★☆☆☆                 ★★★☆☆☆
SLA Plastic                ★★★☆☆☆           ★★★☆☆☆             ★★★★☆☆                 ★★★★☆☆
1 ZCorp printers are one of the few processes that can create colored objects and can even reproduce photographs and modeling textures
2 Objet can print rigid (Shore D) and soft (Shore A) materials, giving it a flexibility range up to the maximum

4D Printing

Advances in 3D Additive Manufacturing technologies are far too often attributed to advances in the actual 3D printers themselves, but the machines are only 1/3 of the equation.

Often times new, innovative materials and software can have an even more profound impact on available products in the industry, or in this case, any industry.

The U.S. army just invested $855,000 in multiple projects around the development of "4D printing" software. Don't let the name fool you. The structures are created using the same 3D printing techniques on the market today, but this software allows for fundamental alterations in part design that allow the final construction to be completed after the part has been created.

By making parts out of hundreds to thousands of little, jointed components we can take advantage of new properties resulting from complicated assemblies. Additionally, we can now create objects that would have originally been too large for the relatively small beds of 3D printers.

These complicated assemblies would be far too labor intensive and costly to manufacture using any other technology available today.

Useful examples would include the dress in the video which behaves differently as we vary the size and placement of the joints throughout the dress's structure. We could also create very large objects previously compressed which snap into place to create a rigid, permanent structure much larger than the compressed one.

A lofty goal of this software would be to fabricate large objects on site in remote locations, like on an air craft carrier or on a colony in space where real estate for such equipment may be at a premium.

The beauty of Additive Manufacturing is that the users see new capabilities such as 4D Printing and come up with their own amazing applications.