Second Class

On the second class of Prototypes III, we started presenting our rapid prototyping techniques that we were assigned to investigate. The first team were us with SLA. As we could explain it, is a very common technique nowadays in industry in which a 3D printer’s laser “prints” layer by layer your CAD file, exposing a photo sensible resin to UV rays, hardening it and producing a solid and three-dimensional model. The biggest disadvantage of using this method is that the dimensions are limited and that the machines that are necessary are really expensive (about 100,000 to 400,000 USD).

Some other things that I learn or that I was impressed:

• FDM is a very interesting process, but I am concerned about the wasted material because of the need of printing all the volume (including the holes which are going to be dissolved in water after printing).
• The team didn’t explain it this soluble plastic contaminate the water or if there is a way of making this process sustainable.
• LOM is the technique that impressed me the most because it doesn’t need any toxic polymer, just paper.
• It could be better if the rest of the paper can be reused or if you can put rolls of laminated metal or other recyclable materials.
• Open hardware it’s a very important movement between rapid prototyping users, in which they can modify the machines to improve them and then to share this changes to other users so everyone can have the modifications.
• I had never imagined the possibility of having a 3D printer by my own, I always pictured them as an extremely expensive and never reachable machine, and now I realize that for a small design business it can be affordable.

Unfortunately, I couldn’t come back after the break because of the design’s welcome meeting, but next week I will post the lesson I missed, which was about 3D scanning.

See u next week
JP

PRESENTATION

Thinking in Prototypes

Nowadays, prototypes have a more important role in the design process; people can’t get satisfied anymore with just a render. The user wants to feel the object in his hands, touch it and play with it, before actually purchasing it.

The same way the user does, the designer wants to experiment with a physical representation of the object, he wants to imagine himself using it, figuring out how it works and take a overall view before continuing with that design.

This is when prototypes can help us; they have important implications on design process:

• They can be used as a 3D sketchpad. The designer can modify forms and dimensions just the way they are being pictured in his head.
• It’s a simple “Trial & Error” exercise, where the designer can notice inconvenient facts about the product.
• If something doesn’t work on a prototype it won’t work on the final product.
• Renders can fool designers and users because we don’t have a real interaction with the position and dimensions of the objects.
• Prototypes can be given to the users to see how they react and interact, this way the designer can locate specific errors on the proper use of the object.
• They had become in a practical sketchbook that can be used to have a record of all the process and modifications that the object suffers.
• They are not precious objects; they are made specifically to prove special parts of the design and decision making in the process.

As future designers we have to understand the real importance of prototypes, because sometimes it happens that you are so sure that your design is going to work that you forget to actually trying it out with your potential users.

It has been proved that the most prototypes that are made in a design process, the best the final results are, this is because if you don’t try something you will fail at it.

SOURCE:
Eisenberg, Bart. Thinking in Prototypes. Product Design & Development; ProQuest Computing, pg. 28

First Class

On this very first class, we present each other and form teams in order to start working on the final project. The professors explained it to us. We are going to "pimp our rides", in teams we are going to buy a toy car and modify it in order to win a race at the end of the semester.

I think I will enjoy the project but I was expecting to do the mask, the sprayer and the iron exercises. Nevertheless I recoon we are going to learn a lot more doing this car thing.

I am very excited about this class because the syllabus seems to be very interesting and I think it is very important for us as industrial design students to comprehend the high technology that we have in our hands, because we have to present our projects the best we can everytime. Also this can help us to be as competitive as other designers all over the world.

In the last part of the class we were assigned to search on the web about one of the ways to do rapid prototyping. My team choosed SLA (Stereolithography). I found this technique very interesting and it is important to understand it very carefully because it is part of what we are going to do with the Z-Corp. The next class we are going to see all the other technologies so I am expecting a very interesting class. I will let you know next week.

See u