
Ask HN: what ways have you sourced a prototype for your physical product? - TheBiv
Howdy!<p>I am a programmer looking to create my first prototype for a simple product idea that I have. It is about the same complexity as a Pringles can, has no moving parts, and will be made of plastic.<p>I do not want to order a 3d printer for this, and I am looking for ways that any of y&#x27;all have sourced a physical prototype. I will only need a few runs of the product in less than ~5 quantity.<p>Any suggestions are greatly appreciated and I don&#x27;t mind being pointed to a blog or being pointed somewhere where I have to do some heavy lifting (in terms of my own research)!
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mdturnerphys
Depending on the design, you could either have it 3d printed or have it
machined. Online services are available for either option (e.g. shapeways.com
and emachineshop.com, respectively), or you could find a local job shop to do
either. The online services require you to provide them with prepared CAD
files. A local job shop would be able to work with you on the CAD files if you
don't have them already. Another option would be to try printing it at a local
hackerspace (e.g. dallasmakerspace.org). Feel free to contact me if you want
some more direction. I haven't prototyped consumer products, but I do spend a
lot of time building one-off devices for physics research.

You're right not to want to order your own 3d printer for this. The hobbyist
grade ones still aren't plug and play, so you'd burn too much time getting it
working.

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TheBiv
I really appreciate the response!! Also, idk if you knew where I am from when
you wrote this, but I absolutely love the shoutout to the local Dallas shop. I
will for sure start there and then exhaust all of the other resources that you
mentioned.

Thank you very much for your time!

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matthudson
Have you already modeled it? If you're comfortable leaving an email address so
I could get in touch, I can send you a few prints of your design.

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TheBiv
I have created a rough proof of concept at this point and I am using google
sketch up right now to try and model it in CAD format. I hope that answers
your question!

I would love for any advice you could give so please do shoot me a line at
bentechwild at gmail dot com! Thank you very much!!

