Best tools for making prototypes.

It is complex to determine which are the best tools for making prototypes in an innovative product development laboratory. This definition largely depends on the expected goals of the prototype, its stage of development, and the types of prototyping tools available.

Below, we will provide an analysis based on our experience as a prototyping company, and we will suggest some versatile tools that we have made the most of in one or more prototyping disciplines.

Basic tools for industrial and mechanical design.

As you know, mechanical design of prototype parts is a key discipline. For this task, it is essential to have digital design tools that allow the creation of mechanical designs with a high level of similarity to the physical needs of the parts, simulate gear movements, control tolerances, and analyze wear, collisions, estimate weights, among other key aspects for designing essential prototype parts.

Recommended digital tools for mechanical design.

Autodesk Inventor: A 3D CAD-based tool that enables detailed part designs and functional simulation in digital environments. It is highly recommended because it is an intuitive tool, and its digital results closely match the physical part requirements.

Ansys: Ansys is one of the complementary tools useful for the design of complex systems. It is used for research processes on the technical feasibility and optimization of functional structures. It helps analyze the ability of parts to withstand loads and temperatures, allowing engineers to optimize functional designs before moving on to manufacturing.

Fusion 360º: This is a useful tool for managing designs and optimizing details according to the intended manufacturing method. It supports formats such as CAD, CAM, and CAE, making it possible to create parametric part designs, simulate, and generate toolpaths for CNC manufacturing.

herramientas para crear prototipos

Physical tools for making prototype parts.

The manufacturing of parts and components for prototypes usually follows two fundamental phases: producing pieces to demonstrate concepts and producing prototype parts to showcase the potential of a future product. The balance between manufacturing speed and part aesthetics is a tough one, which is why it is essential to define the real objective before making decisions about the most suitable prototyping tools.

Manufacturing parts with 3D printing: The manufacturing of prototype parts with 3D printing machines is the "ABC" of prototyping. However, within each of the categories or 3D manufacturing methods, there are machines and materials that make clear differences.

Creality | Ender 3: For rapid manufacturing to validate concepts, the use of Creality printers is very practical. Specifically, models like the Ender 3 are commonly used. While it is true that this printer does not deliver the best aesthetic results nor the strongest castings to demonstrate mechanical resistance of the parts, it is very fast and, above all, very affordable.

Bambu Lab: The Bambu Lab machines have become our best 3D printers. The price is affordable, and the results are excellent, especially when following the manufacturer's guidelines and using only their own materials.

Formech 508DT: The Formech machines are very useful for manufacturing parts with cold molds and parts using vacuum techniques. These manufacturing techniques allow for watertight parts due to the nature of the method itself. The Formech 508 DT devices are affordable and, in our experience, enable a wide range of uses for the rapid materialization of prototypes.

CNC Carvera: It is true that over the last decade, we have tested several solutions to manufacture parts with CNC. The results of these parts are far superior in terms of mechanical strength compared to those obtained with 3D printing. However, the learning curve to achieve the same results as with 3D printing is usually steeper when using CNC machines. Without a doubt, after trying several alternatives, the Carvera CNC machine has been the best we have tested in the last decade. In addition to our experience, we know that professional opinions on Carvera machines are outstanding. The balance between precision, versatility, and ease of use has never received better feedback.

Although these are everyday prototyping tools, there are other tools that have a clear impact on controlling prototyping times. Specifically, laser cutting machines, manual lathes and mills for testing unique parts with fine adjustments, as well as other more common tools such as column drills, polishers, plastic benders, and heat guns.

Tools for developing electronic prototypes.

The manufacturing of electronic prototypes involves several technical disciplines and, therefore, various categories of prototyping tools.

Tools for designing PCBs

Easy EDA: Easyeda is one of the most widely used tools for designing PCB schematics. It is an online tool with free versions available for initial projects. One important point to keep in mind is that Easy EDA has a shared work option which, although useful in some cases, if not configured correctly, can make your PCB design projects public.

KiCad: KiCAD is also a useful tool for designing PCBs and defining electronic schematics. It has certain advantages over EasyEDA since it offers a higher level of customization. However, EasyEDA provides a faster learning curve, and for designing prototype PCBs, it is more than sufficient.

Tools for testing PCB designs

It is not unusual to encounter functional errors in the first versions of a PCB design. The common goal in prototyping processes is to minimize the cycles of detecting and correcting these errors. For this reason, it is advisable to use diagnostic tools for PCB designs.

LTSpice: This is a digital tool that allows you to simulate the behavior of analog circuits. Using LTSpice helps identify circuit behavior before manufacturing the PCB, reducing the likelihood of errors in early versions and, in turn, the time required for error cycles.

Proteus: Proteus is one of the most complete diagnostic tools for digital PCB testing. It not only allows validating the behavior of the designed circuits but also simulating the PCB's behavior with the firmware, which substantially minimizes potential failures in the early versions of a prototype PCB.

Digital tools for firmware and microcontrollers.

PlatformIO: PlatformIO is one of the most democratized tools for firmware development based on ESP32, STM32, and the Arduino family in general. It is a very useful digital tool due to its collaborative nature. PlatformIO allows the centralization of libraries and is an ideal environment for compiling IoT prototype firmware solutions.

Arduino IDE: When there is a need to quickly demonstrate functionality concepts through MVP manufacturing, it may make much more sense to use Arduino IDE. This digital tool allows for rapid testing with controllers from the ESP family.

Tools for AI prototypes

Although dozens of very useful tools for demonstrating concepts and technical feasibility of products requiring data processing compatible with the AI concept have been developed in today's market, there are three tools that have shown very comprehensive results in our AI prototypes.

Edge Impulse: This is a versatile tool for developing AI models that need to be embedded in custom firmware developments. The development of AI prototypes not only includes challenges associated with model training, where Edge Impulse stands out as one of the best No-Code platforms, but another key challenge is efficiently embedding the AI model output into the device firmware. In this sense, the use of Edge Impulse gradually reduces this risk.

Although at Lets Prototype we are somewhat influenced by Edge Impulse due to its versatility and close relationship with its technical team in the United States, it is true that there are other digital tools for building AI prototypes that show very good results: Lobe and Teachable Machine. In the case of Lobe, it is a solution promoted by the tech giant Microsoft and is useful for training vision models, while Teachable Machine has allowed us to quickly perform proof of concept.

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