When the drawings are completed or a new product design is completed, that is, before it is put on the market, the first thing you want to know is the market effectiveness of the product; or if you want to know whether the design drawings are different from the actual product or whether it is reasonable, etc. At this time, it is recommended that you first make a prototype model.

In layman's terms, a prototype model is a functional template that makes one or more models based on product design drawings or structural drawings to check the rationality of appearance or structure without opening a mold.

Prototype classification:

Handmade prototypes: Mainly early prototypes, this method is rarely used now, because it is mainly handmade, and the size and appearance are difficult to meet the requirements, so this method is rarely used at present.

 ② numerical control prototype: It mainly relies on numerical control machine tools to complete, so it can be divided into laser rapid prototyping (RP) prototype and numerical control machining center (CNC) prototype.

Advantages of RP prototypes: fast, mainly formed by stacking technology, so prototypes are generally rough; another example is that products with thin wall thickness cannot be made by this method.

Advantages of CNC prototypes: accurate, high surface quality, such as spraying and silk screen printing on the surface, which is almost the same as the real product. It can be directly molded on plastic, which is more in line with product requirements, so CNC prototypes will become the mainstream of the prototype manufacturing industry.

 According to the materials used in the production, the prototype can be divided into plastic prototype and metal prototype.

 (1) Plastic prototype: Its raw materials are mainly ABS or other flexible plastics, such as some popular but newly developed products in the market, such as functional telephones, monitor casings, game consoles, etc.

 (2) Metal prototype: Its raw materials are mainly aluminum-magnesium alloy or other, mainly used in some high-end prototype, such as notebook computers, CD players, MP3, MP4 players and other household appliances.

(3) Usually, some expensive products such as mobile phones and digital cameras must be modeled before being put on the market, that is, the so-called mobile phone model machine, camera model machine, etc. The mold processing is generally as follows: A. Keep the appearance unchanged on the basis of the original mobile phone 3D drawings, and then modify the structure inside to the simplest structure that meets the functions required by customers. According to the appearance of the real machine, use the simplest and mass-produced processes such as silk screen printing, oil injection, electroplating, etc. to imitate the appearance of the real machine. The degree of simulation is above 80%. Some real machine effects such as hardware drawing, IMD processes, etc. are expensive, and are generally realized by ordinary processes such as bronzing and silk screen mirror silver, which can achieve cost reduction. If the mold opened by the mobile phone model machine, digital camera model machine, etc. does not have special requirements from the customer, ordinary materials such as 718 for the mold core can be generally used.

 (4) the necessity of prototype production; (1) to inspect the appearance design and structural design of the product; (2) to avoid the risk of directly opening the mold; (3) to greatly advance the launch time of new products.