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How to Turn Your Concept Into a Prototype?
Synced0 asks: "Like a lot of people who post/read on this site, I am a software developer. I have experience developing handheld applications and am quite knowledgeable about the hardware that are in various handheld devices , these days. I have been toying around with the idea of building a device that is based on a handheld platform. I have the basics for what I need such as what OS, and platform I will base it on (motherboard, CPU, storage, display panel, etc). The biggest question in my head is where do I go for the actual design of casing, and who I can get to do the final hardware design. I have never designed hardware before, but now that I have my platform and such, where do I go from here? I have some ideas on what the device should look like, but I have no skills of molding plastics. I have all the pieces working on the desk but am clueless how I progress from this stage.Is it very expensive for someone to take concept into a prototype?"
These people can help with part of your problem: http://www.emachineshop.com/
What would Lemmy do?
1. Patent the idea then forget about it.
2. Wait for some unsuspecting party to develop prototype.
3. ???
4. Profit.
I was looking into something similar for a Soekris-based project recently. ProtoCase looks promising. I haven't actually placed my order, so I can't comment on quality just now. I did download their software and do a quick design to estimate costs. Looks like, for a typical soekris-sized project with a couple serial ports and a couple ethernet ports I'd be facing approx. $130/unit in very small quantities with about $70 in one-time setup fees.
These guys have also occasionally been recommended on soekris-tech, and also offer free software to help you design and submit projects to them.
Good luck!
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This isn't necessarily a specific organization, but for casing, you might need to find someone with Industrial Design background.
Sorry for not giving you a link, but there are plastic moulding companies that offer samples albeit at high prices. You'll give them an Autocad drawing with all the specs. They will clarify the tolerances they can offer. Now before you go off and pay for a mold, they commonly have this device that can create any solid plastic shape in 3D using lasers.
"Give orange me give eat orange me eat orange give me eat orange give me you." -Nim Chimpsky
Granted, I have no idea what I'm talking about, but isn't this what venture capitalists are for?
He said HANDHELD and device. So step one is LICENSE patent from cybernaut...
The problem I always have is how to turn my prototype back into a concept.
I have a design for a device that is inevitable, and could be made with today's technology. The problem is that I have no idea how to get a patent, it just seems to complex for me to figure out.
God spoke to me.
I'm Ron Burgandy?
Radio Shack. Or Radioshack.com. Maybe their sales people don't have a clue but rummanging through the drawers will find you what you need. Breadboards, project boxes, LEDs, switches, resistors, zip ties, electrical tape. You need at least a rough mock-up eh? Here in Oregon we have an even better shop called Norvac. Ah, shrink tubing, fiber, every connector known to man, motors, and more.
When I have been on projects where money has been an issue I typically go to local plastic injection mould manufactures, usually the smaller the shop the better luck I have and simply talk to them about the project. Unless they are swamped with work they are usually very helpful and I have even on a few occasions had them make me a prototype case for next to nothing. After all these guys know you do need financing make things a reality. A single injection mould will cost you around $250,000 depending on the size and complexity. Really nothing beats being able to meet someone face to face with your ideas and concepts you will be surprised at all the cool stuff these guys can do with plastics.
One example is Logic Product Development. (My employer - shamless plug) We do exactly what you are asking for. Sometimes (when everything is custom) it is expensive. Sometimes it is not. There are many other product development houses out there (also called contract engineering houses) that can take your prototype and turn it into something that can be mass produced. You'd then have it manufactured at a CEM (Contract Equipemnt Manufactuer) either here or overseas.
mfgquote.com lets you put your job up to get bids from 1,650 suppliers performing over 200 manufacturing processes
I'm not sure about anywhere else in the world, but in the city I live in [in SK, Canada] we have a high-school that offers Machining and a school that offers Plastics. Generally you can go to the school and get what you need done [assuming you can do the CAD side of it yourself] :-)
Just go to the school and see if they have any students looking to make a bit a cash.
You should check us out. We currently offer waterjet cutting, which is cheaper than many of the processes listed in this thread.
Your design to a real part online: Big Blue Saw
There are three basic levels of plastic part volumes and costing outside the realm of machining from a block of plastic.
Rapid Prototypes: SLA, FDM, SLS, etc. Google those terms to see what they are. No tooling involved. Companies all over the place make them. I'd suggest FDM prototypes from quickparts.com or redeyerpm.com. Probably $25-150 per part. Several days for turnaround.
Rapid injection molding: niche filled by Protomold.com. Cheap tools (between $2k and $10k for most things), relatively cheap parts ($5-$15). 1-3 week delivery depending on price.
Real injection molding: Jillions of suppliers. Tools take 4 weeks or more. Don't count on less than $10,000 for a tool. Parts will be as cheap as they can get.
All three avenues need a 3D CAD model at some point. You can hire a consultant engineer for ~$100 an hour in some areas to model it up if you have decent sketches with some dimensions. How pretty you want it will determine how long it takes. Figure a few grand for something decent. You might be able to find software on the web to do it yourself if you don't have the money.
If you have a big pile of money, you can hire a company to design the parts, order the tools, and fabricate your whole product. Figure many tens of thousands of dollars for labor if you go that route.
Fry's. The local Fry's has a LOT more stuff along these lines than any Radio Shack you're ever likely to see.
Shameless plug for a family friend: http://www.l-m-w.de/, based in Germany.
These guys can do some pretty amazing things with their equipment, check out the "Produktbeispiel" (product examples). They cut and fold metals with lasers, drills and water jets. No idea what they charge, but you give them an Autocad file and they turn it into something real (if it's creatable). Last time I visited they were doing cases for large-scale image scanners (a-la 10ft by 5 ft).
Actually, at this point you need to build two things. One is a functional prototype that fits in some standard case. The other is a non-functional prototype that shows the desired look and feel of the product.
The functional prototype you put in some standard case. It will be bigger than the final product, but it will work. Get a good catalog of boxes (Mouser and Digi-Key have good selections.) You'll have to drill holes and grind things down, which you do with hand tools and maybe a Dremel tool.
The look and feel prototype you have designed by someone who understands industrial design. It may be a clay model. There are polymer clays that can be fired in an oven to make a hard object. The model is then painted, and perhaps glue-on stickers are applied, followed by a clear coat. There are other approaches; you can machine the mockup out of a block of Delrin, or build it up in a stereolithography machine. Or if you just want to have pretty pictures, you can design the case in some 3D system and generate renderings. But for handheld devices, a solid object is more useful.
Now you can get user opinons on the thing. You'll make some mods, and may do another version of either prototype. Marketing and funding efforts begin.
Once you have a basic design that seems to work, you're faced with designing the real thing. This is a packaging job, and you have to think about things like design for assembly, waterproofing, shock and vibration resistance, interconnects, and similar subjects. If you can get the whole thing on one PC board, do so. If you can't, you get into interconnects, always a big hassle. Try for one PC board with surface mount components and a clamshell case that holds it in place; that's straightforward to fabricate in quantity. If your idea is any good, by this point you have some funding. So you get this done by somebody who knows how.
Incidentally, having custom membrane keyboards or rubber keyboards like a cell phone made isn't that big a deal, and you can get much of your job done by a supplier in that business.
It took me years to get to this point: http://mars.illtel.denver.co.us/~abelits/images/td 44-testing/td44-assembled-pipes-1.jpg
Contrary to the popular belief, there indeed is no God.
The Prototype JavaScript library.
It might sound very simple advice, but networking (ie. finding people with skills or resources you don't have) and making deals (get them to work for you) are the steps you have to take to get your project anywhere.
Before you jump out and start hyping your project, making connections and start signing people, you have to make your own homework. You have to put your idea of a device and it's usage into an simple and clear message that is convincing, after that make atleast some calculations about the cost of device, markets ie. to get some picture if there is any financial reason to do the project. At this stage you should put the idea forward to your friends who might have something to contribute and to give feedback about the general idea, and have someone of them jump into the project. If you are any lucky, you and your friends can do all the work to make it from concept to proto.
In some time after you have got some ground into your project, you should definately incorporate. Having an corporation shows that you are serious and it makes it more easier to sign "outsiders", ie. not your friends, to the project: rewarding outside work with equity. In example I know one small sports device maker who got few talented people from Nokia to design their devices outlook and casing by promising equity in return of design work. Also having an corporation secures your project by putting all the work of individuals to property of the company, and usually individuals are more willing to sign NDA between the company than straight with you.
Of course, if your project is just for hobby or fun, then my advice is not so usable. But if you are atleast little bit serious, I would definately suggest that you read some books about starting an firm, some books about innovations and basic marketing info.
Survey research tool for commercial and scientific use
Prototyping of small intricate devices can be quite expensive. Especially if you want to design it for commercial viability. For designing the case, you'll want a high end 3d modeling software package like SolidWorks. You will idealy want it to be designed to be viable for rapid injection molding, though for a first prototype it isn't neccessary. You will want to design the case around what your electrical engineers can do with your board. Once you have a design, look into stereolythography for the rapid prototyping. It's expensive, but for a one shot deal, you cant beat the price for what you get. Be warned, the resin used in SLA is brittle. I think someone makes special screws for it though.
I see the glass as full with a FoS of 2.
He's one of the judges from that show American Inventor. His website is here. At the bottom of the page, is a link to a company he recommends called Evergreen IP, who can supposedly help with this kind of thing. I have no personal experience with any of this, just happen to know about this guy.
A modern day witchhunt.
Technologists like to spend time working all the details, but you don't know if anyone is interested in buying it at this point. So put your resources into taking what you have and putting it in the hands of customers, retailers, marketing folks - all the stakeholders that will quickly tell you if you have something that they want. And of course, they each will want to change something about it, so it's easier, faster, and cheaper to put changes into it when it is closer to the prototype stage, than when it has a customized package.
I would go so far as to suggest that if you can not find a sponsor for your product at this stage, then you may not want to continue. A sponsor would be someone that either a) agrees to market your product (after the requested changes are incorporated, of course); b) buy them outright (again with changes); c) buy the rights to manufacture the product (easiest option - you can stop, now, and collect royalties).
Best of luck!
I don't know if by "I have the basics for what I need such as what OS, and platform I will base it on (motherboard" you mean to say that you already have selected/designed/tested/certified the actual motherboard.
Assuming you haven't done that (since it implies the case size will be constrained by your already selected board), you need to do some serious electronics work to get the circut board to a suitable shape and size for your handheld.
Once you have it working on your desk, you need to do the following to make it suitable for hand held operation.
Standard disclaimer: IANAEE
1) reduce the size and weight
Select smaller components (like the ones that go into wave solder machines), change the layout, consider a multilayer board (more layers = more mfg cost and more difficulty in layout design) Smaller board = smaller case
Note: remember that anything at the edge of the board can get dinged by the installer as they put the board into the case.
It is good to establish beforehand your desired/target size and weight even if you don't quite achieve it right away.
2) determine the battery/power source that you are going to use with it.
If it is re-chargeable, determine if the charger is ouside or inside the handheld case. Some power sources require additional shielding for safety if the battery contents should leak. You need to be able to provide sufficient operating time and standby time (baterries leak current slowly even when off). Standby time must be at least 1 day or more (ideally 4 days - a long weekend). Standby power needs to account for anything that must remain powered up - such as memory, always on components etc.
3) reduce the power draw
You may need to select low power versions of the components and if you have too many discretes, you may want to push them into a PAL or an ASIC
(note: ASIC design/prototyping can cost quite a bit, so you may want to defer it to version 2.0)
It is good to establish beforehand your desired/target power draw even if you don't quite achieve it right away.
4) design your circuit layouts carefully
You need to account for timing issues due to signal lag, power up issues due to the timing of what power lines come on first (which depends on the load for each line) And you need to measure and reduce signal noise enough to prevent signal interference. You have to account also for any parts that may get hot (nearby parts may not like it) You also need to confirm with you board manufacturer that your layout meets their specifications. And you need to check with the board assembly guys that they can assemble the parts in (by robot) and wave solder the board - otherwise you will need manual assembly or manual soldering (very bad).
5) account for heat dissipation from the case and from the hot parts
Should not too much of a problem for something that should be handheld.
However, if it is warm enough to notice by touch, you may need to insulate the handgrip. If you need to stimulate a part to get it hot, you may need to create a signal gererator or write some testing software to generate the signal to heat up the part. If you can, test the heating of the part until you see its failure mode. Ideally, it should just stop working until it cools down again. A worse outcome is that it lets out the magic smoke or even starts a fire. If this is an issue, you may need to add in some thermal monitoring and regulation (usually, you just select better parts).
6) make sure the circuit board has holes drilled for support
The holes should allow for firm support without twisting or pulling.
Rubber gaskets/grommets can reduce the transmission of shock.
You need to do a drop test (from waist height at least)
The positioning of the supports must allow the circuit board to be inserted into the case without stressing the board or pinching the installer's fingers.
It must also be possible to remove the board.
7) design the case case layout carefully
If you're doing this as a hobby, and are not looking to make this into a business, I suggest taking balsa wood or modeler's clay and hand build the enclosure to prototype the rough idea. Then, you can sand/smooth/paint it carefully to have a "finished product", or hand your prototype to an art school student (someone that is studying commercial industrial design) -- and ask him to build it in his 3D CAD/CAM class. I knew a guy that made beautiful SLA product prototypes in class - stuff that looked very real.
If you're trying to make real products, you need to get a professional industrial designer and mechanical engineer at some point.
OK, you have developed some software and know the hardware you need. Think of how you got there. You had some requirements, you had a budget, you had a schedule. What you need now is to apply the same kind of thinking to your hardware.
Think of -how many- widgets you want to build. If you can make a living doing 100 of them, it's senseless to make plastic parts. If you need to make a million of them, it is senseless to make anything but the minimum plastic part that will satisfy the requirements, even one cc of plastic * 1 million parts = $BIGNUMBER. Tailor the mechanical bits to the number of widgets you're making, just as you tailored the software and electronics to the number of bits/sec of throughput. The more parts you have to make, the more sensitive the profit/loss will be to the cost of each part, but you pay for that kind of value engineering in higher cost of engineering services.
Think of the integration between the parts of the widget. If the parts are very cheap but it takes a long time to assemble them, you are making a trade-off. Is it the correct one?
Is anybody going to drop the product? Spill coffee on it? If so, have someone look at it from that point of view. Designing to environmental requirements (especially aggressive ones) is different from designing for the office.
Look at a product you -know- is good and that has about the volume and usage of your product. Take one apart and see how they did their tradeoffs. Try to explain to yourself what the features are for. Nobody puts "mysterious" parts in, they cost money. Everything in there serves a purpose. See if you understand what it is.
Lots of people have done what you are doing and you can do it. Think clearly and as though you are writing down requirements in a statement of work.
If you're in the Bay Area, you may be interested in TechShop (http://www.techshop.ws/). They're up in the industrial complex across highway 101 from Menlo Park off the Marsh Rd. exit. Like the Crucible in Berkeley, they're a place with a bunch of tools for prototyping: PCB etchers, 3d printers, electronically controlled lathes, CNC milling machine, etc. They're scheduled to open their doors in August, I think. $30 gets you a "day pass" to use all the equipment in the building. $100 gets you a monthly membership.
These are all good comments/suggestions.
I am currently going through this exact same process. I have no outside investors, so I am 'bootstrapping' it.
Here's what I've learned so far.
There's more details to consider than I would have thought possible. Packaging, technical manuals, repair manuals, software CD's, shipping, warehousing space, final assembly space, not to mention the actual product design.
I have it easy I suppose. My product is relatively simple for an electronic device. Circuit boards cost about $4 each without components or assembly. One part of the unit is in an off the shelf case (about $1.50), and another part is an injection moulded part of my own design, manufactured at emachineshop for about $1.70. Tooling cost for the mould was a little over $400 if I remember correctly. All together, the device costs about $60, and sells for $129. Higher volumes would obviously bring the cost down significantly, but then I would need a distribution network, which generally raises the cost back to where it was for low volume production.
I can conceivably manufacture about 20 or so per day, using my current processes. Better equipment, specifically a professional reflow oven, would increase that number to mabye 50 units per day. My facility is not especially high-tech nor large, and I am the one and only employee (makes payroll very easy). I still have my day job of 40 hours, so I don't see the family much...
It's a tremendous amount of work, and, thinking about it now, it all started out of personal need. Making the first one is what cost so much money, so I figured that with each one that I sell, I can offset the initial cost. In total, to get where I am now, I've spent about $5K, not including the few thousand hours of my own time. If I sell 100 of them, then the whole process didn't cost me anything but time. It's been about a year since I concieved of the device, and to date, I haven't sold a single one. Not that it isn't marketable, but because there's always one more detail to work through. I hope to be unveiling the device in the next few months.
One poster mentioned getting a patent. I researched that option and decided against it. Here's why.
Typical patent fees run upwards of $10K. You can get Patent Pending status quickly, but the actual patent can take years. Then what? Then nothing. Until someone uses your patented idea. Usually goes like this: You start producing the best Widget ever. You have great sales and make some money, let's say $100K. Wong Chow in China sees your infomercial, and using his inexpensive labor, reverse engineers, and then produces your patented Widget for half the price. Your go shopping one day, and see your Widget on the shelf at the local dollar store. You call your lawyers and they start the paperwork. It takes about 10 years, but you win the case. Wong Chow is forced to stop producing your Widget. But wait, your patent ran out 3 years ago. He never has to stop producing. You've spent a couple 100K on the lawyers and associated fees. In fact, you spent most of the money you made in the first place. In the end what did the patent get you? Most likely, a bunch of grey hairs.
Now for the big guys, they have teams of patent attourneys on staff, as well as the lawyers to battle the competition in court. They can get things done far cheaper than the small guys. I'm not saying that there's no need whatsoever for a patent, just that you have to look at the whole situation before you start the process. One thing to note is that once you start selling your product, it gets difficult, if not impossible to get a patent issued on it (after the fact that is).
So, I have no big investors, no patent, no factory, no formal knowledge of any of the required fields, and yet, I'm still plugging along. I have no illusions. I will not be made a millionaire. Will I break even? Hopefully.
Just to make my first point a little more clear, here's a s