The big idea: Rapid prototyping makes a physical prototype quickly, straight from a CAD model, so users and design teams can handle it and give feedback while the design is still cheap to change.
The guide names three techniques: SLA, FDM and SLS.
What happens inside each machine — because every difference that matters follows from the mechanism.
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SLA — stereolithography
FDM — fused deposition modelling
SLS — selective laser sintering
Why SLS needs no supports: The part is built inside a bed of loose powder. An overhang rests on powder that is already there, so nothing has to be printed to hold it up — and nothing has to be cut off afterwards.
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Advantages
- A physical part in hours, straight from CAD
- Users can handle it, so feedback is real
- Complex internal geometry that machining cannot produce
- No tooling, so a change costs nothing but another print
Disadvantages
- Materials are limited compared with production processes
- Properties differ from the production material, so tests can mislead
- Surface finish usually needs work before it can be shown
- Slow and costly per part at any real quantity
The trap: Treating a 3D-printed part as equivalent to the production part. An FDM prototype is weaker across its layers than an injection-moulded one is in any direction — so a printed part that survives a test proves less than it appears to.
How this is tested — choosing a rapid prototyping technique and justifying it by its properties. It comes up two ways:
Paper 1 — multiple choice
- Identify a technique from a description of the machine.
- Pick the technique that suits a stated requirement.
Paper 2 — analysing a product
- Explain why a designer chose a named technique for a product.
- Evaluate rapid prototyping against a traditional workshop model.
The trap: Answering with the acronym alone. The mark is in the property — no supports, best finish, cheapest, strongest — and why that property matters here.
A designer needs two prototypes of a drone arm: one to photograph for a funding pitch next week, and one to fly-test. Justify a rapid prototyping technique for each.
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