English 
About Prototype
Preface
We discussed the prototype in the previous issue, and we will talk about it again in this issue, mainly focusing on the mainstream prototype processing technology on the market.
Why is there a prototype?
In the process of designing industrial products, after the designer has completed the design drawings, one of the things that the designer wants to do most is to know the effect of the product he designed into a real object, whether the appearance of the product is consistent with his own design ideas, and the structure of the product. Is the design reasonable and so on? In order to solve this problem, the manufacture of prototypes is produced in response to this demand.
What types of prototypes are there?
According to the means of production, the prototype can be divided into manual prototype and CNC prototype:
(1) Manual prototype: the main workload is done by hand.
(2) CNC prototype: its main workload is completed by CNC machine tools, and according to the different equipment used, it can be divided into laser rapid prototyping (RP, Rapid Prototyping) prototype and machining center (CNC) prototype.
A: RP prototype: It is mainly produced by laser rapid prototyping technology.
B: CNC Prototype: It is mainly a prototype produced by a CNC machining center.
Compared with CNC prototypes, RP prototypes have their own advantages:
The advantages of RP prototype are mainly reflected in its rapidity, but it is mainly formed by stacking technology, so RP prototype is generally relatively rough, and there are certain requirements for the wall thickness of the product, for example, if the wall thickness is too thin, it cannot be produced.
The advantages of the CNC prototype are that it can very accurately reflect the information expressed by the drawings, and the surface quality of the CNC prototype is high, especially after the surface spraying and silk screen printing are completed, even more splendid than the products produced after the mold is opened.
Therefore, CNC prototyping has become more and more mainstream in the prototyping industry.
According to the materials used in production, the prototype can be divided into plastic prototype and metal prototype:
(1) Plastic prototype: its raw material is plastic, mainly the prototype of some plastic products, such as TV, home automation, digital electronics and so on.
(2) Metal prototype: its raw materials are aluminum-magnesium alloy and other metal materials, mainly prototypes of some high-end products, such as notebook computer, advanced single player, MP3 player, CD player and so on.