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3D printing and rapid prototyping technology (RPT) is on the verge of improving product availability for consumers. The technology once employed only by manufacturing industries is about to become available for consumer use in their home or small business. Rapid prototyping technology will give an almost unlimited ability for production to the average consumer. Just imagine that you have lost a button to your favorite shirt or dress and there’s no time to purchase another. Is there a solution? Once produced you sew it on and you are on your way. 3D printing is able to apply this rapid prototyping technology for the consumer and in a diversity of applications. The technology for 3D printers is computer aided design software instructing the printer to build a 3 dimensional model layer by layer until an exact reproduction is produced. Just think of the possibilities for customers that 3D printers using rapid prototyping technology proposes, they are too vast to number.

3D Printing used for 3D Toys and Models. The use of 3D printing for making toys and models for the customer right in their home is only one of many applications of rapid prototyping technology. In this application the consumer would buy or download a (CAD) software package for the toy they wanted to make and upload it into the hard-drive. One of many models of 3D printing could then begin to manufacture the toy or model for the consumer. Options for example customizing monograms or colors for the fortunate recipient of the toy would be available to the customer. In a short period of time a customized toy would be ready for packaging, wrapping and gift giving. That special train or model car that you couldn’t locate for purchase could be made by 3D printing and rapid prototyping technology. 3D printing would really open up a lot of alternatives for consumers if it comes to producing just the right toys or models.

3D printing: the advantages of rapid prototyping in the home. As the implications for 3D printing and rapid prototyping continue to unfold the ramifications for the customer to manufacture products at home are immense. If a new household product is desired by the consumer they can simply purchase a CAD file, upload it and reproduce it. Maybe that new kitchen tool seen on television appeals to the consumer, 3D printers have the capability to create it right in the home. Or maybe a birthday is coming up and you saw the ideal gift, 3D printers can create that gift with rapid prototyping technology (more illustrations can be see at www.materialise.com).

As we show it at materialise.com/rapid-prototyping, rapid prototyping technology and 3D printings open up a whole host of new options by allowing the consumer to play a larger role in the design and production of products they wish to purchase. Please visit materialise.com/rapid-prototyping to see how 3D printing allows consumers to customize, design and manufacture a lot of products on their own and in their own homes.

Children find toys continually fascinating and derive hours of fun from playing with them, and parents are keen on giving them. Hardly any adult or child will give much thought to how the toys came to be made. Parents are happy to know that their siblings’ toys are made to the highest standards and leave it at that, while children’s information of toy making is usually limited to the kindly toymaker Geppetto, the “creator ” of Pinocchio. But the real-life story of how today’s toys are produced is just as fascinating.
Due to rapid prototyping technology, the toy industry has developed significantly over the decades. European artisans development of toys made from wood parts slowly evolved into an industry. Handmade wooden toy parts were carefully mastered to appear life-like. Historians are still discovering toy wheels from ancient cultures proving the weight toys carry in society.

Like all other production industries, the toy sector has experienced profound changes over the past 30 years due to the massive growth of the global economy. Large-scale manufacture in the UK, and much of the rest of Europe has all but ceased. These days, components for a single product can be made in several different countries, with China fast becoming a major rival in the international toy trade.

The manufacture of any toy, no matter how traditional, begins at the design stage. Designers are either employed in-house, or an outside team of professionals is engaged. At materialise.com we explain why and how computer aided and mechanical design processes are often utilized before the prototype formation proceeds. The toy company itself then subjects this to product review, molding, test production, evaluation, and finally full production.

When it comes to making the parts or the toys themselves, however, the process is practically always outsourced to a third party.

A very wide range of raw materials are used in the toy manufacturing process- resins, wood, fabrics, paperboard, plastics and card, metal, zinc alloy and electronic components.

The manufacturing process on its own depends entirely on the sort of toys being made. As you can see at Rapid Prototyping Website, dolls and action figures are usually made from injection-molded plastics using the rapid prototyping technology, while toy cars and trains tend to be manufactured from die-cast metals, and hand or spray-painted afterwards. Components for self-assembly kits and board games will need a professional printer, while dolls and stuffed toys are practically always sewn and stuffed by hand. Many toy makers buy components from one vendor and then assemble the final product at another facility.

Nowadays the emphasis is on conventional toys made from high-quality, durable, traditional materials. The large majority of traditional toys are made from wood, metals, fabrics and environmentally-friendly plastics, and are made to meet, and in many cases exceed, international regulations on quality and safety.

Visit the materialise.com/rapid-prototyping to learn that in a more and more globalized economy and the use of rapid prototyping methods in both design and manufacturing processes, it is important to combine great value with great quality and a number of toy manufacturers are able to do just that.