How do you prototype?

[MechEng83]

Originally Posted by Peter Matteson

But Don, you do use CAD to prototype, Cardboard Aided Design. That is a staple of prototyping and finding solutions on the Bobcats.

I was a design engineer doing 3D CAD work for 5 years. The most useful thing I ever did was print up a scaled drawing of a part, and tape it together to use as an example when explaining it to others. Call it poor man's rapid prototyping, it's really the way to go for mocking up parts.

No matter how awesome your skills are are doing 3D models, you still only display them on a 2D surface. Adding that 3rd dimension is very helpful to get group understanding. Not everyone has the inate ability to see things in 3D without them actually BEING in 3D.