Prototypes are a key tool in the product development process because they can save significant time and expense. Every inventor should work with an exceptionally skilled prototype engineer and an experienced prototype company. Ken Tarlow at Tarlow Design delivers both.
Tarlow Design’s fully equipped prototype shop lets us quickly build and test the important components of your consumer product to make sure that reality can match your dream. Once the main product features have been tested and confirmed, we are able to do detailed design and engineering work on our solidworks 3D CAD software so that all the parts can be seen from every angle. We can also do product styling to create beautiful life-like renderings of the product.
Once the parts are drawn in the computer, each part can be converted into physical reality by the use of 3D printing technology. 3D printing lets us make parts out of a variety of materials, from soft and rubbery to extremely tough and rigid. We also have the ability to make parts from CNC machining or water-jet cutting. Our in house vacuum-forming machine lets us make sample housings and other parts very quickly and economically.
Tarlow Design has made prototypes for toys, cooking products, electronic gadgets, organizer products, medical products, exercise products, health and beauty items, and home products of all sorts, including cleaning and lighting products. We have also made prototypes of commercial products, including a machine that cools canned drinks from room temperature to 42 degrees F, which has been used by the Navy to replace labor-intensive vending machines.
The product development process tends to go back-and-forth between CAD design and physical prototype until the ideal solution is achieved. The challenge for a prototype engineer is to arrive at the final design with as little iteration as possible, thereby saving significant time and expense. Because of our relatively low overhead and many years of development experience, Tarlow Design tends to charge a fraction of the cost of other consumer design companies, while producing fantastic results.
Prototypes serve different functions as the product evolves. A proof of concept prototype may not look beautiful, but it demonstrates that the intended features do indeed work! Our appearance prototypes show potential investors how the product will look and feel before going into production. Tarlow Design’s electronics design capability lets us add microprocessors, sensors and other control electronics to your prototype.
Pre production prototypes are an important step in the manufacturing process. At this stage, every component gets a final check to make sure that it fulfills its role and relates properly with all the other product components. Comprehensive testing reduces the chance of product returns, thereby potentially saving thousands of dollars and the company’s reputation.