Before starting the 3D printing process, it is important to take a look at the object/thing that you want to 3d-print.

One motto within sustainability is reduce, reuse, recycle.

This leads to these questions:

• Do you actually need the thing? (REDUCE)
• Can you use something you already have? (REUSE)
• Can you create it using something you already have? (REUSE)

Prototyping

“Prototypes” are representations of a design made before final artifacts exist.”

(Buchenau, M.,& Suri, J. F. (2000, August). Experience prototyping. In Proceedings of the 3rd conference on Designing interactive systems: processes, practices, methods, and techniques(pp. 424-433).)

This means that before you actually 3D print your object, you need to know what you want to create. For this it crucial to take measurements (Does it need to fit somewhere? Does it need to fit something?), then one create sketches and 3d models that you adjust and change according to your needs. This is an iterative process, which means that you will forth and back between your sketches and 3d modelling to make adjustments and changes.

Here is an example from engineering research & development:

This is a more complex product, a hammer drill:

1. unctional prototype
2. design prototype from foam
3. functional prototype using additive manufacturing
4. user experience prototype using additive manufacturing
5. final prototype using additive manufacturing

(from:

💬 COMMUNITY
Share your experience with prototypes in the channel #-🛠️-prototyping by answering these questions:

• What kind of prototype have you created before? (Think of it as anything that was prior to the final artefact) 
• Why is 3D printing often named as a way of prototyping ?
• How can prototyping help with resource-efficiency?