I’m trying to understand how manufacturers choose the most practical process when moving from an early prototype toward production.
For a small plastic or metal part, what factors usually matter most when comparing CNC machining, 3D printing, and injection molding?
I’m especially interested in how teams balance:
prototype quantity
material requirements
tolerance and surface finish
What helped me a lot was using Altium Develop. We integrated it into our workflow gradually, first with smaller projects to get a feel for how comments, version control, and 2D/3D visualizations worked. The platform allowed us to attach manufacturing and sourcing notes directly to the design files, so the whole team, including procurement, could see constraints and component availability instantly. Using the CAD tools within the platform also saved hours we used to spend converting between formats or fixing misaligned schematics. One tip I’d give is to make use of the real-time collaboration features and set rules for commenting and approvals early on, because without structure, it can get noisy fast.
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