Frequently asked questions:

1. What kind of material does your Rapid Prototyping machine use?
    
2. What colors are available?
    
3. What do I need to get a quote to have my parts made?
    
4. What is your turnaround?
    
5. Do you only sell to large companies?
    
6. Can you run production?
    
7. How do you charge for 3D models?
    
8. What options of payment are available?
    
9. What is the biggest part you can build?
    
10. How does your Dimension Machine work?
     
11. Will you sign a non-disclosure agreement?
     
12. Can you help me after the prototypes stage is finished?

1. What kind of material does your Rapid Prototyping machine use?
   The Dimension machine 3D models are made from a rugged plastic called ABS. We believe that ABS is one of the strongest material being used in the Rapid Prototyping business today. ABS is not only used for its strength, but for it accuracy.

    

2. What colors are available?
   At McCasland Design Inc. we stock White, Black and Grey. We usually have Blue, Yellow, Green and Red left over from other jobs.

    

3. What do I need to get a quote to have my parts made?
   Please send us your 3D CAD files and we can have you a quote in a matter of a few minutes. The Dimension Machines uses STL files to produce quality prototypes. Don't have an STL file, we will produce one for you. Even if you just have an idea in your head, we can help you from the prototype stage through the production stage.

    

4. What is your turnaround?
   Our normal turnaround time is 24 hours. If you have a short run jog and place a purchase order with us early in the morning, we can usually ship out that afternoon.

    

5. Do you only sell to large companies?
   We deal with nearly every kind of industry imaginable. Large companies come to us for help in design and overflow when their machines are tied up. Day in and day out we build relationships with the small to medium size companies. The majority of our customers are inventors and entrepreneurs. We help our customers get their products to market before their competitors.

    

6. Can you run production?
   We run production to help our customers that can't wait weeks to have parts made in a machine shop or casting facility. We beat the socks off the competition, when we run 1,2 or 5 pieces. We have run as many as 50 pieces for customers when their vendors either forgot to run the jobs, or they scrapped the job during production. Some customers just want us to run 10 parts per month. We can offer reduced rates, because we can run these jobs as fill in work.

    

7. How do you charge for 3D models?
   If you supply us an STL file or a file that we can convert to an STL we only charge for the run time on the machine. We usually deburr your parts while the next job is running. Depending on the complexity of your part we try to charge $40.00 to $45.00 per hour. This hourly charge includes the material and deburr.

    

8. What options of payment are available?
   We accept credit card payment as well as Checks. Talk to us about setting up an account and we will be happy to work with you. Most of our repeat customers take advantage of our net30 terms.

    

9. What is the biggest part you can build?
   There is no limit to the size of the parts we build. ABS can be chemically welded with Acetone or MEK. We have built parts 24 inches high and 48 inches long. We can take your CAD files and slice them up into parts that we can produce and chemically weld them together. The welded seems are as strong or stronger than the rest of the part. After we finish the welding process we fill any imperfections with ABS threads and sand the seems so that they are hard to detect.

    

10. How does your Dimension Machine work?
    In layman's terms we think of our machine as a High dollar glue gun/precision sewing machine. The ABS material comes in a cassette that has 56 cubic inches of material. The material is on a continuous roll that is .070 diameter. The material is sent to a CNC controlled head that is heated to a semi-molting stage and then deposited on a precision flattened foam board. The machine will produce either a .010 thick or .013 thick layer. After each layer is finished the foam board is lowered .Then the next layer is started. This is also known as an additive process. One of the advantages we have over other machines is the ability to make your part solid or honeycombed. If you are looking at the ergonomics of a part, you may want it to be solid so you can feel the balance of the part in your hand. If you just wanting to see what your project will look like on the outside, you may want to run the first generation with a honeycomb inside. This cuts down on machine run time and reduces your overall cost.

     

11. Will you sign a non-disclosure agreement?
    Yes we will be happy to sign your non-disclosure agreement. We go through great lengths to protect your ideas. We appreciate your business and we want to see our customers grow and become profitable.

     

12. Can you help me after the prototypes stage is finished?
    Yes we have several great shops that we work closely with. We keep several machine shop and Sheetmetal shops busy and we have injection molding shops that we will recommend. We are slowly but surely adding a new service called Rapid Molding. In the near future we hope to have the expertise to produce molded parts from Silicone molds. Some of our customers want to have the Rapid Prototypes made into finished part so their salesmen can take the samples out and run marketing test.

     

If you have more questions please e-mail me or call. Thanks for you interest in our companies services.