The addition of colour can often improve the value of a prototype part. With the HP Jet Fusion 580 colour 3D Printer, it is now possible to print fully functional, colour 3D parts.
Adding colour to prototypes is one way to test final part colours, but there are other ways to use colour in prototypes.
“One application we see is in aerospace,”
said Ken Burns, the Technical Sales Director for Forecast 3D, a custom manufacturing and 3D printing service bureau.
“Colour can be used to differentiate the functional and the placeholder parts in an assembly. Red would be a great indicator for this since it draws attention.”
Colour also can be used to easily label or differentiate segments of a prototype, for example, in a part where fluids flow through different channels. Even simple text labels like a prototype revision number or the name of the designer who created the part can be incredibly valuable in offices where there could be dozens of similar-looking prototypes.
“Adding colour adds an important visual context to a part,” Burns said. “Anything that allows customers to better understand their final part is useful.”
Colour is just another tool to leverage when using HP 3D Printing for rapid prototyping.
“Colour helps communicate: Whether it’s a visualisation of FEA results, highlighting important features, or revealing suggested changes, color adds another layer of metadata that remains with the physical part,”
says Boyes from SIGMADESIGN.
