Earlier this month, our Senior Mechanical Engineer, Adam Smith, partnered with DesignNews to host a webinar titled 'Best Practices in Mechanical Engineering.' Adam drew inspiration from his series in the publication “Mechanical Engineering Perspectives for Efficient, Integrated Commercial Product Design'.’

The live recording of the webinar is available for listening until October 2024. We've condensed the key highlights below.

Design Tools

Translating our ideas into tangible representations and completing tasks involves several steps.

Initially, our challenge lies in effectively articulating our concepts to clients and colleagues.

Traditionally, whiteboard brainstorming sessions were our go-to for idea generation. However, with the shift towards remote work, we've adapted, exploring innovative digital tools for virtual collaboration.

Platforms like Google Jamboard facilitate simultaneous online collaboration, while Miro Board offers a spacious digital canvas for sketches, post-it notes, and interactive features, catering well to remote teams.

These tools enable us to gather insights and sketches, consolidating them into our CAD systems.

Applications like Autodesk Sketchbook and Samsung Penup enable us to swiftly sketch and convey our ideas using mobile devices or tablets, promoting efficient digital napkin sketching for seamless creativity and communication.

Data Storage Solutions

Regarding local storage, Rapid Array is a quality and dependable option.

However, in today's fast-paced digital landscape, the industry is shifting heavily toward cloud-based storage solutions for their speed, agility, and collaborative advantages.

Basic cloud storage mirroring and backup services offer accessibility from various locations, eliminating concerns about data loss or system crashes. While lacking FDA documentation control, these solutions enable seamless team collaboration on files.

While they don’t offer strict document control, many of these cloud options offer document history, which allows retrieval of removed or altered content. This ensures a faster workflow, especially in scenarios not requiring meticulous document control.

Tools like Microsoft Teams, Sharepoint, and Google Drive are reliable cloud-based collaboration platforms.

When strict document control becomes crucial for project requirements, we adapt to the programs our clients prefer (CAD-centric or system-centric). This commitment makes us adept across multiple platforms and storage solutions, enabling us to cater to our client’s project needs.

When looking at different storage solutions, our decision is often driven by the balance of value versus cost, considering the time and monetary investment involved. Emphasizing the trade-off between rigorous document control and speed, cloud options are our preferred solution at Product Creation Studio when document control processes are not essential as they accelerate workflow.

Software Tools

Software selection, particularly CAD/CAE tools, is critical as we rely on them most in our workflow.

However, our team has cultivated versatility across various software systems (similar to storage solutions), ensuring we can adapt and accommodate our client's specific preferences.

For DESIGN, we commonly rely on Dassault's Solidworks, known for its integrated solutions like FEA and Photo 360, for realistic renderings. Although not entirely top-tier, Solidworks is capable across the board, allowing us to stay within its environment for most tasks (versus shifting between several programs).

Additionally, Siemens, PTC, and Autodesk are used in our workflows for specialized tasks but are not relied on quite as heavily.

Solidworks' built-in rendering tool is suitable for VISUALIZATION on more high-end presentations. Keyshot also offers more realistic renderings and can be used as needed.

In terms of ANALYSIS, Solidworks' built-in FEA suffices for daily tasks, and Solidworks Motion is excellent for kinematics.

We use specialized FEA programs outside Solidworks for intricate analyses requiring specificity, particularly for Electromagnetics and CFD.

Again, balancing the value versus the cost, we emphasize time efficiency. Suppose extensive analysis outside Solidworks proves to be too time-consuming. In that case, we often opt for real-life component testing (i.e., prototypes) to yield more efficient results rather than solely relying on on-screen analysis.

How We Decide to Build

At what point in the project do you physically make something? Knowing when to shift from virtual to reality is a critical decision that takes you from refining to gaining real-world insights.

Spending too much time in virtual environments can lead to 'Analysis Paralysis'—getting engrossed in refining designs without tangible progress. The mantra 'build it early, build it often' guides our process here at Product Creation Studio. Whether through 3D printing, cardboard prototypes, or scaled printouts, a quick build allows you to see the product, touch it, and feel it, providing invaluable insight that is impossible from virtual simulations alone.

Another build option we utilize is logical subassemblies to dissect and break out complex projects.

For instance, when dealing with a multifaceted medical device, breaking down intricate components like the handpiece and delivery system facilitates a deeper understanding of their functionalities. This approach fosters better collaboration and minimizes cross-talk issues, enabling focused assessment and quicker problem resolution.

Regarding scaling (up or down), 3D printers allow us to scale our physical prototypes.

For micro-medical tools, scaling stainless steel assemblies up to 10-12x using PLA plastic proves immensely beneficial. The similarity in stiffness and behavior between the scaled versions and micro-sized parts aids in visualizing and testing feasibility while offering cost-saving advantages by opting for PLA over stainless steel for these individual parts.

Our In-house Tools for Building

Our in-house toolkit –– and the ones we rely on most often –– comprises a range tailored for prototype creation and product development.

Among these are the FDM 3D printers, which are cost-effective and have efficient prototyping capabilities. SLA printers are known for their high-resolution outputs despite their relatively higher cost.

We also use a laser cutter to prototype 2D shapes and templates rapidly. A unique approach involves crafting 'paper doll assemblies' for 3D shapes and enclosures, which can provide us with a simple, physical representation of our product prototype.

Crucial to our work with medical devices is our 5-axis CNC Mill, enabling swift in-house part fabrication.

The Penta Machine Company also supports our iterative process, allowing us to produce small, precise medical parts in-house swiftly. This will enable us to perform six iterations a week compared to when we used to have outsourced iterations. These machines allow us to test frequently and refine designs faster and more affordably.

Material Choices

Central to our decision-making is a comprehensive assessment of the physical properties of materials—evaluating flexibility, slipperiness, strength, and toughness. Product requirements drive our material choices, focusing on understanding what functions the material must fulfill.

Consideration of manufacturing processes also comes into play. For instance, specific materials like Teflon have limited manufacturing options compared to more versatile materials like PCABS.

To gain an understanding of material behaviors, we integrate these materials early in the prototyping phase (as needed), allowing us to analyze stress, warping, density, porosity, and other crucial characteristics.

Recognizing that the performance of an injection-molded final product may differ from a machined prototype, this approach aids in anticipating and addressing potential disparities in material performance.