I'm wanting to test a few different types of material in a prototype for a toy I'm working on. My issue is that since these are test prototypes in different materials, I don't want to commit to a large order of material for a material I may decide against using. Does anyone have any advice on how to work around this? Is it naive to think that a company may send free (or very cheap) samples for testing?

 

Hi Cy,

I feel this is very material dependent and the quantity you are looking for. What materials are you specifically considering?

You may be able to find some vendors that use these in production quantities are are willing to prototype for reasonable costs. Otherwise, look at some of the big name prototyping companies Protolab, Quickparts just to name a few. They have a wide range of metal and plastics to prototype in. If it is some crazy material likely you can get some small quantity but generally is difficult from my experience.

CPPM

 

I'm mostly just considering typical resins (PP/PE) - materials along those lines. Possibly a cheap rubber. Thanks for the tip, I'll look into it!

 

Oh yea those shouldn't be an issue to find. Not sure about free samples but should be able to find something relatively cheap or a good prototype manufacture will have them standard. Just be aware that not all prototypes are created equal say 3D print, machining to an injection molded part. They are good places to start but injection molding stresses can cause different behaviors in some fitted components.

 

Thanks, CPPMable! Yeah, the variables were why I wanted to start with very minute quantities and test different materials for the prototype before I committed to a sizable order.

 

www.McMaster.com They sell small quantities of a huge number of different materials. Happy searching.

 

Where can we get cheap rubber?

 

Thanks for the link, Erich! Much appreciated!

 

Hey, Farmay, my bad with the wording. I didn't mean "inexpensive" rubber as much as I meant low grade rubber that doesn't have to be very durable. I don't typically work in rubber so I'm at a loss for where you can get good deals on it.

 

I assume you're looking for material for injection molding? Are you planning to have a tool/mold made, have one already or looking for a place to make a tool and run the parts for you?
Protomold/quickparts etc as suggested are good for a quick turn around tool and parts in lots of different materials. If you already have a tool then you, or your molder, need to contact material suppliers directly and you'll be able to get a min of a 25kg bag, sometimes maybe 10 kg. You may be better going to a distributor that would have a few different brands of materials, they may have left over stock of some materials that you may be able to get from them cheap or small qty's.

As for rubber I assume you mean a rubbery material like santoprene that you can mold, think grippy parts on toothbrushes? Protomold would have those as options too, TPE is the code, thermoplastic elastomer.

BTW Mcmaster only stocks rod and sheets of material, not pellets for molding.