Hello, everyone! Welcome to this course on Rapid Prototyping Materials and Tooling. This is part of the Rapid Prototyping and Tooling specialization. In this course, I’ll cover the characteristics and appropriate uses of a variety of prototyping materials, including cardboard, plastic, wood, and aluminum. I’ll also cover some of the common forms of traditional machining used in making prototypes, as well as more advanced manufacturing tools such as 3D printers, laser cutters, and more! By the end of this course, you should have a better understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of common prototyping materials and manufacturing processes, as well as the situations in which their use is most appropriate. The hope is that by having a better understanding of these materials and machines, you will be able to better develop high-quality prototypes. There's a lot of really exciting content to cover in this course, so without further ado, let’s dive into the world of rapid prototyping!

In this module, you will learn about basic material properties such as density, toughness, and strength. You will also learn about the different characteristics of common prototyping materials like cardboard, plastics, wood, and aluminum.

In this module, you will learn about the different types of traditional machining tools that are useful for making prototypes, such as the hack saw, bandsaw, chop saw, hack saw, drill press, lathe, and mill.

In this module, you will learn about many different CNC machines that can be used to fabricate prototypes. In particular, this module will go into detail about the considerations and choices an engineer needs to make when making a part with a 3D printer or a laser cutter.