Chess Set designed with Inkscape
November 3rd, 2008 by rfquerinFrom the Interesting Inkscapey Things Dept., here’s a short video post about a nice acrylic chess set made using designs created in Inkscape.
I would love to have access to some prototyping equipment for projects like this. I could come up with all sorts of neat and unproductive things to do with my time! 
November 3rd, 2008 at 5:25 pm
That was pretty interesting indeed.
Actually, I am involved in this sort of prototyping in my day job hours. You have probably heard of rapid prototyping using 3D printers. For every new product that I design at work, I spend between $200-500 on an SLA model before I spend 20-60k on an actual mold. Getting a touchie-feelie is worth the investment when you just don’t trust your CAD model. It’s made by exporting my 3D model to STL and sent right to the printer. Easy as that. I usually get my parts in 1-2 days and it’s completely functional. These are great for testing and presentations.
3D printers are about $20k for good ones but if your parts are smaller and do not require tighter tolerances then one could be had for about $5k. Desktop Factory is probably the cheapest one.
I use a local rapid prototyper (http://www.peridotinc.com) but there is a bigger outfit that I have used just once called QuickParts (http://www.quickparts.com).
If I had one of these 3D printers in my office I bet it would be running all of the time.
November 3rd, 2008 at 8:36 pm
I think you guys should get one of these printers and I could come over to your house and play.