Ask HN: How does one prototype a physical product?

I second http://www.emachineshop.com The software is fairly easy to use. You can get your prototype built in pretty much any material you can imagine, and the price is pretty good too.

My only problem was the cost to ship custom cut boat glass to Alaska. Ouch.

Hi. I work for a company that does a huge amount of prototypes for all types of companies and industries. I would recommend using Google's sketchup over all the other options. It's free and gives you much better results than other software packages, even the ones you pay for. Doing something in rhino looks nice on the computer but is a huge pain when you go to actually create it because it doesn't have basic mechanical structure to it.

Check out www.protocafe.com They do a great job with everything i send them. Cheap and professional.

You might try a sculpting class at your local community college. It'll get you some basic skills, resources to use, and be inexpensive. Talk to the teacher at some point in class about what you'd like to do. If more of your ideas run this way you'll have a good start.

My prototypes usually start out on engineering paper, get a few quick 3D CAD drawings, then get made up in polymer clay as a form for a mold for shell casting. The 3D step is new, and hasn't eliminated the clay stage, where I still catch problems and see new opportunities that the computer doesn't bring out for me.

So I'll make a solid item out of polymer clay, then press that into more clay to make a negative mold. Then I make a shell casting by putting mold release on the negative form, pouring in some liquid acrylic, and wobbling the mold in my hand to let the acrylic build up a shell over the whole surface. There are other ways I use, too, but this is a favorite quick and dirty method.

There are books on plastic casting that teach the basics, but there's nothing like hands on in a class with an instructor, even if all you're doing in the class is learning the basic sculpting skills and tools.

How hard would you say CAD is to pick up for someone with no experience?

I noticed the other day that www.sparkfun.com does custom 3D design and prototype, though this probably isn't the cheapest option as you'll be paying them to make the design: http://www.sparkfun.com/commerce/static.php?name=custom_encl...

There are lots of premade 'enclosures' that you could hack apart to get what you want as well: http://www.boxenclosures.com/category/category.html

However, I would recommend something like the online services mentioned here that send you prototypes. Don't be intimidated.. just go through the tutorials and you'll be surprised at how easy it is.