When we opened shop a few years back, we made a commitment to growth and continual improvement. As you may have read in previous news, we invested heavily in 2006 on equipment, materials, and processes. We wanted to take a minute to let you know what progress we’ve made so far in 2007.
- 440 sq. ft. mezzanine
- 100+ sq. ft. bench space dedicated for teardown and assembly
- Climate controlled work area
- Improved lighting throughout
- More power
The most noticeable change in the shop has been the addition of a 440 sq. ft. mezzanine. With this, we’ve enclosed the general work area, brought in air conditioning, improved the lighting, and added more power. This ultimately improves quality and efficiency, not to mention blocking out the noise, dust, and heat of the main shop. The top side of the mezzanine, reserves space for soft prototyping (sewing), improved shipping supplies inventory, and general storage.
In addition to the mezzanine, over a hundred square feet of dedicated teardown and assembly bench space has been built up with the equipment moved around to optimize work flow. Ventilation has been improved for the spray hood (focusing on a cleaner environment), and additional storage throughout the shop has allowed us to build up an even larger material inventory.
- In-house sheet metal fabrication
- Wire forming
- Additional work stations
- Hardware inventory
- Spray booth
With the demand for quick turn, light sheet metal fabrication, Rocket Prototypes has accumulated equipment to do just this. We now have the ability in-house to shear, stamp, roll, bend and punch most metals up to a sixteenth of an inch thick. Along with this we’ve added two pieces of rod and wire forming jigs to create moderately complex geometry, giving us the ability to keep up with the modern manufacturing trends of these low cost processes often used in production. Basically, giving us the ability to build into your functional prototypes what you intend on in production.
Aside from this, two additional work stations were added to the shop, each stacked with their won set of traditional model making tools, and a small inspection area compliments these to ensure part accuracy. Also in the studio we’ve stocked a full inventory of hardware ranging from nuts and bolts to threaded inserts – it’s all in-house.
Finally, a 1200 cfm spray hood has been installed for our finishing processes along with a small, quick-cure chamber for those overnight paint jobs (although still not recommended). The idea here is to make sure your parts ship without arriving with the characteristic “spots” seen on a lot of internationally received models.
- Additional CAD/CAM and Design Work Station
- Adobe Creative Suite
- SolidWorks
On the office side of the shop we’ve added another design station with Adobe and SolidWorks. These represent the 2D and 3D powerhouses of the industry. The Adobe Suite includes the necessary software to create transfers, draw up new designs, and produce graphic communication for a variety of processes in product development from packaging to rating plates.
SolidWorks was initially brought in primarily to help communicate CAD data with our customers in the form of saving you the time and hassle of translating your files. Now we can read a variety of files such as IGES, STEP, DWG, DXF, STL, and even ProE .prt files. So send us what you have, chances are we’ll be able to read them.
- Full Time Sr. Model Maker
- Full Time Creative Consultant
- Graphic Design
- Basic CAD Design
- Real Chrome Plating on Plastic Parts
Rocket Prototypes has welcomed in two full time positions; Sr. Model Maker and Creative Consultant. These two positions have improved quality and delivery, and will soon be offering new service, but we’ll keep you posted on that.
One service that we’re extremely excited about is a newly formed relationship with Universal Plating, a local company that specializes in real metal plating (not the fragile vacuum metalizing) of non-metal parts on a prototype basis. Now, SLA parts, urethane cast parts, ABS, and even REN parts can be plated with quick turn chrome plating (this includes all metal finishes ranging from brushed rose nickel to real gold)!
This wraps up our off-the-clock improvements to the shop made over the past six months. As you can tell, we’ve held strong to our initial commitment to growth, and will continue growing with your support and feed back. If you’re not already familiar with our web site, please take a minute and have a look around.
Thank you,
Rocket Prototypes, Inc.
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