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Deleted21704
Guest
I'm prototyping a product. Industrial, heavy metal, hydraulic...>90lbs. Manly stuff.
85% of it is already done. As in, most of it this new product is an off-the-shelf product I'm customizing. I bought this 85% piece yesterday evening.
The remaining 15% is essentially a piece of bent metal. Think about the letter Z with right angles instead of funky angles. That's it. That's all I need.
I called a couple of metal fabricators...they seemed to be more into connecting and repairing existing stuff (instead of fabricating new stuff...😕). The designers I spoke to either weren't interested, or if pushed, would probably charge me a FORTUNE.
My question: for anyone who's worked with an industrial designer, what value do they provide beyond abstracting the manufacturing process? I'm sure if push comes to shove, I could find someone to make me that piece of metal. But if I'm eventually going to be refining, packaging, and shipping this thing, might an industrial designer be worth a premium?
Or, since this is a prototype, is roughing it now and figuring all the other stuff out later on a better idea?
To add some context, this one piece will allow me to test the concept...i.e., take pictures, get opinions, figure out if it's worth launching. If it fails, I'll just use it myself! So no waste. Unless I pay a huge premium for it.
85% of it is already done. As in, most of it this new product is an off-the-shelf product I'm customizing. I bought this 85% piece yesterday evening.
The remaining 15% is essentially a piece of bent metal. Think about the letter Z with right angles instead of funky angles. That's it. That's all I need.
I called a couple of metal fabricators...they seemed to be more into connecting and repairing existing stuff (instead of fabricating new stuff...😕). The designers I spoke to either weren't interested, or if pushed, would probably charge me a FORTUNE.
My question: for anyone who's worked with an industrial designer, what value do they provide beyond abstracting the manufacturing process? I'm sure if push comes to shove, I could find someone to make me that piece of metal. But if I'm eventually going to be refining, packaging, and shipping this thing, might an industrial designer be worth a premium?
Or, since this is a prototype, is roughing it now and figuring all the other stuff out later on a better idea?
To add some context, this one piece will allow me to test the concept...i.e., take pictures, get opinions, figure out if it's worth launching. If it fails, I'll just use it myself! So no waste. Unless I pay a huge premium for it.
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