Accelerating prototyping and testing with the Mayku Multiplier

Beta Design Office is no ordinary design agency.

Industrial and product designers Harry Mitchell and Mark Reilly of Beta Design Office design and prototype user-centric products for global brands. The pair have designed products including innovative packaging, kitchen accessories, furniture and much more.

By using desktop manufacturing techniques, the team can reduce lead times, save money and allow greater scope to experiment in-house. They used the Multiplier to produce a full suite of computer accessories. In this blog post, you’ll discover how they prototyped a unique computer mouse.

Great product ideas need to be backed with research to ensure the right product is designed. Beta worked from a strategic position, exploring the best designs through sketching and manual prototyping, although the manufacturing method was already being considered.

Detailed 3D concepts were later created to explore the best design options, focusing on surface finish and manufacturability. These models weren’t designed for manufacturing, although they’re used as a visual reference when creating the CAD models used during the manufacturing process.

The challenge of creating the computer mouse was that the outer shell needed to be thin enough to allow some flexibility and surface texture testing. Although the Beta team had access to additive manufacturing tools, none allowed for easy prototyping of such features. That’s where the Mayku Multiplier came in.

Templates of each prototype were made thanks to desktop manufacturing. Resin 3D printing was chosen as the template manufacturing method due to the high quality of the produced parts, paying particular attention to surface finish and heat resistance.

The templates were made with a Formlabs Form 3 using Standard Resin, giving the template the durability needed for multiple uses when prototyping with the Mayku Multiplier.

A female mold template was made to create the top shell of the computer mouse. This way, the surface finish could be controlled and the outer measurements were exact.

Thanks to desktop manufacturing and the Mayku Multiplier, Beta was able to go from sketch to prototype in a matter of hours.

The computer mouse prototypes were made with our 1mm HIPS sheets. It’s one of the best materials to prototype as its white color allows for easy painting, and its mechanical properties and sheet thickness make cutting and post-processing the parts easy.

Once the parts have been formed with the Multiplier, it’s time to assemble and evaluate. Beta went through several iterations until the final prototype was ready.

Thanks to the Multiplier’s pressure forming technology, the templates could be used multiple times, making minor adjustments between each mold.

Both digitally manufactured and hand-made objects can be used with the Multiplier to make incredible prototypes. For example, multiple computer mouse templates were created, post-processing some of them using spray and modelling sand to get unique textures.

Once the parts were formed, the prototypes were assembled and tested and all in a matter of hours.

With the goal of redesigning the world, Beta Design Office continues to design and make quality, innovative products. Whether they’re working on a computer accessory or furniture, the team knows they can rely on the Mayku Multiplier to create prototypes that speed up the design and test phases.

Creating custom molds or components during the product development process takes a lot of time and resources. Techniques such as silicone molds or 3D printing processes are slow and have a high cost, offering a suboptimal experience to the client.

While 3D printing a small batch of prototypes takes days and production can’t be easily scaled, the Mayku Multiplier allows you to make prototypes in minutes, controlling the creative process and allowing you to speed up the testing process.

Forget about delaying projects because making the prototypes takes longer than expected. With the Mayku Multiplier, you can speed up the development process and won’t need to worry about slow manufacturing technologies.

Our certified resellers have invaluable knowledge of applications and workflows, which will help you seamlessly integrate the Multiplier into your workshop. You can find your local reseller here.

Do you have any questions before making a purchase? Our talented team of Mayku product specialists is available to answer all of your queries. Alternatively, you can reach out to @TeamMayku on social media.