We have much experience with hardware prototyping of plastic parts, metal parts and electronic parts. Electro-mechanical prototypes typically require software prototyping, which we also have much experience with.
We are confident we can deliver rapid prototyping solutions for you. The following sections outline some key phases.
Our core business is focused on projects that have a break-even point, such as resale via mass production. To learn more about this see our page on Three Rivers New Product Development.
Product Design Phase (Computer modeling from scratch or 3D scanning)
During this phase we assess your requirements to determine if we are best to design your model from scratch using 3D CAD tools, 3D animations tools, or perform a 3D scan an mock up model.
While 3D scanning sounds like an easy option, it is not perfect, and requires much cleaning up of the model. Further it produces a file with point cloud data, which then must be converted to a typical CAD file (e.g. .igs, .stp, and/or .stl). It is because of these reasons, it is generally quicker to create the design from scratch (unless the target requirement is just to reprint the scanned object without any additional design features - which is a service we're not keen on providing).
In terms of electronics - generally we design custom electronics to get the unit cost down, but in some cases we might use off-the-shelve electronics (e.g. Proof-of-concept prototype).
Product Prototyping Phase
Plastic mechanical parts will likely be 3D printed via various methods such as Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM), Stereolithography (SLA), Selective Laser Sintering (SLS), Multi Jet Fusion (MJF) or CNC'ed in some cases. The material options are kinda endless from rigid to rubbers, such as ABS, PLA, Polycarbonate (PC), Acrylic (PMMA), PET, PEEK, Polyamide aka Nylon (PA), Glass reinforced nylon (PA66+GF), Polyurethane (PU), Polypropylene (PP), Polyvinyl Chloride (PCV), Thermoplastic Elastomer (TPE), Thermoplastic Olefin (TPO), Thermoplastic Polyurethane (TPU), PEBA 2301, Nitrile Rubber (NBR), Polytetrafluoroethylene aka Teflon (PTFE) and more. There are also various finish options such as transparent, transulent, colours, electro-plating, reflective mirror, and screen-printing graphics.
Metal mechanical parts can be 3D printed also, however in our opinion CNC is still the better option. The material options are also kinda endless such as aluminum (AL), steel, stainless steel (SS), brass, etc. There are also various finish options such as blackening, electro-plating (Chrome-plating, Nickel-chrome plating, Zinc-plating, Galvanizing), anodized (black, matte clear), and chromating conversion.
We've also made prototypes using materials such as Carbon Fiber, Fibreglass, Glass wool, DuPont, Vectran, conductive thread, and look forward to playing with Graphene one day.
Electronic parts will involve manufacturing of bare PCBs, then assembling PCB surface-mount (SMT) and through-hole (THT) components via soldering methods such as a stencils, reflow oven, IR heat lamp, hotair rework station, soldering iron, etc.
Hardware bugs are likely, and we'd hack things to make the working prototype. During this process we'll make notes on the design changes required for the next revision.
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Rapid 3D Prototyping for Three Rivers – Amazing Customer Testimonials
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An IT consultant confirmed that our hard drive had died and that he was not able to extract information from it as it was completely fried! The IT consultant recommended COLETEK to me, saying data recovery wouldn’t be cheap but it was our only option other than to attempt to reconstruct months of MYOB (and other) data. Luke was easy to deal with and managed to recover virtually all of the information on the hard disc within a few days. Fantastic work!! Luke, you saved us miles of heartache!!
I had an external hard drive containing valuable data that quit working. I thought everything was lost. I used the services of COLETEK to restore the contents of my drive and i was able to retrieve everything. I would not hesitate to use COLETEK for hard drive recovery.
I had a hard drive malfunction caused by a power surge. Attempts by local IT technicians were unable to recover the data, and ended up making the situation worse. I was advised to give up on getting any data back. After searching around online for an advanced data recovery service I selected COLETEK because of their prompt and professional response to my request for a quote. They also had the cheapest quote I obtained. I posted the drive off to COLETEK, and the team were able to extract much of the data from the drive quite quickly, and they kept me informed at every stage of the process. I have recommended the services of COLETEK to several acquaintances with data recovery needs, and will continue to do so.
Massive thanks to Luke and the guys at COLETEK. My Hard Drive was severely damaged (level 4/6) and they managed to recover 100% of the data (including a 400GB single encrypted file I really needed), the price was more then fair and it only took a couple days. I highly recommend COLETEK for their quality, value, speed and friendliness.
I was exceptionally pleased with the service that I received from COLETEK. I had been advised by a number of different computer "experts" that my hard drive was fried and that nothing was recoverable. I wasn’t too hopeful but Luke was able to diagnose the problem and recovered 99% of all our files. We could not be happier with the outcome. I would not hesitate to recommend COLETEK for all your computer problems.
I have outsourced many projects through COLETEK over the years for a variety of applications. Applications such as a online based software platform that pulls live data feeds and updates in real-time to the user. A custom built website for adding users and products that achieved over 20,000 listings. Mobile applications. Data recovery and hardware repair. Custom SEO services and secure hosting services. I choose COLETEK because I know that a job will get done as requested and within a reasonable time frame. Also I'm a stickler for security and they're the best.
Highly recommended for COLETEK's service! Reasonable price and express service! We have two back up external hard drives at home and for some reason both of them were corrupted (later found out it’s due to some sort of electrical surge??). Both drives contained over 10 years of valuable technical works, numerous photos from our pre-kids travel days, as well as photos and videos of our first born! We tried another company but only recovered around 55% of the data and it costed a FORTUNE! Contacted COLETEK, explained the problems and received my recovered data within 14 days of initial contact (it wasn’t an urgent case). I was over the moon when I was able to locate a technical piece of work that I’ve done 15 years ago, and of course videos and photos of our first born.
I came to coletek when my portable hard drive failed, I had data I needed for work and university and they managed to quickly recover all of it and even replaced the drive within the enclosure for me, all within a relatively quick timeframe and for a reasonable price. I definitely recommend them for data recovery!
I have outsourced many projects through COLETEK over the years for a variety of applications. Applications such as a online based software platform that pulls live data feeds and updates in real-time to the user. A custom built website for adding users and products that achieved over 20,000 listings. Mobile applications. Data recovery and hardware repair. Custom SEO services and secure hosting services. I choose COLETEK because I know that a job will get done as requested and within a reasonable time frame. Also I'm a stickler for security and they're the best.
I had a hard drive malfunction caused by a power surge. Attempts by local IT technicians were unable to recover the data, and ended up making the situation worse. I was advised to give up on getting any data back. After searching around online for an advanced data recovery service I selected COLETEK because of their prompt and professional response to my request for a quote. They also had the cheapest quote I obtained. I posted the drive off to COLETEK, and the team were able to extract much of the data from the drive quite quickly, and they kept me informed at every stage of the process. I have recommended the services of COLETEK to several acquaintances with data recovery needs, and will continue to do so.
In July 2012, my hard drive died, and with it all my data, treasured photos etc. COLETEK was able to recover the data of my old hard drive for me - it had damaged platters so an extensive data recovery process was required. The service was great and fast, Luke came by within 24 hours to do a quick analysis and was then able to proceed with the recovery within days. We were so happy to get all our data back!
I was exceptionally pleased with the service that I received from COLETEK. I had been advised by a number of different computer "experts" that my hard drive was fried and that nothing was recoverable. I wasn’t too hopeful but Luke was able to diagnose the problem and recovered 99% of all our files. We could not be happier with the outcome. I would not hesitate to recommend COLETEK for all your computer problems.
In July 2012, my hard drive died, and with it all my data, treasured photos etc. COLETEK was able to recover the data of my old hard drive for me - it had damaged platters so an extensive data recovery process was required. The service was great and fast, Luke came by within 24 hours to do a quick analysis and was then able to proceed with the recovery within days. We were so happy to get all our data back!
I came to coletek when my portable hard drive failed, I had data I needed for work and university and they managed to quickly recover all of it and even replaced the drive within the enclosure for me, all within a relatively quick timeframe and for a reasonable price. I definitely recommend them for data recovery!
I had an external hard drive containing valuable data that quit working. I thought everything was lost. I used the services of COLETEK to restore the contents of my drive and i was able to retrieve everything. I would not hesitate to use COLETEK for hard drive recovery.
Highly recommended for COLETEK's service! Reasonable price and express service! We have two back up external hard drives at home and for some reason both of them were corrupted (later found out it’s due to some sort of electrical surge??). Both drives contained over 10 years of valuable technical works, numerous photos from our pre-kids travel days, as well as photos and videos of our first born! We tried another company but only recovered around 55% of the data and it costed a FORTUNE! Contacted COLETEK, explained the problems and received my recovered data within 14 days of initial contact (it wasn’t an urgent case). I was over the moon when I was able to locate a technical piece of work that I’ve done 15 years ago, and of course videos and photos of our first born.
Founded in 2001, we are a multiple award winning, highly experienced multidisciplinary company specialising in lean product development through rapid prototyping - transforming ideas from concept to life. Our industry-leading team combines deep expertise, cutting-edge technology, and advanced equipment to validate emerging ideas—transforming them into market-ready hardware and software solutions.
Our experience dates back to the 1990s with ANU "Robotics Systems Lab", CSIRO, NICTA (aka Data61), Seeing Machines, Location Aware Technologies, and Hemisphere GPS (aka BEELINE). For over 10 years now, we've been focused on validating R&D and taking ideas to commercialisation.
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