What’s a Golden Prototype?
The Golden Prototype is the prototype that should look and work as the final product. It should have the same finishing, the same functionalities, and it should have the same dimensions.
This is the prototype you use to validate a product, -its I.D. (industrial design). Once approved, you can then have the tooling made.
The tooling is a big investment so we need to make sure that the product we build is exactly what we want.
Why are we making a Golden Prototype?
We need to make a Golden Prototype to check the I.D. That means we need to make sure that all the pieces in the assembly fit properly with one another.
We need to see that all the dimensions are correct from an ergonomic point of view. We also need to check that all the drafts fit with the plastic injection, and then check the stamping for the aluminium pieces.
We will also be able to test the assembly line. This will allow us to distinguish the areas we can improve.
We also need to validate the aesthetics, especially with the final finishing that we have chosen with the right anodizing.
What are the next steps?
We are going to send the 3D files to the different manufacturers to make the Golden Prototype. Each manufacturer will make the Golden Prototype of the piece that they are assigned to manufacture.
However, there will be some pieces that won’t go through the Golden Prototype as some (pieces) do not have the prototyping techniques that resemble the ones we will use in manufacturing later on. In those cases, the pieces will be done by prototyping specialists. They won’t be manufactured the same way, but they will work and look like the ones in the final product.
As you may now, Raise is composed of so many pieces. Just to name a few:
(New) Huble with all its components.
Double injection plastic base.
Mold for the special keycaps.
Mylar stickers for the base.
Stamped anodized aluminium top panel.
So, this is our current situation.
When we have updates of the Golden Prototype, we’ll share them with all of you!
