Highland inventors and innovators have a new tool to transform their ideas into life-like 3D models.

The £100,000 Rapid Prototype allows designers to quickly check if a planned product will work without having to go to the expense of building a full-scale version. The device is hooked up to software that allows it to copy a computer-generated design and create a scale model in resin.

Local enterprise company, Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey Enterprise (INBSE), Inverness College, part of the UHI Millennium Institute, and Lifescan Scotland contributed £33,333 each towards the cost.

The Rapid Prototype will be based at Inverness College Engineering Department, which identified the need for such a facility, and will be available for use by companies in the Highlands.

INBSE became involved because the device will encourage research and innovation at the college and a large number of businesses.

Richard Myers, development manager at INBSE, said: "Previously if a prototype was not the right shape or size then it would be an expensive process to scrap it and make another one.

"Using the Rapid Prototype machine a layer of resin is laid down to produce a 3D model. There is a machine in Dundee, but that is the furthest north anything like this is available.

"Many of our clients are innovators and along with Inverness College and Lifescan Scotland we see this machine as a major asset. There are two distinct markets for the appliance.

"Firstly there are the students who will be attracted to the engineering department by the enhanced facilities. Secondly, there are local companies who will use it from time to time. A nominal fee will be charged for its use outwith the college by companies who previously had to go out of the area."

Mike Crowe, managing director of Lifescan Scotland praised the capabilities of the device.

He saHighland inventors and innovators have a new tool to transform their ideas into life-like 3D models.

The £100,000 Rapid Prototype allows designers to quickly check if a planned product will work without having to go to the expense of building a full-scale version. The device is hooked up to software that allows it to copy a computer-generated design and create a scale model in resin.

Local enterprise company, Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey Enterprise (INBSE), Inverness College, part of the UHI Millennium Institute, and Lifescan Scotland contributed £33,333 each towards the cost.

The Rapid Prototype will be based at Inverness College Engineering Department, which identified the need for such a facility, and will be available for use by companies in the Highlands.

INBSE became involved because the device will encourage research and innovation at the college and a large number of businesses.

Richard Myers, development manager at INBSE, said: "Previously if a prototype was not the right shape or size then it would be an expensive process to scrap it and make another one.

"Using the Rapid Prototype machine a layer of resin is laid down to produce a 3D model. There is a machine in Dundee, but that is the furthest north anything like this is available.

"Many of our clients are innovators and along with Inverness College and Lifescan Scotland we see this machine as a major asset. There are two distinct markets for the appliance.

"Firstly there are the students who will be attracted to the engineering department by the enhanced facilities. Secondly, there are local companies who will use it from time to time. A nominal fee will be charged for its use outwith the college by companies who previously had to go out of the area."

Mike Crowe, managing director of Lifescan Scotland praised the capabilities of the device.

He said: "This is just the kind of technological advancement that allows us to not only invest in local projects, but also hopefully in time gain some commercial benefit from work that has been undertaken.

"The rapid prototype should eventually save us time and money and it is an added bonus that it has been developed in the locality."

Professor John Little, principal of Inverness College, said: "It's exciting and encouraging to see a local need that was originally pinpointed by our college staff now being filled thanks to our research and development expertise, coupled with a partnership approach.

"The initial conceptual and development work for the Rapid Prototype was carried out by our college. When we sought funding for state of the art equipment to take it to the next stage we were delighted to find partners in Lifescan and the local enterprise company.

"The project puts Inverness College at the leading edge of technological development and reflects great credit on senior lecturer Andrew Chatterton and his engineering colleagues. It underlines the key role the College will continue to fill in assisting local industry both large and small."
id: "This is just the kind of technological advancement that allows us to not only invest in local projects, but also hopefully in time gain some commercial benefit from work that has been undertaken.

"The rapid prototype should eventually save us time and money and it is an added bonus that it has been developed in the locality."

Professor John Little, principal of Inverness College, said: "It's exciting and encouraging to see a local need that was originally pinpointed by our college staff now being filled thanks to our research and development expertise, coupled with a partnership approach.

"The initial conceptual and development work for the Rapid Prototype was carried out by our college. When we sought funding for state of the art equipment to take it to the next stage we were delighted to find partners in Lifescan and the local enterprise company.

"The project puts Inverness College at the leading edge of technological development and reflects great credit on senior lecturer Andrew Chatterton and his engineering colleagues. It underlines the key role the College will continue to fill in assisting local industry both large and small."