A Hard Earned Prototype for VB

"At Buzz, we understand the importance of prototyping on products with mechanisms and movement. Within 2 weeks we had made 9 different rounds of prototypes, from a basic cardboard mockup to the sophisticated FDM model from RapidPro. This gave us confidence to push the button on over $300k in tooling, just days after receiving the part from RapidPro." Doug Buckle, Buzz Products

When Buzz Products were asked to work on last summer's VB promotion, nobody realised how popular the VB fridge would be!

The campaign involved buying 12 slabs of VB to get a free beer fridge which played the VB theme song every time a beer was requested. 3000 fridges were originally built, but these were sold out with 3 weeks, so more were ordered to cope with demand.

Buzz contacted RapidPro to assist in prototyping the internal mechanisms for the bottle dispenser utilising RedEye Australia's FDM build centre.

"The shelving inside the fridge needed to be strong enough to hold a slab of beer, and we needed the parts fast," says Doug Buckle, Creative Director at Buzz Products. "RapidPro always provides us with amazing service and a fast turnaround so we had no hesitation in taking the project to them for prototyping."

"We discussed the requirements of the project and Buzz's expectations," says Simon Bartlett, Engineering Manager at RapidPro. "From that information we tailored a solution to meet their tight timeline, as well as strength and durability concerns."

"ABS-M30 using FDM technology was the obvious choice and we were able to have finished parts delivered to Buzz within 36 hours."

In addition to the VB Vending machine, Buzz also developed a thermo-cooler bag and a VB ice alarm to notify would-be drinkers when their beer is getting too cold!

For more information on Buzz, click here.

To discuss your next prototyping or manufacturing project, call RapidPro on 1300 559 454 and speak to one of our engineers about your project requirements.

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