Frequently Asked Questions
What Does Impulse Product Development Do?
Impulse is a product design / product development firm. We’ve been helping individuals and companies design products for over 25 years. But first and foremost, we’re CAD and design experts.
Most members of the engineering teams we work with spend their days bouncing between many different tasks: project management, ordering parts, ordering prototypes, building and evaluating prototypes, testing samples, attending meetings, etc..
Our day is spent designing products in a CAD system, 8 hours a day, 2000 days a year, 16,000 hours per year. Most people we begin to work with are shocked at how fast we really are, but that’s a result of being able to design parts and products all day every day.
We have four goals when we work with our clients:
To elevate your product development team.
To give you instant access to a team of engineers with decades of experience spanning multiple industries.
To become part of your team and integrate into your systems and processes.
To be extraordinarily responsive, flexible, fast, and efficient.
What Manufacturing Processes Does Impulse Design For?
We’ve designed products for just about every manufacturing process out there:
Injection molding, blow molding, thermoforming, machining, sheet metal fabrication, casting, even additive manufacturing, and more.
We’ve also worked in many different industries: Juvenile products, aerospace, automotive, medical, industrial, consumer, scientific, and more.
When you hire Impulse, you get access to all of that experience.
Why Do Clients Work With Impulse?
There are three reasons a client typically works with Impulse:
They just have too many projects and not enough engineers to get the work done in a timely manner. So they bring us in to add capacity.
There is a tight deadline and everyone in-house is busy. So they bring Impulse into add capacity as quickly as possible and meet the deadline.
They’ve been struggling with a product idea or a mechanical challenge and just need a fresh set of eyes to take a look.
Who Can Impulse Help?
There are three types of clients we usually work with:
Individual inventors: Typically they don’t understand the product development process and we’re able to help through the entire process.
Small design teams: These are companies that only have one or two CAD engineers in-house or maybe they don’t even have a CAD engineer in-house. They have project managers that move the project along, but they use Impulse to handle all of the design work.
Medium-to-large design teams: These are companies with dozens of engineers handling all the facets of the project, but they need more capacity and someone dedicated to the design of the project because they have so much going on. So Impulse becomes an extension of their team and provides those dedicated CAD resources.
How Fast Can Impulse Start My Project?
Usually much sooner than people think. If you haven’t already, give us a call or fill out the form on our website, and whether you’ve got a super simple, quick project, or something complex, we’ll be ready to get the ball rolling.
Can Impulse Send Me An NDA?
Impulse is happy to sign your NDA, but we don’t supply one because we want to ensure that our clients are using an NDA they are satisfied with versus one we supply that may or may not address all of their concerns.
Do you have a guarantee?
Your team will accomplish more when you partner with Impulse all while maintaining control of your intellectual property.
Where Are You Located?
We’re located in a suburb just outside of Indianapolis Indiana, but our clients and vendors are global.
What Is Your Hourly Rate?
We understand why you’re asking, but that’s the wrong question. If someone says, $50/hr and someone says $200 / hour, that doesn’t tell you what it’s going to cost to design your product, and if the $50/hr person is going to take 10 hours and the $200 / hour person is going to take 3 hours, it’ll be less costly to work with the $200 / hour person.
The real question is what will it cost to design my product, and we won’t know that until we understand what you’re trying to accomplish. Rest assured that you will have an understanding of all of the costs and potential costs before you start your project.
What CAD Software Do You Use To Design Products?
We typically use three different CAD packages to design products, and also have experience in several others.
1. OnShape
If you don’t have a preference about which CAD package we use, we’ll use OnShape. One of it’s best features is it’s cloud based. That means your data is more secure than keeping it on our personal servers and it allows you to view the design at any time directly from your phone, tablet, or computer.
2. SolidWorks
SolidWorks has gained a huge market share over the past two decades, so many of our clients request that we design products using SolidWorks.
3. Creo
When we started Impulse back in 1998, we used a CAD package called Pro/Engineer which was eventually renamed to Creo. It’s an advanced and robust CAD package, but we are being asked to use it less and less.
As mentioned above, we have experience with a number of other software. If your team uses something else, just mention it when you call; we will make sure your CAD needs are met.
How Much Will It Cost To Design My Product?
That depends on what you're trying to accomplish and the complexity of your project. Designing a single, simple part for 3D printing will cost drastically less than designing a product that has multiple parts and assemblies and is mass produced using injection molded components. Once we talk with you about the details of your product and what you’re trying to accomplish, we can determine the cost.
Do You Build Prototypes In-House?
Yes. We have a 3D printer and use it to build prototypes for our clients and to evaluate designs, but we also have many external resources that may be more suited to helping you with your specific needs. Our external resources supply SLA prototypes, CNC prototypes, RTV prototypes, even injection molded prototypes.
How Much Does a Prototype Cost?
The cost of a prototype depends on the following factors: the number of components and the quantity of each, material, build volume, and build height. For those reasons, we can only quote a firm price after the design is completed. Up until that point, we can only give you a ballpark estimate of what the cost will be to build your prototype.
How Many Engineers Do You Have?
We’re always confused by this question because rarely does a project need more than one person. The number of people working full time and the number of external partners we use varies. If the number of people working at Impulse is a variable that you will use to qualify or disqualify us, please just call us and ask, and we will give you our current employee count. If your question is really, do you have someone that can get my project done, the answer is yes.
Do You Have The Capability To Manufacture My Product?
We do not currently have in-house manufacturing capabilities. We do have many domestic and global partners that we use if you’re interested in having us manage your manufacturing for you.
If you have any other questions, give us a call or fill out this form.