Fast printing is not fast development
We regularly see teams get a prototype back in 24 hours and then take three weeks to look at it properly. The machine was never the bottleneck. The decision loop was.
Parameterise before you iterate
On the wearable sensor housing project, the client set up strap angle, shell curvature and lug spacing as driven CAD variables before the first print. Each revision was a number change rather than a remodel. Eleven revisions in three weeks only worked because revision twelve was ten minutes of work, not two days.
One question per revision
A prototype that tests five things at once produces feedback nobody can act on. Print one that answers a single question: does the strap sit right, does the PCB fit, is the button reachable. You will iterate more times and learn faster.
Print the boring parts too
Teams print the exciting geometry and skip the mounting bracket. The mounting bracket is where the interference is. Print the whole assembly at least once.
Put it in someone's hands the same day
The value of a physical prototype decays quickly. A part that sits in its packaging for a week has lost most of what it was for. Book the review before the print starts.
What it saved
The eleven-revision loop on that housing replaced a planned CNC prototype cycle. The team estimated it saved roughly six weeks. Almost none of that saving came from the printer being fast. It came from removing the waiting between decisions.