Recommended/Favourite materials for prototyping? (See Exampl

Hey All,

I was curious what kind of materials or metals you recommend for prototyping a beautiful design? I’ll be upfront, I am a total noob who doesn’t know myself, but any recommendations or sharing past experience is extremely appreciated. Seriously… anyone who takes the time to reply here I want you to know that it actually means something to me.

So I was curious, what metals are the best for a good finish? If we were to use a general example here, if you were to recreate the Mac Mini (See screenshot) for example, what material or metal would you use here? Is it possible to get that same sort of polished finish of a product that the Mac Mini has? Please share anything you can here, and if you have any books you recommend on this specific topic i.e materials and metals, please recommend.

OK. Thank you to all of you, I sincerely appreciate it and I always remember the people who help me.


At a place I used to work, we once got ‘close’ to that finish with a sand blast and then anodize, over CNC’d aluminum. This was for some monitor stands that the client said “make it look like Apple”. OF COURSE WE CAN DO THAT. (cynical)

Very cool! So those were all the steps essentially involved to get close to that type of finish? Machine the aluminum → sand blast → anodize?

By any chance do you have any photos? If not, no problem, your reply was great. Just what I was looking for.

Cheers!