I have a concept that I would like to take to the prototype phase. I work as a 3D artist and I have taken this concept all the way to a printed model. But now comes the step of building a working prototype but I lack the talent that is required for some of the technical aspects that would be required.

I am looking for suggestions for websites that I could post this as a job for hire, much like on freelancer.com. I have used the freelancer site before for other software and web projects, but it seems to really have a lack of hardware related projects.

I would prefer to work with enthusiasts, since I am just a small guy myself. Figured this would be a great place to ask since it is full of very talented enthusiast.

That is a very good question... and it does seem like a gaping hole in what's available out there.

It seems like there is a *very* good niche there for a startup based around providing ways to connect hardware designers (artists/mechanical/electrical/embedded/programmers) to those who need their services.

Coming from the other side of this I'm all for a dedicated site. Most of my prototyping jobs come from people who have run across my web site or read one of my articles, not from any of my "looking for work" efforts. (Finding new clients as a freelancer is always difficult, but in the prototyping biz is especially difficult.)

This is something that Adafruit Jobs has taken a stab at (http://www.adafruit.com/jobs/) however I don't know how much traffic it has. There seem to be only a couple jobs a week.

Whoever built another site would have to somehow get lots of visits from both hirees and hirers. Someone like Digikey/Mouser/Jameco could probably collect more people offering services, but I don't know if people offering those jobs would find them there. On the other end someone like Coroflot could find designers who have jobs to offer, but they don't really have many engineery-type people with portfolios.