The successful development of the RIGGATRONTM tokamak depends on the close coupling of analysis, design, materials/fabrication development and testing. Operating conditions in these compact, high-field copper alloy machines are considerably more severe than in conventional superconducting tokamaks. The design needs of the critical components, including the toroidal field coil, the ohmic heating coil, and the first wall/vacuum vessel have resulted in the development, testing and qualification of high-strength, high-conductivity copper alloys, new dielectric concepts and advanced fabrication techniques. Intensive materials property testing on conductor alloys and dielectric materials has led to the definition of specific design criteria for the relatively short lifetime RIGGATRON devices. To date, the key design and materials issues related to the construction of the FDX experimental machines have been resolved, and the program is moving into the design verification, subcomponent testing and prototype manufacturing stage.