Rod and holes follow up

Discussion in 'General Discussion' started by CristobalGordo, Aug 17, 2010.

  1. Thanks for your help about the space necessary between things when you want to print something that will spin. Anyway, I received my item and IT WORKED! Take a look and see what you think (also it will put my question in context. This was printed as one piece in WSF. No assembly required.)

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zMwu0ZsG_3I

    Don't worry it's only 23 seconds long.
     
  2. bitstoatoms
    bitstoatoms Member
    Congratulations,

    That is very cool

     
  3. That is absolutely friggin' brilliant! Congratulations! :D

    Andy
     
  4. Youknowwho4eva
    Youknowwho4eva Well-Known Member
    I saw this yesterday in my youtube scanning. Wonderful.
     
  5. JRThro
    JRThro Member
    That's absolutely amazing, especially if it's one of your first designs on Shapeways.

    I'm still trying to get my head around making simple cylinders and things in openSCAD.
    :)
     
  6. Thank you.

    If you are a student you may want to get your hands on a copy of Pro/E Student edition and also by a book that takes you step by step through how to use it. Or you could try Google Sketchup too. Again 3D design programs have a steep learning curve so you may want to go through one or more tutorials to build up your skills. I've used OpenScad and it's OK. For this, I needed to import a curve I had drawn with another program and then make a 3D object out of it. I'm not sure if you can do that with OpenScad...yet. Maybe you can. They are working on it all the time, I think. You want to save a lot with OpenScad because I found it has a tendency to crash every now and again. It helps to learn more than one program anyway.

    Bottom line though, I'm a big fan of books and step by step tutorials. There's no shame in starting with something that's like "Here's how you make a cube...Here's how you put a hole in it.." 3D design programs are really hard to jump in and learn on the fly. Many people use Blender (also free) but to me, without having used it at all, it looks really intimidating. Once you get the basics down well, they get much easier to use.
     
  7. JRThro
    JRThro Member
    I've installed Blender, but it's incredibly counterintuitive to me. Granted, I haven't tried any of the tutorials, but I have read some of the online documentation.

    OpenSCAD works for me because of the simple scripting it uses, and the online manual is fairly straightforward.

    I'm not a student, but thanks for the compliment! (Or maybe I just sound like I have no idea what I'm doing?) I haven't been a student since 1981.
    ;)
     
  8. I just mentioned the Student Edition because it is around $100 versus thousands for the full version.
     
  9. JRThro
    JRThro Member
    And I appreciate it.
     
  10. lensman
    lensman Well-Known Member
    I'm afraid openSCAD lost me when I saw this on their Homepage:

    OpenSCAD - The Programmers Solid 3D CAD Modeller

    (my underlining)

    ....And I thought Blender was bad.... this looks horrendous. I think anyone starting out could do a lot worse than to use SketchUp

     
  11. JRThro
    JRThro Member
    I find openSCAD easy to use because I can work on a design one short statement at a time, and then by adding statements, work toward the final design I actually want.

    Take a look at my designs. There's nothing particularly complex, but all were done in openSCAD:
    https://www.shapeways.com/mydesign#ug44715
     
  12. I think you linked to my designs by mistake. I used Pro/E for them for what it's worth.
     
  13. JRThro
    JRThro Member
    That's interesting, because when I click on the link, it goes to my designs.

    Try clicking on the "Go to all my models" link instead.
     
  14. I figured it was something like that. I guess it goes to "my designs" for whichever account you're logged into.
     
  15. stonysmith
    stonysmith Well-Known Member Moderator
    That truly depends upon whether you're a programmer or not. I have been a TrueSpace user for 15 years and OpenSCAD "fits the way I think" so much more elegantly.

    It also depends upon whether you're doing "organic" models or "technicial" models.. different tools apply differently to each method.

    This model was built entirely with OpenSCAD, in 246 lines of code:
    https://www.shapeways.com/model/110195/old_tyme_store___zscal e.html?gid=ug4375

    And the propeller in this model is only 25 lines of code:
    https://www.shapeways.com/model/148488/propeller_load_for_fla t_car___z_scale.html?gid=ug4375
    Plus, it's parametric.. change one variable and it could be 3 blades or 12, change another variable to get an entirely different pitch angle.

    Yes.. if you're not a programmer, OpenSCAD is not for the faint of heart.

    But.. there is nothing quite as satisfying as designing with for-next loops. (programmer joke)
     
  16. WildRoo
    WildRoo Member
    What is the "Required minimum space" between moving parts?
     
  17. I think it's generally considered that 0.6mm is the minimum clearance gap to leave if you want to print moving parts in situ.

    Andy