basic model component ok?

Hi,

I'm just hoping someone with experience using Shapeways could let me know if the attached Sketchup model seems fine? I'm just wondering if the concept is fine before spending too much time pursuing this model. I'm wondering if it's printable and also if the cubes are 1" on a side and the connector is 1/12" thick if it will be at all durable printed in white plastic.

Here's a screenshot which may be all you need to judge the model. Basically it's 2 cubes with sockets held together by a rod with balls at each end.



Thanks,
Mike

The connecting post seems a little thin for the mass of the cubes...it might work but I'd make it bigger diameter if possible. I'd also be concerned about getting the support material out from inside the socket joints at only ~0.5mm clearance.

One last thing, it would be best to reverse the faces on the connecting rod so they are white like the cubes.

Hope that helps!

Thanks, I'll rework the model to make the posts thicker. And I'll make sure my face normals are pointed in the right direction. And I'll make the clearance in the socket joints wider. Any intuition about how wide it should be or is the concern more about the geometry?

And your mention of cleaning out the support material was a real revelation. I'll admit that I had been scratching my head wondering how this was going to be printed and now it's been made clear - it's printed with a construction material and a support material. Duh. So then when I get the printed model it's up to me to remove the support material. Obviously I haven't found the right documentation for this task. Is there something I should read with pointers and caveats about building models and removing the support material?

Thanks,
Mike

For WSF, the support material is the same as the construction material, it just remains as powder, but you still have to get it out. In your design, you only have tiny bit of room for the powder to escape. Have you seen the tutorial section? Specifically these ones:
https://www.shapeways.com/tutorials/designing_mechanical_part s_for_3d_printing
https://www.shapeways.com/tutorials/designing_mechanical_part s_3d_printing_the_whoosh There are lots of good tips in the forum as well, perhaps search for "hinges" to hone in on relevant posts.

I have seen it now. Thanks so much for the guidance.

No problem, I hope you'll share your experience with us when you do order the part

Hi,

I completed a small experiment and uploaded it here:

https://www.shapeways.com/model/294913/

First, I created the model in Sketchup8. I created it in Sketchup using centimeters as my unit measure. In Sketchup, the cube edges are 25 centimeters long. In Shapeways, I'm hoping to print these as 25 millimeters long.

Then I exported the model as a Collada DAE file. I imported into MeshLab from which I exported as STL. I did this so I could check for water tightness in AccuTrans 3D.

Everything checked out so I uploaded the model you see above and set the units of the uploaded model to millimeters.

So I'm having two problems. First, all the letter i's and the one dash in the text were removed. These are all visible in the 3 programs I mentioned above.

Second, the size of the model is shown as height 1.0cm x width 3.1 cm x depth 2.4cm. It should be height 6.0cm x width 7.8cm x depth 2.5cm. The scale factor of about 2.5 seems to be suspiciously close to the ratio of centimeters to inches.

Any ideas as to what might have gone wrong? Or other things I should try?

Thanks,
Mike

Never mind - I scaled it to the proper size in Sketchup, exported as a DAE file, uploaded that and it fixed all the issues.