Software for 3D printing.

[Pommie]

I recently acquired a Kossel type printer and wondered what people use to create objects. I started of using the free online Tinkercad from Autodesk but quickly outgrew that.

I've now started to play with OpenSCad (Open Source CAD) which uses a programming language to generate shapes.

A project I'm currently playing with needs 144 interrupts per revolution and so I am using three lines of holes to generate 3 separate interrupts. The code to generate this object is in the attached image.

It seems to be a very powerful and flexible program.

Mike.

 

[Mickster]

I'm using Fusion 360 from Autodesk. I have OpenSCad, but only use it for viewing those files, maybe I should look a little deeper into it.

 

[ronsimpson]

Fusion 360 from Autodesk

I just looked at the price for Fusion 360, and won't be doing that.

 

[Mickster]

If you make less than 100k per year, from using F360, you get a startup license which is free.

 

[rjenkinsgb]

Designspark Mechanical, from RS Components, is free and very good.
https://uk.rs-online.com/web/generalDisplay.html?id=designspark/designspark-mechanical

It's one of the few that allows you to directly set dimensions.
I made a replacement battery cover for an item, complete with "hinge" hooks and spring loaded latches & it clipped in place on the first go. Just done by measuring the required sizes from the device with vernier calipers.

(Using an Overlord Pro printer).

 

[3v0]

Commercial software what is free today may not be free tomorrow. Companies change pricing models all the time. For that reason I try to stay away. It is not always possible or convenient.

 

[ACharnley]

I use Freecad and Ultimaker Cura. Both freeware and work fine.

 

[Pommie]

An interesting problem raised it's head. I added a motor mount hub and a fan to the item in the first post and tried to print it. The print was just a random mess. I wondered if maybe the model wasn't manifold so used a microsoft site to fix it. The file went from 3M to 170K and printed correctly. Anyone any idea what could be causing this?

Mike.

 

[Dr_Doggy]

i find autodesk inventor great for making shapes for hardware models

a curved surface has a infinate amount of points ... but is scaled down based on resolution
you would want more points for a animation or graphic over a 1mm resolution of a 3d printer
... also not all obj files are decoded equally



printing a cube only needs 8points (of 3 vectors) = 24 bytes ... kinda mostly