Hi Joe, thanks for this. I would like to get a 3D printer (I'm in my 70s!) but am concerned about learning the CAD aspect. It seems simple enough but I suspect I'd have trouble knowing what to click on to achieve the actions you show happening. Just to give you a flavour of my concerns, what is 'additive manufacturing' - ok, I can look that up myself. You talk about constraining things. How was that done? As you see, some of us would need a real '101' course - me included!
3D printers are a great companion tool for machining. For example im designing a CNC conversion for my mill and being able to 3d print parts that are fairly rigid to test them before I get them machined is invaluable. And I do think with some of the more rigid plastics like Polycarbonate with enough walls and infill for us hobbyists might actually be able to replace some aluminium parts.
A tip here given that you are designing this yourself is design in the supports. You dont need supports running the entire length of the part. Just create some custom walls where the tool sits on the corner and the open wall. Then in your slicer it can simply bridge to that sacrificial wall instead of having to print all that support. Same with the nut cavities, just create a later below them 0.2mm thick which will act as a sacrificial layer.
Nice one Joe
Hi Joe, thanks for this. I would like to get a 3D printer (I'm in my 70s!) but am concerned about learning the CAD aspect. It seems simple enough but I suspect I'd have trouble knowing what to click on to achieve the actions you show happening. Just to give you a flavour of my concerns, what is 'additive manufacturing' - ok, I can look that up myself. You talk about constraining things. How was that done? As you see, some of us would need a real '101' course - me included!
Very good video, thanks for sharing this. It's going to take my old brain a while to catch on to all you're saying. Keep up the good work.
3D printers are a great companion tool for machining. For example im designing a CNC conversion for my mill and being able to 3d print parts that are fairly rigid to test them before I get them machined is invaluable. And I do think with some of the more rigid plastics like Polycarbonate with enough walls and infill for us hobbyists might actually be able to replace some aluminium parts.
A tip here given that you are designing this yourself is design in the supports. You dont need supports running the entire length of the part. Just create some custom walls where the tool sits on the corner and the open wall. Then in your slicer it can simply bridge to that sacrificial wall instead of having to print all that support.
Same with the nut cavities, just create a later below them 0.2mm thick which will act as a sacrificial layer.
Well done Joe, Very nice video!
Thanks Craig 👍