Box box box...

[Screwdriver]

So I have been messing about with some EPE filler for my LBoxx collection. OK so far but glueing anything to that stuff is the hard part.

The orange bits are where I want to sink a couple of lidded boxes.

Designed in Sketchup (of course!)

The print version ready for export. Nice thing about Sketchup is it is so easy to make copies and link back to the working model so you can keep half an eye on how it's going to sit on the bed of the printer. I like to avoid supports at all costs!

Perhaps the only point of interest is the little catch. I should probably have just copied something but I know what I want and I know how to make it happen so...

It has to release easily with thumb pressure on the top of the lid, as you would normally expect to open a little box. So it's a little spring which means I had to constrain it so it can't spring too far and snap but it has to tilt just a tiny bit to release the clip which is ramped to hold the lid tight. Note the top of the catch sits on the printer bed so it can be gapped and still be supported. All angles are to allow maximum overhang without supports.

Cura is happy with the STL export. I am less happy with the 5+ hour print time...

The little Ender is still making pretty damned fine prints (in its own time!) but I feel the need...

The need for speed...

Prototype was ok. Nice print, needs fettling (and I messed up the wire hinge installation).

But once I am happy with the design, I'll sink them into the foam and stop losing all my bits all the time.

 

[skotl]

Nice! I've spent the last two hours watching f-360 tutorials while I work up the guts to try my first design

 

[ajlelectronics]

Nice! I've spent the last two hours watching f-360 tutorials while I work up the guts to try my first design

I am still at the "draw a rectange" stage! DSM is so much more logical.

 

[Chippie]

Nice!….I can’t even draw a rectangle…

 

[Anguz]

the day i downloaded f-360 i was determined not to watch any tutorials till i had drawn a cube
2 hours later i gave in and watched....
i am getting better 12 months in, but still learning

 

[TEO]

Nice! I've spent the last two hours watching f-360 tutorials while I work up the guts to try my first design

Which of the tutorials are you using pls? I had a look a while ago, desperately need to be able to use some form of CAD but my v. analogue mind wants to run away & hide when faced with the knowledge gap

 

[Anguz]

Most complicated thing I have done in f360 so far. It's a dash surround for my kit car

 

[skotl]

Which of the tutorials are you using pls? I had a look a while ago, desperately need to be able to use some form of CAD but my v. analogue mind wants to run away & hide when faced with the knowledge gap

Watched a whole bunch over the last few months but this one, earlier today, is far-and-away the best and most useful one I've seen:

 

[Screwdriver]

Nice! I've spent the last two hours watching f-360 tutorials while I work up the guts to try my first design

Yes I think F360 is an inevitable "upgrade" for me too. Not because of any failings with Sketchup but because it is old software and import/export is a fragile thing which eventually will stop working as everything else in the system is gradually reversioned.

I dipped my toe in the water with F360 some time ago and got to the point I could see how long it would take me to "get up to speed" with it (knocking out designs in Sketchup is very, very fast...). I figured it would take me about 6 months before I could confidently use it for design purposes where I need to get the first few iterations sketched out before I zero in on a prototype.

Then, right at that moment, Autodesk decided that they were going to take all the fun stuff out of F360 and start hassling people to pay for it. Seen this a million times before where after promising a "free for life" product, the company decides they've ensnared enough users who are now hooked then pile on the pressure to make you pay...

Take out a few import/export functions here and there, remove the one thing that made you choose it in the first place like generative design, as that process of crippling continues, then start hassling people for logins and renewals until finally they cave in and cough up.

Needless to say; I hate that...

 

[ajlelectronics]

The day I downloaded F-360 I was determined not to watch any tutorials 'till I had drawn a cube.
2 hours later I gave in and watched...
I am getting better 12 months in, but still learning.

Here is how simple it is in DSM...

a) Click on the rectangle icon.
b) Click on the grid to start.
c) Drag the box out, you can type a size directly if you wish.
d) Click on PULL.
e) Click on the surface to pull (the top here).
f) DRAG the surface to the height that you want or type a dimension into the box.

One cube!

 

[Maker]

Here is how simple it is in DSM...

a) Click on the rectangle icon.
b) Click on the grid to start.
c) Drag the box out, you can type a size directly if you wish.
d) Click on PULL.
e) Click on the surface to pull (the top here).
f) DRAG the surface to the height that you want or type a dimension into the box.

One cube!

So exactly the same as Sketchup, Fusion or Solidworks.

 

[Anguz]

But when you know how, thats not that different to f360

 

[slim_boy_fat]

I'm in awe of folk who can buy one of these printers, sit at their keyboard, draft their design, then exercise the patience to wait hours to see if it's all worked as intended/hoped.

Can't see me ever venturing into this - horses for courses and all that.

 

[TEO]

Watched a whole bunch over the last few months but this one, earlier today, is far-and-away the best and most useful one I've seen:

Thanks, that's tonight sorted

 

[TEO]

Here is how simple it is in DSM...

a) Click on the rectangle icon.
b) Click on the grid to start.
c) Drag the box out, you can type a size directly if you wish.
d) Click on PULL.
e) Click on the surface to pull (the top here).
f) DRAG the surface to the height that you want or type a dimension into the box.

One cube!

View attachment 380003View attachment 380004View attachment 380005View attachment 380006View attachment 380007View attachment 380008

If only it were that simple to those of the IT challenged persuasion... Like me
I might give it a go but it does look like all clients will be having whatever furniture they like, as long as it's square

 

[ajlelectronics]

If only it were that simple to those of the IT challenged persuasion... Like me
I might give it a go but it does look like all clients will be having whatever furniture they like, as long as it's square

How about you give me a call later on the forum video link and I can go through it with you?

 

[Hood]

What I really love about Fusion is I can draw things up then just go to the manufacturing tab and it is now ready for me to choose machining options/toolpaths etc then get the G code. Previously I would have to use SW or GeoMagic/Cubify or whatever I was using at the time then export/import into the CAM programme,, latterly BobCAD then proceed to choose toolpaths etc.
Another great thing about Fusion, especially for Plasma is I can make a part up using components then go into the manufacturing tab and arrange them on the sheet. Previously in SW I would have to draw each individual part in its own file then import all these files into and assembly. Maybe it is different in SW now but mine was quite old.

For example here is a roller, all separate components as can be seen when I drag them, I can then go into the manufacturing and arrange them (already arranged in the vid) then simulate the cutting etc. Going back to the design again shows it as a complete model. Any changes made in design are automatically changed in manufacturing and often all that is needed is to regenerate to get the toolpaths.

 

[Screwdriver]

If only it were that simple to those of the IT challenged persuasion... Like me
I might give it a go but it does look like all clients will be having whatever furniture they like, as long as it's square

LOL. You're not wrong. Here's one I made earlier:

from this thread: #1

It had some complexity to it.



But all cranked out on the Ender3.

TBH I wish I had done it in Fusion360, just the 3d model would have a fair bit of value to it. I may look into exporting/importing it to Fusion so I can tidy it up and make use of some of the more advance features of F360.

 

[Maker]

TBH I wish I had done it in Fusion360, just the 3d model would have a fair bit of value to it. I may look into exporting/importing it to Fusion so I can tidy it up and make use of some of the more advance features of F360.

The problem with moving between different cad software is you lose your edit history (Though I don't remember if Sketchup actually has that?), so rather than having a load of sketches, extrudes and revolves to go back and edit, you just have a solid body.

 

[Screwdriver]

The problem with moving between different cad software is you lose your edit history (Though I don't remember if Sketchup actually has that?), so rather than having a load of sketches, extrudes and revolves to go back and edit, you just have a solid body.

Yes that is the attraction of moving towards a more professional 3d software package. With the JWST model though, it was designed from the ground up to be printable on the Ender3 (40:1 scale). That means the model is actually a collection of parts, what you boys call "bodies". Naturally once I have the shape in Fusion I would have to literally remake it, in Fusion, to get the benefit of parametric modelling and ease of editing.

The native format for Sketchup is proprietary but apart from STL, I can export in a handful of more universal formats like DAE.

Not STEP though which I think is the one to aim at going forwards.

Having said that, the simplicity of Sketchup is its strength. You are not overwhelmed with deep structure in the menu system and it is ideal for getting things out of your head and into a 3d model quickly and easily. If porting the JWST over to Fusion is doable, it might even form part of a workflow Sketch to get the gross shape, Fusion for the finished product and then possibly into CAD.