Folks: I'm going to say something potentially controversial in the #3dPrinting world.
The Prusa MK3S is a mess from a software perspective.
I didn't say it was a bad printer, by all accounts, it's pretty amazing printer. But looking at the #OpenSCAD code? Wow, it's not well-written software.
For those of you who don't know, it's open source hardware (GPL3) written (mostly) in OpenSCAD. You can find it on GitHub:
I'm currently deciding whether to do a design in #OpenSCAD or #FreeCAD or maybe some of both?
I may convert an old 12-chord autoharp from my wife's family into a 21-chord unit by making narrow chord bars. If I do that, I'd like to try #3DPrinting the chord bars with integral TPU dampers, programmatically generated.
Button rank: Which of three rows should the button go on?
Notes: Which notes are in the chord?
Strings: Note names of every string, along with their relative station.
Name: Chord name printed into the bar.
Then I could remove from the model sections of the TPU damper part of the bar for every string corresponding with a note named in the list of notes for a particular damper, so that it doesn't damp the notes in that cord.
This feels programmatic, and OpenSCAD would be a rational choice. I know that one can program macros for FreeCAD, but it's harder to make FreeCAD macros part of a project instead of part of an installation as far as I know. On the other hand, I'd love to generate STEP files that express more semantics, rather than STL files, which argues again for FreeCAD. Maybe I could find a way to drive this from a spreadsheet in FreeCAD instead of with code. 🤔
Or maybe we should stick to the 12-chord version for now until we decide this is too limiting. 😀
I'm currently getting by with a mixture of Design Spark Mechanical, FreeCAD, and OpenSCAD for prototyping/editing files, I'd love to find a good alternative that isn't from a predatory company like Autodesk
For the last couple of days I've been working on an #OpenSCAD program to create custom #Pantorouter tenons. Set the tenon dimensions, the inner bit/bearing, outer bit/bearing, rows/columns, and it does all the math. But after printing out a full size paper preview I think what I want to do is going to be much bigger than the Pantorouter can handle. #woodworking
I want to 3d print some button housings for tactile switches - the simple toggle/push buttons we see everywhere in electronics kits...
I actually eventually want to design something for one of those cheap matrix setups to go in.
So this morning I'm off to see what I can find, but if anyone already has an #OpenSCAD design that they can recommend with a good mechanism and mountings I could use as a starting point, I'd be very interested in hearing about it :)
It presents as #OpenSCAD which I love, only you write #Python instead of that C-ish stuff it uses, and if I read correctly it's got a better underlying render engine. Only heard about it because someone did a #Gridfinity reimplementation with it, and all things being equal I would definitely rather use that than devil-begotten, temple-beridden, snot-encrusted #Autodesk products.
Added a 3D printer to the shop this week. Prussa MK3S, acquired second hand from a fellow who didn't successfully assemble the kit. It's now running beautifully. First useful items the next day. A bushing for my 5C drawbar which pulled 2 10ths out of my run out, and a press-on handle for the tube. Even just press-fit it provides enough traction to hold the work well. Both designed in #openscad. #machining#3dprinting#lathe
I made this fairly simple parametric file in OpenSCAD for people to see how I do it. I am by no means an expert, but I try to share my knowledge because the only way I've ever learned anything is because others before me shared and I was able to benefit from their knowledge.
I'm looking at a CSG to STEP convertor[1] and ask: why not make @OpenSCAD export STEP? No need for any extra libraries, hopefully. Also, one fewer step for impedance matching. All you need is to generate hulls and minks automatically, using primitives available in STEP. Surely someone has done that before, right? Github is vast, it must be in there somewhere.
I came up with it today for a project (using #OpenSCAD, of course).
I've reverse imaged searched it and there seems to be similar symbols, but nothing exactly like this.
It's so hard being original. You can think it's unique but then... bam! It's something from your childhood or a government agency in... Mongolia that just happened to have the same idea.
Heh - don't believe the hype about how fast the #Apple M2 Pro CPU is. For single-core numeric grunt, my about-to-be-retired i7-4790K box (built on an extreme budget in 2016 from 2014 parts) is still handily faster than this 1 week old Mac14,12 Mac Mini.
For example, one of my typical #OpenSCAD models renders in 2' 27" on the i7, but takes 2' 54" on the Mac Mini. That's a handy 18% faster on the CPU that Intel stopped making in 2017.
New plotter design is nearly done. This will be an H belt design with the parts running on 2020 & 2040 V slot extrusion
I've completed all of the design (in #openSCAD), but I still have more parts to print and testing to do before I'll share the design; it will be on #printables at some point. It should do A3 and it might scale up to A2, but I'm a little concerned about stiffness and racking in the cross arm
Big thanks to @jcorbin for walking me through a ton of finer points of #openscad I've made my first #3dprinting model!
It's a little late for indie bookstore day but these are bookmarks for my local bookstore.
I'm testing a print in the only color PETG I've got, and will try a 2 color PLA in the morning. I think the inset one would look really good with the letters (and bottom of the bookmark) in black with a white top. 🤔
What 3d modeling software do you recommend in the year 2023?
I'm currently getting by with a mixture of Design Spark Mechanical, FreeCAD, and OpenSCAD for prototyping/editing files, I'd love to find a good alternative that isn't from a predatory company like Autodesk