3D Printing

True. But what's the chance of getting the CAD file for in my

20 year old dishwasher? Or the 'funny clippy bit' on my bike? Call up the manufacturer and ask?

CAD is the biggest problem IMHO. It's fine to design simple objects, but most of the things I want to build with a 3D printer aren't simple. The 'funny clippy bit' has a particular rounded shape in order to clip, and I can't just duplicate that with cubes and spheres and extruded outlines.

For 2D stuff I've had good results by flatbed scanning the thing I want it to mate with (eg the holes on a PCB) and dropping the output PDF (which is correctly scaled) into my design for laser cutting. But getting complex curved surfaces 3D scanned, and then turning them into printable meshes, is somewhat trickier.

Theo

Reply to
Theo Markettos
Loading thread data ...

well thats the challenge of 3D CAD. I got pretty good at it meself...

formatting link

RHINO CAD.

Reply to
The Natural Philosopher

I think there will probably be a lot of informal swapping of "drawings". Let me rephrase that: I hope there will be a lot of informal swapping... Doing the 3D design of everything I might want to 3D print would be a big overhead. But contributing back the odd one to the pool would be within reach.

I worry about the various intellectual rights issues that will inevitably occur.

Reply to
polygonum

I have heard that there are 3-D scanners that will create the DXF file for you, prior to conversion with your favourite CAM program.

Reply to
gareth

Hmm, I've not looked at one of those for maybe 35 years. What's the bit at the back that the fuel pipe's connected to? I remember the needle valve being in front, on the carburettor...

Reply to
Jeremy Nicoll - news posts

on a > 1bhp engine relocating the finger-twiddlable needle valve away from the prop^H^H^H^h rotating knives, but retaining the front rotary induction was a challenge met successfully in that design.

Reply to
The Natural Philosopher

Thingiverse springs to mind

formatting link

Sketchup now has a decent .stl export plug in which makes the 3D warehouse handy

Reply to
Adam Aglionby

So you have to strip down every new item you buy and 3D scan all the parts that might break in future?

Reply to
Andy Burns

Nope, just 3D scan it after it breaks.

Reply to
290jkl

That's ok for things that snap cleanly (but you could probably just glue them as strongly as print a replacement part) what about parts that disintegrate or get lost?

Reply to
Andy Burns

Doesn?t have to snap cleanly. With stuff that wears it wouldn?t be that hard to edit the result of the 3D scan so that the 3D printer produces a good copy of the original.

That's unlikely.

That doesn?t happen that often and you should be able to ask someone to 3D scan theirs that hasn?t.

Ditto.

Much less work than scanning everything in case it might break.

Reply to
290jkl

Well you just have to design new ones

Or find someone else who has already done that.

Reply to
The Natural Philosopher

When you have the broken bit, tack it together with contact adhesive before scanning it.

Reply to
gareth

Examine the context, the environmant into which it fits, and measure up before proposing the replacement to fit it. before the days of 3D printing, this is what I had to do when the gear shift on the milling head for my lathe shattered into aluminium dust.

Reply to
gareth

Yes I was pointing out that a 3D scanner is not necessarily the answer. You may have to, or prefer to, design replacement parts through CAD.

Reply to
Andy Burns

That sounds sensible in a way, but must have made mounting such an engine trickier, if there had to be room for a thumb & finger to twiddle the thing. After all there was a certain amount of room around one when it was at the front.

Reply to
Jeremy Nicoll - news posts

Well the whole needle valve assembly doesn't need adjusting often. Lots of people add extensions with flexible tube etc. And removable cowls are not unusual..once started and warmed up, the setting doesn't need changing.

Reply to
The Natural Philosopher

Chances are that if you're making a replacement 3D component, it won't have that many critical dimensions. So measure the important bits of the broken one, and design something which is functionally equivalent without worrying too much about how pretty it looks.

Reply to
Roger Mills

Makes more sense to find someone whose part hasn?t yet disintegrated or got lost to scan it for you.

Sure, but that isn't always feasible.

Neither is getting someone else to scan theirs for you.

Reply to
290jkl

But can they email a beer?

Reply to
Uncle Peter

HomeOwnersHub website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.