Author Topic: Designspark Mechanical asistance  (Read 7164 times)

Offline picclock

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Designspark Mechanical asistance
« on: April 11, 2016, 04:29:53 AM »
Hi All
Been using the free designspark mechanical for parts for my 3d printer. On the whole its seems a good and accurate package, easy to use (about my level) and at the right price  :headbang:

Although I haven't found anything I can't do or workaround, I get the feeling I am missing a part of it. For instance, I wanted to place a semi circular indent into a solid face. I did not want the indent to be the full width/length of the face, just a small island of defined size in the middle. I did this by sinking a rectangle and rounding the corners by pulling, but I get the feeling that I ought to be able to do this by adding a cylinder then subtracting it or its extruded faces to leave an impression. 

Any info or pointers most welcome

Best Regards

picclock

Engaged in the art of turning large pieces of useful material into ever smaller pieces of (s)crap. (Ferndown, Dorset)

Offline ddmckee54

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Re: Designspark Mechanical asistance
« Reply #1 on: May 04, 2016, 12:45:46 PM »
picklock:

I just now noticed that this thread was about Designspark.  Did you solve your problem?  I've been using Designspark for about 5-6 months now so I'm still learning the software too.  I like the software.  I've tried several other packages, including a couple of the really expensive ones as trial versions, but this one just feels right to me.

You certainly can do your indent that way, but I have found that its simpler to place a circle where you want the indent to be and then pull/push the surface of the circle to the desired height/depth.  When I made my 3D printer test cube look like a die/dice (whatever the correct term is) I placed circles where I wanted the spots to be with a line through the centerline of the circle.  I then trimmed the circles into semi-circles and rotated each semi-circle about its' centerline carving a hemispherical divot out of the face of the cube.  There's probably an easier way to do it but that's my work around.  I did that so that I would always know how the cube was oriented when it was printed and hopefully that would help to isolate which axis was giving me the problem.  It only added about 8-10 minutes to the print time.

I've found that the Designspark tutorial videos can be helpful - but a lot of the ones that would really help aren't in English, so you're still kind of on your own.

Don
Too many irons, not enough fire.

Offline picclock

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Re: Designspark Mechanical asistance
« Reply #2 on: May 07, 2016, 03:28:33 AM »
@ddmckee54
Thanks for your interest. I did get round the issue but it seemed a lot of actions to achieve a simple thing. I sliced the model into 2d mode around the correct place, inserted a 2D circle, removing the line above the surface plane, then changed to 3d mode and pulled it to the correct length. Somehow, this just seems wrong to me. I can create a cylinder and combine it but I don't seems to be able to combine it then subtract it to leave the impression of where it has been.

For the most part its an amazing program, very fast to learn and pretty easy to use. I am only a newbie with this program so a lot of the features I have yet to use. Generating text is a bit of a faff. Write it in sketchup, save as  sketchup version 8, then import into designspark and scale to suit with pull tool. Hardest bit I have found is then to get it to combine with the face the lettering goes on - probably missing a trick or two there.

Most complex part so far is a new x carriage for my 3d printer, piccy attached. Apart from my mistakes it turned out well.

Best Regards

picclock
Engaged in the art of turning large pieces of useful material into ever smaller pieces of (s)crap. (Ferndown, Dorset)

Offline ddmckee54

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Re: Designspark Mechanical asistance
« Reply #3 on: May 09, 2016, 03:07:11 PM »
I know what you mean about things "feeling wrong".  That was the biggest gripe I had about all the other 3D modeling packages that I tried, Designspark was the package that "felt" the best.  I've been using 2D CAD for 30+ years so I'm just a little "set in my ways".

You have several options when combining/subtracting objects with regards to what gets combined/subtracted, and what gets left.  An instruction MANUAL would help, instead of video tutorials in a language that I can't understand.  Play around with the instructions and you'll find the right object selection sequence in order to achieve your desired result.

If you haven't found it yet there's a checkbox, in the Properties section I think, that controls whether or not the objects are automatically merged after an operation.  Un-checking that sucker will make your life a lot simpler.  I believe that you can set that option up as one of your drawing preferences too.

Have you printed your x carriage design yet?  If so, how'd it turn out?
Don
Too many irons, not enough fire.

Offline picclock

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Re: Designspark Mechanical asistance
« Reply #4 on: May 10, 2016, 05:03:01 AM »
Hi ddmckee54

Yes I have printed it, three times in fact. The first time The lower part of the servo mount was a curved overhang with no support, and the slot for the GT2 belt was too small (X carr5 print). Then I discovered Cura 2.1 beta which allows fractional size adjustments. All my print sizes were too large by 0.15mm regardless of the length of the part, so it was a constant offset rather than a scale error. The new slicer allowed me to tune it out as well as providing overhang support which worked well, so that was iteration 2 (Mk2 aok except servo on wrong side). Then I offered it up to the printer and realised I had put the servo on the wrong side of the carriage  :wack:  So I guess that third time lucky (Extruder and servo) seems to have some truth.

Best Regards

picclock
« Last Edit: May 10, 2016, 05:56:16 AM by picclock »
Engaged in the art of turning large pieces of useful material into ever smaller pieces of (s)crap. (Ferndown, Dorset)