I too have printed several things that I designed in sketchup. Obviously you still need to understand your manufacutring process and design for manufacture.
I have had issues on occasion importing bad meshes that have holes. These are really tough to see let alone fix in SU, but other tools exist that can do this for you.
That said DS mechanical is much better for ‘product’ type designs, especially if they have multiple componants. Things like putting a chamfer or radius on an edge are a joy in this and a complete pain in SU even with the third party plugins.
I think SU is better for architectural stuff though. And also has lots of good plugins. If I wanted to design a gear or something mathmatical like that I would do it with SU with a plugin and export to DSmech.
I’m not saying its not possible. But, I quickly discovered situations where it seemed almost impossible to edit an object after the first print and still keep it manifold without basically recreating a large portion of the model. I much more prefer the OpenSCAD method of using variables & functions. It makes those little tweaks and nudges that become necessary when trying to fit things together a lot easier.
I like Sketchup and use it for a lot of things but until some things are improved, I’ll probably not use it for models intended for 3D printing.
I’ve not used it myself as I have Alibre Design but it seems to work in a similar manner to Alibre and Solidworks in regards to how you build your models.
Well, for example the thickness isn’t a perfect translation depending on the slider. Generally not a bit issue until you’re working to exacting dimensions.
The biggest issue was joining objects. For some reason the printer, or the slicer, or Sketchup didn’t quite like it when I created parts separately and then joined them together. The print came out all sorts of wrong. To the point I don’t even know what it was trying to do. But as long as it was one solid object thugs worked very well.
I’m sure there were some other minor adjustments but my printer got a bit busted almost a year ago while I was prepping to sell my old house. Haven’t really had the time to fix it yet.
In a way, yes. Shapeways has high-quality printers, relatively large print sizes, many different materials.
I don’t like the print quality of the inexpensive fused deposition modeling printers (filaments). Maybe when an inexpensive, high resolution laser sintering machine becomes available, I’ll reconsider.
@ hagster - I don’t mean to sidetrack your thread, but I just saw a report on ABC News here in the States that showed a company making cars using a giant 3D printer. They can make a car in around a day, and hope to speed that up to less than a day. This technology is really taking off!
Ian, I think you’re right…except that your numbers don’t take into account the cost associated with your time. I’m betting that by the time you add in the cost of the time to build and calibrate that RepRap, you’ve probably put in the equivalent of the cost of the MakerBot.
Not saying there’s anything wrong with that, but given that you’re a fair sight better with hardware than I am, I can confidently say it’d take me longer to build an equivalent RepRap, and alas, that’s something I just don’t have enough time to devote to at the moment.
When I can buy a ready-to-print (as in, as easily as I can today with an inkjet printer) 3D printer for less than $500, that’s when I think the technology will have truly arrived. Yes, for folks who are willing to spend more, or devote their time instead of money, you can get good results. But at a consumer level…not quite there yet.
You’re right. When it comes to my hobbies I don’t count my time and I see 3D printing as more of a hobby at the moment than anything else. However, if someone really wants a 3D printer and is willing to spend a couple weekends putting it together then they can have one for $500-$700. The time spent learning to calibrate, etc. doesn’t really count as you’ll have to learn that either way.
I consider the time invested in building your own a good investment since even the commercial printers will have you spending a considerable amount of time working on fixing jams, calibrating, and just figuring out why in the !#$^& its not printing right. We have a long way to go before 3D printing is as reliable a technology as inkjet is today.
I’ll call it officially “here” when we can buy an SLS (powder + laser) printer for $500. The current FDM type printers that are based on melting plastic filament just have too many ways that things can go wrong.
And sintered metal printing should be significantly stronger than FDM, too. I’m thinking it’s gonna be a while before we get to the $500 price point on that technology, sadly.
@ devhammer - I think it will happen much faster than you may think. The mechanics are not that different than FDM aside from the fact it uses a laser instead of a hotend. I’d bet we’ll see it within two years if not sooner. We’ve already seen a laser+resin printer on Kickstarter for $100.
Sure. But, we’re talking about useful printers that are as reliable as today’s inkjet printers. The only reason to buy a Simple is to print parts to build a real printer
Thank you everyone, not only I regained access to the insider (+1) helped but I learned a thing or two about the different types of Cad software out there ;).
And a little bird told me that I’ve even got a special treatment thank you
