CAD for 3D Printing
In this page, I will show you the steps I took to design my very own name tag!
1. Once I had the software(Fusion360) open, I clicked on
“CREATE” which dropped a list of things to create
2. I clicked on “Create Sketch”
3. I then selected on the flat-lying plane,
revealing the top side of the grid
4. To draw the rectangle, I drop down the
“CREATE” List
5. I then selected “Rectangle”
6. Then, I selected “Center Rectangle”
One notable difference between the instructions in the YouTube
video and the steps I took is that instead of drawing a 2-Point Rectangle, I
drew a Center Rectangle which is pivoted at the origin of the grid. This has
been I habit that I incorporated when I used SolidWorks during my secondary
school days because it allowed me to utilise more techniques.
7. Starting from the origin of the grid, I clicked
and dragged my mouse towards the top-right side of the screen to draw the
rectangle.
8. Since the rectangle wasn’t exactly 65mm by 25mm,
I clicked on “Sketch Dimension”
9. Then I clicked on the long side of the
rectangle, dragged the dimension line upwards and typed “65”
10. I repeated steps 8 and 9 for the short side of
the rectangle with the respective length of 25mm and dragged the dimension line
sideways instead of upwards
11. To design the name tag border, I
clicked on “Offset”
12. Then, I selected the perimeter of the rectangle
and type in the offset value of 2mm
13.
Since the corners of the name tag are sharp, I
clicked on “Fillet”
14. Then, I clicked on 2 adjacent sides and entered
a fillet value of 5mm, then clicked on the rest of the sides to fillet the rest
of the corners 13. Since the corners of the name tag are sharp, I
clicked on “Fillet”
15. Last semester, I learnt a shortcut to sketch
construction lines, which is by typing “L”, then “X” on the keyboard. Next, I
clicked and dragged my mouse from the top side of the rectangle to the bottom
side of the rectangle
16. I selected “Sketch Dimension” 17. Next, I clicked and dragged the dimension line
from the construction line to the left side of the rectangle, which prompts me
to enter a value of 7mm
18. To sketch the circle, I typed the command “C”
and dragged the circle out from the midpoint of the previously sketched
construction line. Another shortcut I learned was typing “C” which is a command
for “Center Diameter Circle”. Also, here is one way pivoting at the origin
helps. Since I need to sketch the circle at the midpoint of the construction
line, the x-axis of the grid directly indicates where the midpoint of the
construction line is.
Wouldn’t be a name tag without a name…duh
19. Dropping down the “CREATE” list, I selected
“Text”
20. To type out my name, I sketched the
text box next to the name tag hole and typed out my first name. I then adjusted
the height, font and alignment however I wanted the name to appear on the name
tag.
21. I clicked “FINISH SKETCH” so that I can start to
extrude the sketch
22. To make the name tag 3D, I clicked on “Extrude”
23. Then I selected the border and face of the name
tag.
24. Next, I enter a value of 3mm for the extrusion
to make it 3D
This is how the extrusion looks like.
25. To make the border and name appear, firstly,
under “BROWSER”, click on the eye icons for “Bodies and “Sketch1”.
26. I selected “Extrude”
27. Dropped down the “Start” list and selected the “Offset” plane
28. I then entered values for “Offset”, “Distance”
and “Operation” as 3mm, 1.5mm and “Join” respectively
This is how the name tag should look like. This is where the
instructions in the YouTube video ends. However, I continued to beautify the name
tag.
29. I selected “Fillet” and clicked on the
circumference of the hole
30. I then entered a value of 0.75mm
31. I also “filleted” the edges of the name tag with
a radius of 1mm
32. To change the colour of the name tag, I dropped
down the “MODIFY” list
33. I then selected “Physical Material”
34. Lastly, I scroll through the library of
materials to look for colours I want to apply to the name tag and drag the
material onto the body of the name tag. These are all the steps I took to make my very own name tag!
Here is my name tag!
Reflection
For the first tutorial of the module, I had to practice my Fusion360 skills. To be very honest, I didn’t get to practice and familiarise myself with the software during the semester break, and so, this tutorial is perfect for me to get back on track.
Basically, I had to watch a video on how to design a name tag on YouTube and follow step by step, all the actions were taken by the content creator to design a similar name tag on Fusion360.
Now, I have documented all the steps I have taken to design my very own name tag. I have even included my own changes to make the name tag unique to me.
I think it is a good habit to practice a skill that you haven't fully mastered especially after taking a short break from learning it. It really helps me refresh my memory, especially since I didn't get time to play with the software during the semester break. Now, I feel more confident about my skills in using Fusion360. Well, I'm not saying that I'm already a pro, but at least I don't have to relearn everything from scratch.
I used to think that most CAD softwares will be different from each other fundamentally. I used to think that different softwares will have different methods of creating sketches and designs. I thought this way because I was more familiar with a different software (SolidWorks), and I thought I would have to learn a new software from square one.
Now I think that in many ways, most CAD softwares are very related to each other. Differences only come in micro stuff, like certain commands or user interface.
With this in mind, next time, when I am met with a new CAD software, I would not hesitate to give it a shot and possibly get good at it.
BTW, link to the YouTube video I referred to is here. CAD for Laser Cutting
In this page, I will show you the steps I took to design a handphone stand to be laser cut!
I have been tasked to design a handphone stand using parametrics(will get to that soon).
According to Wikipedia, parametric design is a paradigm in design where the relationship between elements is used to manipulate and inform the design of complex geometries and structures(Wikipedia, 2014). From what I understand, it means designing parts of a product using a system which allows the designer to freely change the dimensions of the fully designed sketch to suit his/her needs. For example, different handphones have different dimensions. If I already designed a handphone stand for only one phone, parametric design can help me change the dimensions of the handphone stand to suit other phones, without changing the overall design of the handphone stand. To learn more about it, click here!
Since parametrics were new to me, I had to watch this video in order to incorporate parametric design into my handphone stand.
Before actually sketching my design, I had to find inspiration for my handphone stand. After scrolling through images, I thought that I might want a handphone stand that is simple, yet effective.
Anyways, let's get into the software!
But before we start sketching, there are a few things we need to do. Firstly, the #1 rule of Fusion360 is to start the sketch with "New Component". This is because it allows me to create separate parts that can be assembled together.
1. Firstly, I clicked on the "New Component" icon to create a new component and named it "Wall" because it was the first part of the handphone stand I was making
2. Since I needed to design the handphone stand using parametrics, I dropped the "MODIFY" list down and clicked on "Change Parameters"
3. Then, I clicked on the plus sign next to "User Parameter" to add 5 different user parameters: height of phone(pheight),width/breadth of phone(pwidth),thickness of phone(pthickness),border of phone stand(sborder) and thickness of phone stand material(sthickness). I have also respectively listed the values of these parameters which are, "160mm", "80mm", "15mm", "10mm" and "5mm"
Now, I'm ready to sketch! But WAIT! Since I this design is with parametrics, it is important that the sketches are fully defined. In Fusion360, light blue lines of a sketch are not fully defined, while black solid lines are fully defined. To fully define a sketch, dimensions, constraints and positions of sketches within the grid have to indicated/specified.
4. To begin my sketch, I clicked on the "Create Sketch" icon
5. Next, I selected the Y-Z plane as the grid for my first sketch of the handphone stand
6. To create the wall that the phone will rest on, I dropped the "CREATE" list, selected "Rectangle" and then "3-Point Rectangle
7. Starting from the origin of the grid, I clicked and dragged my cursor towards the top-left, which prompts me to type the dimensions of the first side of the 3-point rectangle. I then type "sthickness", which is 5mm by default
8. For the next corner of the rectangle, I clicked and dragged my cursor towards the top-right and enter the dimensions "sborder*2+pthickness+sthickness+pheight", which is 200mm
9. I then create a similar 3-point rectangle that almost looks perpendicular to the first 3-point rectangle in steps 7 and 8. This was done by clicking anywhere in the top-left quadrant of the grid and dragging the cursor towards the top-right with the dimensions as "sthickness"
10. The longer side of this 3-point rectangle, which cuts across the first rectangle, has the dimensions "sborder*2+pthickness+sthickness+pwidth"
11. Fortunately for me, Fusion360 has automatic constraints, which made the 2 rectangles perpendicular to each other. This means that I would only need to specify the dimensions and the position of the sketch within the grid
Since the whole sketch was blue, I needed to specify the dimensions of the sketch first, to make constraints much easier to deal with later on. Therefore, I had to place some points so that I can sketch dimensions between the 3 points shown in the image above(circled in red)
12. To create the points circled in red, I dropped the "CREATE" list and selcted "Point"
13. Then, I clicked on the 3 vertices highlighted
14. I clicked on the "Sketch Dimension" icon and selected the 2 lowest points out of the 3 highlighted, dragged out the dimension and typed out "sborder+pthickness"
15. I then repeat step 14, but instead of selecting the 2 lowest point, I selected the 2 highest points out of the 3 points highlighted
16. Next, I have to adjust the orientation of the sketch with regards to the grid. First, I use the command "L"+"X" to create construction lines. Then I clicked and dragged my cursor from the origin towards the right side(along Y-axis)
17. Then, I clicked on the "Coincident" icon
18. I then select the 2 points to coincide which is the bottom right corner of the 2nd 3-point rectangle and the construction line
Now the sketch is fully defined!
19. I clicked on "FINISH SKETCH"
Now, I will make it 3D.
20. I clicked on the "Extrude" icon
21. Next, I selected the 3 profile planes of the wall
22. Under the "Extrude" palette, I selected the direction of the extrusion as "Symmetric" and the measurement type as "Whole Length". The distance of the extrusion is "sborder+pwidth"
23. After extrusion, under browser, I dropped the "Wall:1" List
24. I hid the body by clicking on the eye icon next to "Bodies"
25. Then, I dropped down the "Sketches" folder to reveal "Sketch1" by clicking on the eye icon.
26. This allows me to make create a slot on the Wall component by clicking the "Extrude" icon
27. I then select the small profle in the middle of the 2 rectangles
28. Next, I change the "Extent Type" to "To Object"
Step 28 prompted me to select a surface I wanted to cut the slot until.
29. Thus, I revealed the Wall component by clicking on the eye icon next to "Bodies" under the browser
30. This allowed me to select the surface of the Wall component I wanted the slot to be cut until
31. I gave the Wall component rounded corners by clicking on the "Fillet" icon
32. Then I selected all the edges I wanted to fillet with a radius of 10mm
This is how the Wall component looks like.
33. I clicked on the "New Component" icon and named it "Mount"
34. After hiding the body of the Wall component, I rotate the cube on the top-right of the screen to adjust the view to the left side view of the sketch
Now, I will extrude the Mount component
35. I clicked on the "Extrude" icon
36. Next, I selected all the planes that make up the Mount component(highlighted in blue in the sketch)
37. I then changed the "Direction" to "Symmetric", "Measurement" to "Whole Length" and type the "Distance" as "sborder+pwidth"
38. Next, to cut out the slot on the Mount component and fillet the corners of the component, I repeated steps 23 to 32. However, for steps 24 and 29, instead of hiding/revealing the Wall component, I hid/revealed the Mount component by clicking on the eye icon next to "Mount:1"
Now, this is how my handphone stand looks like. Although it looks finished, I will include "As-built Joints" to make the mount slide along the slot.
39. I used the command "Shift"+"J" to prompt the "As-built Joint"
40. I change the "Joint Type" to "Slider"
41. I then selected both components
42. After selecting both components, I hovered my cursor over the slot to look for an arrow that lies on the same axis that the Mount component will slide along and I clicked on that edge.
43. Finally, to make sure that only the Mount component slides, under the browser, I right-clicked "Wall:1" and clicked on "Ground". This way, the Wall component becomes stationary.
And that's it! The complete sketch of my handphone stand. Take a look at my handphone stand below.
Reflection
Like I've mentioned earlier, I've been tasked to design a handphone stand using parametric design in Fusion360. At first, I was daunted by the word because it was something very new to me, or so I thought. After completing this task, I realised that this concept is not very new to me, especially since I've been exposed to CAD by my father. He boasts very much about the fact that he teaches his colleagues how to use parametric design and every now and then, he shows me some of his projects where he incorporates parametric design. This way, I immediately understood the task given to me.
This activity is very very VERY important, especially in designing chemical products because it allows us to make small adaptations to our product. Meaning, we don't have to sacrifice time to create a design of the same product but with different dimensions/sizes. For example, in this activity, creating a handphone stand with parametric design would allow us to resize the stand to fit handphones of different sizes. Heck, it might even be used for tablets/picture frames or painting canvasses.
Now that I understand its importance, I will always think about how I can incorporate parametric design into product design, because it will definitely save me a lot of time.
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