No Curved Faces Showing

SketchUp 3D Printing
1

Hi,

I am trying to make a cover for something. I have model the following cover and am trying to introduce a curved edge. I have managed to achieve this on the longer edges but for the end edges and those which flow around the corner the faces are not rendering. I have manually drawn lines to retrace so I believe the faces to be complete.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!!!

Thanks
A

board3dcover.skp (29.9 KB)

2

I would recommend Curviloft from Fredo6

3

Hi Aaron,

Thanks for the quick reply! This looks perfect. Any idea where I can get this extension? Is it a free one?

Many Thanks
A

4

Ignore me… sorry just downloaded it… will try it and let you know.

5

Did you also get the LibFredo6 files that are required for Curviloft to work?

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6

Just click on the link in my previous post (download from SketchUcation PlugIn Store).

Note, I believe that you will also need to install Fredo’s library, as well.

7

Man… one minute to type and answer and I’m at the back of the line…

2 Likes
8

Thanks guys for quick responses. Im installed. Just had a play with that tool and i keep getting some strange results.

@Aaron the video you uploaded is useful but I cant see the options you select when you right click. Is there any pointers you could give me please?

Thanks
A

9

Its hard to see but if you look on the left hand curve you can see a spine in the centre. This spine should be inwards rather than outwards.

Any thoughts?

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10

It has to do with the order that you select the three sides. Play around with the selection order and pay attention to the black preview grid that is created (I always end up using Undo a lot when creating surfaces like this).

11

HI,

So thanks to all your help I managed to make what I want however there are two issues.

  1. One of the curved edges appears to have it face around the wrong way. eg rendered white side faces in, duller blue side faces out. You can see this in the screen shot on the small section on the right.

  2. I can’t make the object solid. I plan on 3D printing this and using Solidspector it is throwing up stry edges and nested instances. Does anyone know if this will allow me to 3D print?

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Thanks for all your help as always.
A

12

There’s lots posted about what makes a good 3d-printable solid…

Here goes again…
A solid can only contain edges and faces.
Every edge must support exactly two faces - this therefore excludes ‘stray’ [faceless] edges, edges around ‘holes’ of forming flaps or shelves [one-face edges], and edges supporting three of more faces - e.g. internal partition faces with some edges having three or more faces, of where two volumes meet and share a common edge with four faces.

Also a ‘solid’ must also NOT intersect with itself - i.e. then it might report as a ‘solid’ but it cannot be 3d-printed - to check for this select all of the solid’s geometry and use the Intersect context-menu tool - if it’s still a ‘solid’ no worries, but it it’s now changed you need to fix the newly created edges - usually internal partition faces have been added.

SolidInspector² and my SolidSolver try to fix things but often it’s not possible.
To manually fix such problem forms make some temporary section cuts to access the inside and select/delete internal partitions etc.
Thomthom’s SolidInspect[1] also shows problem areas [no fix].

In the dialog you show…
The 72 Stray Edges can be deleted [click Fix in SolidInspector²]
The other issues need further investigation and work…
The 9 Nested Instances - edit the form, select them and explode so their geometry merges with the rest - this might cause secondary issues, but see what’s then reported…
The 8 Internal Faces need deleting - use the temporary select cuts as outlined above.
The1 Surface Border report might resolve after exploding…
See what’s left after fixing the other issues…

13

Unless your object is intended to be deliberately unsymmetrical, there are also some issues with the curves at the end that you need to repair. The curves on one side are differently shaped than those on the other side. You can see this in the attached parallel projection front and left views. If one side is correct, you could copy the curves from there, flip them, and paste at the other side.

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14

Hi Guys,

Thanks for your great replies. I will work on this and come back to you. :slight_smile:

A

15

Argh… So this has been driving me a little crazy. I thought I should resolve the shape prior to worrying about making a solid. I have been able to make the main curve for the back symmetrical but the corners have me beat!!!

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bat_cover_v01.skp (166.6 KB)

Any ideas for how I can make these corners curved or I might have to change design :frowning:

Thanks
A

16

Your form s somewhat awkward to ‘face’ - but it’s not impossible…

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This was done by selecting the required edges and pasting them in place into a group to isolate them.
Then selected edges were welded into a ‘curve’.
Note that the shortest ‘end’ edge had to be divided in 2 to allow it to be weled into curve with > 1 segment to get ‘welded’.
The four curves were then made into a mesh with my EEbyRails [Fredo’s CurviLoft is similar]
After this you can explode to merge the geometry, and then smooth edges as needed…

17

Thanks for your reply. I have been trying to do this now for days but with no luck :(. The closest I have got is:

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A shame but it will work for my needs. I am now trying to get this ready for 3D printing and using solid inspector it is throwing the following errors. Can anyone help and let me know how I can fix this?

Thanks
Alex

18

As Tig mentioned in the post above, Curviloft can do it for you.

1 Like
19

Hey Box,

Thanks for your reply. I am trying your advice and have been able to get one side done but the other side is not working for me for some reason.

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Is there any chance you could send me the file with the curves done? I’d be forever greatful :slight_smile:

Also, how do people do these mini-videos they post as I could use this to show what I am doing & getting.

Thanks Again,
Alex

20

apfordz
Suggest you change the display precision. There are some small dimension errors in you model if not corrected at this early stage will give you problems down stream. To see that try wire frame display and it is much easier to see;
Secondly: Is the internal box part of what you plane to print or is that just to establish the envelope of the cover?
Most new folks start this type of effort with out any idea what print technology they plan on using and that can influence model requirements. If you plan using your own printer it is probably FDM other wise you will have choice with commercial printers but cost may be 7x one vs another. $ to $$$$$$$.;

Several commercial have free cloud base services and they will check your model for printabilty. when you get ready for that step repost here and let some of experts above check it.
Here is some progress one your OP model
board3dcovermac1a.skp (1.6 MB)
The dimension shown on your OP model are the radii as reported by entity info