I’m working on a prototype that has several threaded holes. I’ve read through all of the tutorials out there on creating threads (whether holes or bolts), but the thought of going through that every time I need a threaded hole sounds horrible. Plus, I intended to 3D print (SLA) many of the parts and fear that my novice attempt at creating accurate threaded holes will take a lot of time to perfect (assuming I ever do get it right).
The EP Fasteners extension looks amazing and is exactly what I need/want (and should frankly be a feature built into SketchUp), however it’s only for Windows. Does any one know of an equally amazing extension that supports Mac OSX?
How good do the threads have to be? What sort of tolerances do you need to meet? You may want to just indicate where the holes need to be and then drill and tap the holes. You’ll get better threads, it’ll be easier to get the model suitable for printing, and you will spend less time modeling.
Thanks Dave. Good suggestion. For the most part, I need fairly accurate 1/4-20 threads. While I would love to just have the 3D printer make those (which I’ve read the SLA printers can do fairly well), I think you’re right about just drilling and tapping them. Actually, I’m going to do the 3D print with the holes in place (.201" dia.), and then I’ll simply tap the holes. It’s a bit more work than I was wanting to do, but the threads will at least be high tolerance.
It would still be nice to have an extension for Mac that is as good as the EP Fasteners extension. Granted, I’ve never used it, but from what I’ve read, and what the maker claims, it produces excellent 3D prints. I actually wish SketchUp would create a feature for doing threads. Seems like that would be a highly desired feature.