Carbon brush tube removal tool v6.skp (47.2 KB)
This skp file shows a tool I designed for removing the brass tubes that hold the carbon brushes in sewing machine motors. It works fairly well but it’s weak at the 90 degree joint between the narrow part and the thick part.
I’m considering three choices,
-3d print horizontally instead of vertically (taking advantage of the long filament strands like the long grain in wood),
-drawing a fillet around the base of the narrow column but the beveled corners give me a problem,
-or lastly, draw a column that transitions into the narrow column with it’s beveled edges,
And, if I go with the column, I’d like one flat surface to reference against one of the flats on the narrow column.
I’m having trouble modifying by skp file for the second and third option with the tools available to me in Make 2017. Any help would be appreciated.
Hi Terry,
I’m not clear on what this means.
You could create the fillet by creating a profile using Follow Me around the narrow part.
You should scale the model up. Model as if millimeters were meters. Export the .stl with meters as the units. If I were printing this I’d rotate it to lay down so there’s filament running the length of the narrow part.
In the slicer
25% infill density.
I would do the exactly the same as @DaveR , a combination of choice 1 and 2…
Seems to me as the best/stongest solution.
I’m having a heck of a time replicating this. I seem to have a lot of trouble drawing the profile, and if I do I can’t get the follow me tool to drag it around the perimeter of the column.
I will say that I’ve been having trouble with my mouse, in that the orbit tool doesn’t seem to be working as I expect. I bought a new mouse, a Logitech M510, and it doesn’t seem to work as well as I remember.
Your use of the word “drag” leads me to wonder if you noticed how @DaveR selected the path: he clicked on the end face of the narrow tube. Follow me understands when you click a face that you mean the path to be the perimeter of that face. It also understands following a path that doesn’t actually touch the profile. Pre-selecting a path works far easier and more reliably than dragging the profile along a path.
That helped a bit. I was able to get the fillet wrapping around the column. But there’s something wrong with my mouse. It’s a hit and miss with the orbit tool, sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t. I bought this new mouse but it’s behaving just like the old mouse. I wonder if there’s some setting in the software that has been corrupted.
Sorry Terry. I was out of the house for a while. Looks like Steve has you sorted.
I’ve been using the M510 mice for years. I’ve worn out a couple of them. Maybe your batteries need to be replaced?
Just bought a new mouse this week and it’s performing like the old, badly. I really rely on the smooth operation of that wheel to navigate around in Sketchup. I liked the old M510 that I had been using so I bought the same model.
I like the M510, too. I currently have one for my desktop machine, one for my notebook, one for my iPad and a spare.
Do you have the SetPoint software installed? Do you have Smooth Scrolling enabled?
I don’t have the SetPoint software, but the functionality seems to be coming back. I think I was too quick moving the mouse while pressing the center wheel. With the old mouse, I would see the cursor change to the orbit tool icon but then it would revert to the arrow icon and the orbit functionality was lost. I guess I got in the habit of clicking and moving the mouse trying to reestablish orbit functionality. With the new mouse, once I have the orbit icon, the functionality remains. I went back and checked with the old mouse and it will not hold the orbit functionality as I move around the screen. So, the new mouse is working and I have to retrain myself to be calm with my mouse movements.
I have been able to create the fillets on my drawing and to use the follow me tools as I hoped.