This is a model (see attached)
Thumb screw R1.skp (2.2 MB)
of a thumb screw that will be 3D printing and then cast in bronze. This is how I typically make my parts. I need to round over the outer perimeter of the scalloped edges and when I try to do this my computer locks up or I get a bug splat. Also after rounding over edges I no longer have a solid.
So I am looking for suggestions on how to better model this. You can see my steps and I am using the Dave method (thank you Dave!).
Thanks
You’ve got a lot of geometry to round over. I guess I would probably break the knob down to a small sector. Maybe 5 or 10 degrees-worth and deal with that. Then use Rotate/Copy to complete the knob.
Do you want to round over each “reed” on the knob or round over the entire edge of the knobsort of like I’ve chamfered the top of the pad on this jack?
Jack
I think I would approach modeling your knob differently. It appears that you have a lot of geometry to cleanup to make this solid and 3D printable.
re: The Dave Method, you’re quite welcome. I will say I don’t use it when modeling for 3D printing. I would set the units to meters and model the knob so it’s 55 meters in diameter. I wouldn’t ever scale it down. I’d just set export units to meters (or Model Units) for the .stl export. The slicer will import with units set to millimeters so no gymnastics required.
BTW, You should also turn off Length Snapping and increase display precision.
Thanks I will try that, appreciate your help
Good luck.
Out of curiosity I did a quickie version of your knob. I inadvertantly made it slightly larger in diameter but does this look like what you are trying to model?
And in the slicer with no special settings selected.
Yes that is what I am looking for
OK. So I modeled one “reed” as a solid component and used Rotate/Copy to make the other 59. I rounded over the top and bottom of one reed with a “cutter” volume using BoolTools 2 because it respects components. I made the cutter around an entire circle just because it was quicker to set up but the cutter only needed to cut a single reed which is also faster than having to cut all of them.
The reeds were also trimmed by the central part of the wheel which is also a solid component. I just lefft the reeds as individual solid components instead of merging them with the center. So there’s 61 solid component instances in the model. The slicer doesn’t really care that they are separate.
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Nice approach! I always learn so much from you. That for taking the time to show us.
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Thank you! And you’re quite welcome.