Fluted cylinder

I’m self-quarantined as a precaution. What better to do than use Sketchup to create parts for my vintage sewing machine on my new 3D printer.

I want to print a small cylinder with 8 external full-length flutes. A coil spring will surround the cylinder and the tail end of the spring will fit into one of the flutes to anchor the spring and keep it from rotating.

I’m trying to draw the end of the cylinder and then extrude it to the required length.

I think I probably have to scale up to draw it and then reduce it for printing. I think I should be able to make use of circle segments for spacing of the flutes. The top and bottom of each flute should be gently rounded. I hope to draw one flute and then copy it around the perimeter.

I have a preliminary skp file but it’s only progressed to the point where I’m totally confused.
Singer 237 check spring anchor cylinder.skp (90.7 KB)

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Hi Terry,
Model it as if the millimeters are meters. Can scale up and back down or use “The Dave Method” or just work in meters, export the .stl and import into the slicer at millimeters.

What have you got for specs on the flutes?

Do you want to look together like we’ve done before?

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Dave, I’m surprised and pleased that you remember me. You were very helpful in my last project. As such, I’d love to look at this with you as before. I think I’ll redraw with meters instead of millimeters. Is there a good time in the evening for you?

I don’t have much more specs than what you see in the pictures. There’s nothing critical here in the shape of the flutes.

Hi Terry. My memory isn’t that short. :smiley:

I have something on the smoker that needs wrapping in about 15 minutes but then I’d be available for a couple of hours after that. I’ll PM you.

Many thanks to DaveR for his help last night in drawing my fluted cylinder. He was able to give me a few pointers and walked me through the process in creating one. I printed the one he drew and then was able to draw and print one on my own. I still have to refine my dimensions to get a working model. The small size meant some features didn’t show up in the printed model, like the beveled ends.

He certainly gave me enough to go on to further refine my drawing. Here’s a picture of the two models.

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Life is a learning process, let’s go on forward!

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