Help with mold making

Hey guys, I am new here. I am working on a 7.5 or 1/8 scale railroad truck side frame. I am having a heck of a time rounding the corners. I have attached my skp file along with a photo of what I am trying to do.
Any help would be appreciated.
Steve

Well heck I guess I cant attach anything.

Not yet, first post.
Now try again with better luck.

Lol Lets see if this will work

SIDE FRAME with countors.skp (1.4 MB)

What I am trying to do is contour everything so the male part releases from the molding sand. Hope this makes sense.

swingitMy design Side Frame.skp (134.1 KB)

Here is another Photo with a basic frame design in sketchup

I’m a completely newbie so I probably cannot help, but for round corners you maybe find interesting TrueTangents plugin developed by TIG.

https://sketchucation.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=19457

I’ve been doing exercises (with SketchUP) from here and his plugin was very useful.

Ill check it out. I found a video that shows another option. I am trying it now. Also checking out the links you posted.

I haven’t looked at your file but if I’m on the right track (no pun intended!) You may find this useful:

You will need to install this first for it to work:

I had a quick look at your model. You have a single-face thickness at the bottom, and a number of reversed faces.

You could try Scaling the bottom about its centre, shrinking it a little, to create a taper on the sides. That should allow the mould to release.

I had a quick go, to illustrate the principle.
With much fiddling, I traced round the ends of the ‘hole’ components, to create openings in the bottom face.


SIDE FRAME with countors - revised JWM.skp (1.8 MB)

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Super… This looks great, Notice in the photo how the center is thicker and as it goes towards the edge it gets smaller. I tried what they call a two rail sweep in my cam software with no luck. Also found this you tube video what shows kinda what I am looking for. Sketchup Tutorial - Drawing Curved Surfaces - YouTube Not sure how to accomplish that task,

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