The printer has 35 micron resolution, that is 0.0013".
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Looks impressive.
We have no interest in disparaging your work in any way, we only want to help. The reality is that acad files brought into SU are generally not great and yours is no different. The edges are not flat and there are gaps which makes it very difficult to form faces correctly, therefore making it difficult for you to transform it to a 3d structure.
I understand that you are familiar with acad for laying out your design, but boiled down it is pretty straightforward stuff easily drawn in SU. Many of us could reconstruct this accurately in about 15 to 30 min, using your dwg as a guide, longer with measurements.
Perhaps you could look at the parts that are giving you issues and tackle them directly in SU rather than trying to import them then modify them. Here for example is a quick rivet made as a component, copied a set distance 56 times. Change one change them all or make unique if you need larger or smaller ones. All those rivets are simple linear arrays.
You could always model at real world sizes and scale down when finished.
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Box,
I’ve been using Sketchup for like 5 years now and never knew it had “array”. Is that a plug in you downloaded? Because I don’t have the icons shone on your screen.
And I have no idea how to make a domed rivet like you have.
Thanks
Chris
It is a basic fundamental of sketchup. It is nothing more than the move tool with ctrl.
Here is a video on arrays from long before I started.
Thank I just tried it and it worked!
BTW been using AutoCAD since ~1991 on and off this is why I find it so much easier to use.
Care to share how you made the domed rivet?
Thanks
Chris
Follow me tool.
You would do well to spend some time at the Campus.
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Thanks again. I know follow me to make cylinders, I guess just never thought to use it that way for a rivet.
I also have no idea how that yellow box flattened it down at the end. I don’t have all the icons you do:
Chris
Then you need to understand that by making components you can have multiples that are linked and will edit together, they can also be made unique so they become another version.
So here in the gif, 1st copy edits with the original, then I copy again and choose ‘Make Unique’ (just off screen) and it doesn’t edit the others, but it will any copies from it.
They are all basic tools and are available in all versions of sketchup. The yellow thing is Scale. Default keyboard shortcut is s.
Any clues as to why the follow me tool takes 4-5 tries to get it to work?
Edit: I think it’s not working because they circle is too small. This is what I mean about all the work arounds to get Sketchup to work.
As I mentioned earlier, there is no reason you couldn’t model the whole thing at real world sizes and print a scaled version.
Personally I have no issues modelling and printing very fine work.
Also other problems. Some of the dark lines will not turn light no matter how many times I trace them.
I’m not sure what to tell you, here I have done a quick trace with nothing more than the rectangle tool, the pencil and the circle tool.
Leave the dwg closed, unexploded and just use it as a guide.
I think you should look at the construction differently. You should think about the various parts and build your model with those things in mind. You don’t really need to trace everything, you really should be using the dwg as a guide to modelling the actual pieces that make up the carriage.
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I tried what you just said, tracing the unexploded (full size) drawing. When the drawing is unexploded and I draw a line over it the line will not change from dark to light so I cannot even tell where I’ve already traced.
BTW trying to explode the full size drawing just freezes up Sketchup.
I’ve literally use Sketchup to create 100’s of stl files to 3D print and have never had this much trouble.
Ok, Stick with what works for you, but don’t ask it to do things it doesn’t do.
I’ll be off now.
Thank you
Perhaps reading what others write would help.A single edge never forms a face.
My toolbar doesn’t have a rectangle tool. I have to use 4 lines to make a rectangle.