I think you scaled the photo the hard way. An easier way is to draw the construction line on the ruler and then dimension the construction line based on the span of the ruler it covers. If this is the first dimension placed on the sketch, it automatically scales the image too, keeping the construction line in the same place on the ruler.
Here is even better way to do it: Take a piece of graph paper and using pencil rub the outlines of design. Take photo of the paper and bring it into photoshop. Correct the perspective, distortion and scaling of it using checkered pattern as guide. Now you have perfectly adjusted image, that you can bring into CAD.
G'day Michael I've been using Onshape for years, taught myself through trial and error. Only just stumbled on these videos and have learnt things I wish I knew earlier. Thanks!
There is a really easy way to get dimensionally accurate outlines. It's super old school technique which is probably why i guess younger people don't use it. You take a piece of paper or masking tape. Then rub with a graphite or charcoal stick. and voila you have a 100% accurate representation of what you are trying to model. It's also great for transfering scroll work on wood. Then attach to a piece of paper since those tend to be rather dimensionally accurate and scan said piece of paper put it in your modeling software as a reference and scale it properly. It has the added advantage of not having lens distortion. It won't work for the car engine bay but since you don't have any mating surfaces it would probably be fine
I use this method for anything planar. If you have post-it notes, it makes a good square/precision reference to scale the scan, or alternatively print your own reference square.
@@noahjones7579 literally you put the paper or tape over the surface and then rub a graphite stick or charcoal stick over it. the edges will come out dark while the flat surfaces will be light. the important part is to have a relatively large surface area of where the graphite or charcoal comes in contact since you are relying on the underneat surface to give the local pressure for the image to come out
@@hecubus311 you can use it with cylinders or any developable surface. If the surface can be transformed into lying flat without compresssion or stretching you can use this technique so planes, cones, cylinders, etc.,
I print engineering prototypes, useful mechanical parts I create to solve daily problems as shown in this video, and products that I sell. This was a GREAT video. It's a very good example of how OnShape is used as a fairly easy and intuitive but full featured 3D CAD tool. I recently bought a 4WD Hijet Japanese mini truck and I'm slowly remaking it in 3D printed parts. Tonight - a rubbery TPU mounting adapter for a universal replacement fuel pump.
Been using Onshape for at least a couple of years and you've already taught me loads of useful tips. It's super useful to see how other people approach problems too. Absolute gold, thanks!
I was blown away (I'm still pretty new) seeing how easy it is to get accurate dimensions from a reference drawing. That will definitely come in handy someday.
amazing! These tutorials are exactly the kinds of frustrating problems I find myself 3d modeling/printing for. This is by far the most applicable tutorial series on 3d modeling I have come across.
Hey Michael! Thanks for this series - it's exactly what I need to help me make the mental shift from years of doing arty CAD for subtractive manufacturing (Vectric Aspire) to thinking in a way that works for additive. I was struggling with the concept as a whole, but you've helped enormously. You're an absolute rock star! Thanks again, Tim
I wouldn't have thought so much of splitting it the way you did, but the advantage of making that part in TPU is definitely a good one. I'd probably have considered adding a glue or silicone to help join the two parts. My route would probably have been to loft/extreme filet the hose end to the mounting plate, allowing it to be printed hose-end-down without additional supports (and adding a little more strength to the part).
This is why I always paste links to you here when I'm on social media sites, make it easier for fellow printer peeps! You teach in an easy to understand way, guess that's why you are a teacher 😊👍you're good at what you do. Thanks heaps for making these how too vids, got me keen to try and make some ideas I've had.
This series is the missing link to making 3D printers useful tools and not just something for printing trinkets. Don't get me wrong, I have a shelf full of fun trinkets but I'd rather use my printers as tools. Knowing how to make your own part for your specific application is the key to unlocking the full potential of a 3D printer. Combine this with some nice engineering materials, like carbon fiber filled nylon and the sky's the limit. Thank you Michael for putting this very useful series of videos together.
This series has been the push I needed to venture out beyond tinkercad. I've been wanting to learn a proper cad software for a while head a really hard time following along with freecad tutorials. I've been passively watching/listening in advance while doing other things and sitting down later and following along making my own similar variations of the model in the tutorial. I've made a couple of basic parts that I'm pleased to say came from my own head and am learning a new skill that recently seemed kinda insurmountable. Thanks for the series, you are indeed a great tech "teacher"!
I frequently split parts like this to avoid supports or just to get a cleaner print, then CA the printed parts together. The seam is invisible and stronger than the original. However, I REALLY like your idea of printing the parts from different materials where useful. In your example, the lowere half becomes a useful gasket. It would still be useful in some applications to glue the TPU and PLA parts together leaving a part with an integral "gasket". Incredible versatility. BTW, I've been a Fusion 360 user for nearly 3 years. Once you know one major program like this, you can usually follow tutorials like yours which use a different program. It's like word processing. Once you understand what one is capable of, it's just a matter of learning how that particular function is done in the new program. I've had no difficulty following your last 4 videos as design exercises instead of software tutorials. Excellent video as always.
One thing to note when taking and using reference images is to always use the longest edge on the item you can to reduce extrapolation effects. Airways more accurate interpolating. When scaling a reference image use as much of the ruler as visible to reduce camera distortion effects on scales.
I really enjoyed this video. It is extremely helpful for me as I’m starting my journey into 3D printing. The funning thing is I’m about to setup a dust collection system in my shop. Thanks again. 😊✌🏼🙌🏼
This is EXACTLY the kind of bracket that I needed to design for the extendable legs on my drafting table (the ancient plastic ones have cracked and crumbled away). Currently printing my first prototype now. I'm so happy that I'm starting to understand how to make parametric dimensions that allow parts to be updated and modified as needed. Such a huge step in the journey of designing my own parts! Thanks so much for this series.
This is exactly what I was looking for. Being new to the 3d printing world this information is vital for my projects, thank you. I am gladly going to watch more
Just getting into 3D printing, and this is exactly what I'm looking for. I am also an instructor, and recognize your well honed teaching skills, you are very good at it. Thank you for this series, and will be referencing them as I move through the many projects I have on my to do list Thank you again!!!😁
Very good tutorial 👍🏻 The only thing I would add is to make sure you keep the camera leveled with the surface you are making the piece for, otherwise it would be skewed. Thanks for sharing 👍🏼
Great video as always. A clearance hole for an m4 bolt is never 4mm. A close hole is 4.3mm and a loose is 4.8mm. Even when machining parts, this is true. The reason you can get away with using a 4mm drill bit is they wobble and create an oversized hole. Just look up "clearance hole chart" on your internet browser of choice. Keep up the great work!
onShape actually has a function that includes sizing holes for capscrews. If you use the hole feature rather than drawing circles in the sketch you choose the can choose the function of the holes. Choices include "threaded" which automatically generates the recommended tap drill size or "clearance" where it generates a slightly oversized hole. I believe that the clearance hole that is automatically generated will be 4.5 mm diamater.
This is one of the best videos ive seen covering these topics in detail, im trying to introduce my father into the field and this is going to help A LOT, thank you again for everything you do I love your work man!
I love this series!! Thanks for such a well-described process with excellent visuals. I always learn something from your videos I can’t wait for the next installment!
Cracking vid Michael. I've used Onshape for a good while, but never used the reference photo technique; that's definitely in my toolbox now. I also need to get up to speed on keyboard shortcuts.
Solution number 4: Use polyholes, checkbox underneath the XY compensation, "convert round vertical holes to polyholes" works wonders and i cannot live without it anymore.
Solution #4: Instead of relying on Extruding you hole from the sketch use the Hole tool and target your center mark. Hole has tons of features like setting ISO clearance for specific sized holes i.e. M6 = "Close" 6.4, "Normal" 6.6, "Loose" 7.0 or you can "Tap" which sets the proper hole size to run a tap through. I understand this is aimed at 3D printing and that's where I started but I had to break a ton of bad habits when switching to product design professionally. Supplier would kick back models cause I would fillet my "bottom surface" cause my printers would always elephant foot.
yea if you make professional cad files you deliver correct dimensions you need and the producer will add its lfavor of how to run its tools to come close to them. its the part he explanied in changing the hole sizes in the slicer wo would match that step. your elephant food could also be minimised with a slicer seting specific to your printer and filament. but this tutorial is fo designing for 3d print and for fdm in first place the tricks to make the 3d model fit the targeted production method is valid and a lot of good fdm cad designs do this also. you would do the same if you design files for an injection modling process since the cad design have to have specific rules applied to make it work. the same woul be trugh designing something for a a 3 axis milling prozess or a 1 axis turning process. it eliminates a lot of guesswork and fiddeling with settings in different slicers for the audiance and make the designs printable as it is. since the models are shared between the communities on websites and so on it avoids a lot of complains and back and forth discussions on how you as the enduser and "customer" can make it happen at the end or have to tweak it. its not realy a bad habit to use all that tricks its just adapting knowwlege how a fdm print and printer behaive and work and designing parts for this.
@@Total_Egal [please read this lightheartedly - on second and 3rd read it comes off as course. That was not my intention] I totally understand this series is for FDM printing but there are not many people posting quality video tuts about Onshape (not counting their amazing self-paced courses.) My comments are to just further the knowledge of anyone scouring the nosebleeds, like I was 5+ years ago. Maybe there will be someone, like me, that leveraged their more then 20 year hobby of Modding (what is now called a "Maker") to rise above being a production drone working in a warehouse to a salaried career. And the tidbit of experience that they read on my comments will be remembered. A great thing about parametric CAD there are multiple ways to get the desired results. Your comment on injection molding hits me in the feels. My first major project was designing an enclosure for a sensor board that was going to be in plain view of the end user and need to be serviced by techs. It was a huge upgrade to the way the product functioned (Marketing was going to blow it up). Engineering wanted it to be ABS+GF10 and I've never designed anything to pull from a mold before this. So much back and forth with the supplier so many hours on google trying to teach myself. I really thought I was going back to the line or I was going to be stuck in the testing lab. Egal, thank you, I like having conversations with passionate / knowledgeable ppl in the comments section. It's rare.
A lot of my prints are design for fixing things or additional prices that I have designed, and what I do is get the closest I can to replicating the thing just by measuring with a ruler/caliper, I'll print it at 100%, and then I'll go back and cut, drill, and sand the model until it works. I printed butterfly knife a little bit ago but made a major mistake in the opening mechanism, so rather than going back into tinkercad and fixing, reprinting, and retesting it, I took it to the band saw and cut the corner of that I needed to and it works perfectly.
Your vids have been the biggest help in my learning and understanding with 3d printing. I don't think I would be this far without them haha. Thanks for everything you do bro!
A friendly suggestion, because a bit of this took the hard way 'round: all of those dimensions could have been obtained far faster, more easily, and more accurately. - Calipers on the arm's outer rectangular wall gets you the overall width. - The length from the screw ports to the top of the exhaust port can be measured by putting M4 screws in the holes, putting a rigid ruler against the outside of the screws, then measuring the distance from the screws to the flat facet of the exhaust port with another ruler. - The exhaust port is symmetrical, so use the inside jaws of the calipers to measure the circle's diameter, then the distance from the apex of the arc to the middle of the flat facet. - While not visually obvious, the different radius toward the corners can be approximated by doing a diagonal measurements with the calipers. With these dimensions, you have everything you need to faithfully sketch the part, and you can do so quite quickly. Test print and iterate as needed. There are cases where it is necessary to take photos and sketch over those (absent using more advanced tools), but it can be problematic when trying to adjust for the keystoning and distortion inherent to the photos. Plus, it usually makes the process more difficult than it needs to be. Regardless, I do appreciate this video series, and I know the goal was to show people how to measure and design things that have more complex geometries, so this fairly simple design was probably the best example you had at hand.
Here is some tips : If you can remove the part you want to adapt and is flat you can put it on a scanner, it gonna be super accurate. If you can't and it's square you can print a square on a transparent sheet on a 2d printer ( you don't have one ? Print a square with your 3D printer ) and then take a picture, square + align on photoshop. Then you can export it to SVG the contour to the cad software. If your tolerance is two tight you can expand it with a simple parameter. If you want something very smooth you can SVG > illustrator or another bezier cad. It's easy and very fast method.
I had to do something like this awhile back for a camera lens adapter and so what I did was lay a piece of paper on the front of it and rub a crayon sideways on it to get the outline, and I threw it in our scanner and got the perfect piece made for it.
The price difference between a cheap metal calipers and a cheap plastic calipers is really worth the price. Also, measuring from the edge of the ruler is much harder than measuring from 10mm to 60mm, and less accurate also. That's why expensive rulers (like architects use) have extra on each end. You can see when he zooms in that the first mm mark is closer to half a mm from the edge. One reason holes might be too small is the printer is moving the print head around the edge of the hole in a 4mm circle. But the extruded plastic is about 0.4mm wide. Which means the extruded circle is 0.2mm smaller on either side. Which means you have to compensate by the width of the extrusion to get the perfect circle.
slicers will account for the line width (if it doesn't then you need a better slicer), the error is due to a number of factors. G-code is sliced as a series of straight lines, there is an arc command, but most slicers do not use it. first layers will have some amount of "elephant's foot" where it spreads slightly more on your first few layers than when you get further up, this can be addressed with some tuning of Z-offset and slicer settings designed to compensate for this phenomenon. model fidelity, if your model is too low resolution, then your holes will close up more.
Feels like the exact reason why 3D scanning was invented. Alternatively, some polymer clay and a good press seems like it'd work to get dimensions too. Or the old tape/paper and a pencil rubbing trick.
The best part of this video was the split part. I printed a part with a flange on the underside and the support was a nightmare. I need to split it and print as 2 pieces as you did. But I need to add something for registration so the 2 halves are aligned and don't turn or anything. Also I'll need to screw them together or something. I haven't done it yet though. I think if I draw a plane and on that plane I draw some spheres with one side hollow ant the other side a ball that would make nubs and then likewise make holes for screws. Would be grreat to just thread them together but I haven't figured out how to make 4" threads like a jar though. I haven't tried the photo thing yet but it's good to know that it's an option. I tried it with a map of my building's facility but had trouble with getting a good reference measure. On a map you can't exactly put a ruler on it. If I knew the exact building dimensions that would do it but I don't. I could use Google earth but I don't think that's precise enough to get good results and the inside of the building is smaller than the outside. I war really just experimenting anyway with that.
Very nice video, thank you. I have to say I'm surprised that OnShape doesn't have an easy calibration option for images like fusion3d does. Would be trivial to implement for them and make it much easier to do something like this
I believe the reason 4.4mm was the sweet spot for the hole is because when using a 0.4mm nozzle the printer uses the exact centre of the nozzle as its referance and doesnt take into account the 0.2mm of filament on each side. As this is a circle, there is 0.2mm on the radius totaling to 0.4mm on the diameter.
Try the polyholes option for hole shrinkage, too - I've had good luck with it getting much closer results to the actual hole dimension, though I still do add a little bit of tolerance just to be safe.
Nice tutorial, and it works and adds something to the tutorial, however I don't think I would have made it like that. Having the tube to go into the saws hole has created a possible blockage in the direction of flow. Tapered to a point as it went into the hole, or left that bit off altogether and made the "D" shaped hole slightly bigger than needed, so there is nothing to restrict the flow.
One thing you can do when measuring odd shapes in hard to reach places like that is to use plasticine to create an impression or mold and use it as a base to take the measures. It is not perfect and has to be done delicately due to the softness of the material but it can be handy.
I recently made a video about exactly this technique th-cam.com/video/-1TTxH8pj-o/w-d-xo.html I used Blue Stuff, which is more rigid than plasticine, but the principle is the same.
I always fix the sizes on the design. It's a lot easier make the part printer ready than need to explain each configuration and/or remember it on the slicer.
I thought one of the reasons for the holes being undersized was a result of the tool path chosen by the slicer. I usually increase the diameter of all small holes by the line width and/or nozzle size, and that usually works pretty much spot on.
Clearance holes for an M4: Close fit = 4.3mm. Medium fit = 4.5mm Loose fit = 4.8mm And this is the a machining handbook and obviously ignores issues can arise with 3D printing.
The only change I would have made would have been from a structural standpoint. The original hose adapter was likely metal so two bolts would have been fine. For the plastic replacement, I personally would have added a tab with a mounting hole at the top of the adapter as well, then drilled and tapped another M4 hole in the saw at the top above the duct collection hole. This would have increased strength considerably for very little added work. Because I know for a fact that things like people not paying attention and walking in to/tripping over hoses, etc, do end up happening. and I think this being plastic secured by only two bolts on one side, has a non-minimal chance of breaking in those circumstances.
Great work. I wonder what you'd do if you had to move the machines. It seems like it'll be hard to remove the hose and it's just extra work to unscrew the adapter. Maybe do a quick release version?
To get dimensions fast and easy, I use a "paperlike ducttape" or transparent one, stick it to the surface of that metal, than trace needed shapes and holes with a pen and there you go.
I have found that reference image works good only if all the features are close to the plane where the ruler is. Even with telephoto lense, perspective will affect all of of the dimentions even slightly closer or further from the ruler.
Re: using normal screws as self-tapping screws. I try to make all my designs where I thread directly into the plastic 1/2 of the pitch smaller than nominal. Example: M6x1.0 -- this becomes 5.5mm = 6mm - (1.0 / 2). This seems to give a good bite and plenty of strength, without too much strain trying to get the screw in the first time. I also add a small chamfer to the opening of the hole to guide the screw when you start it, usually around 0.4-0.5mm x 45°. The smaller I get, the more material I leave, though. For instance M2x0.4 I use a 1.6mm hole. The threads are so fine and the cuts made are so small, that a full 100% pitch undersize works well for this. M3x0.5 threads I use a 2.6mm hole, splitting the difference.
I find the exact diameter to use in the model for the hole very much depends on how much the printer ends up reducing the hole. One problem is that as the nozzle circles the hole, the filament is under some tension, and tends to pull toward the center a little bit. So I have some test prints with a range of hole sizes to see how the commanded diameter of the holes correspond to the as-printed holes.
Hey TT, loving your videos, it’s really helping with where i’m at now in the 3D Makerspace. Do you have a write-up at all on your actual workshop extraction system? Exhaust fans, design etc? I’ve built a homemade spray booth and looking for something a bit more useable.
Excellent description of the techniques involved, though I use Blender which can import an image as a manipulable background to use as a reference. Profile gauges are also useful for tracing shapes that can't be photographed properly. However, it bothers me that the big hole only has screw holes on one side, so it could easily shear - there is space on the other side of the big hole, so I would drill and tap another two M4 holes and modify the adapter so that it screws into all 4 holes and thus be properly supported!
I'm familiar with a few different CAD softwares, so I made an account while on my lunch break and learned the basics yesterday. You finally kicked me into having the confidence in making my own parts with this onshape series. Thank you.
I think you scaled the photo the hard way. An easier way is to draw the construction line on the ruler and then dimension the construction line based on the span of the ruler it covers. If this is the first dimension placed on the sketch, it automatically scales the image too, keeping the construction line in the same place on the ruler.
Works great in Solidworks, too!
Top idea!
Here is even better way to do it: Take a piece of graph paper and using pencil rub the outlines of design. Take photo of the paper and bring it into photoshop. Correct the perspective, distortion and scaling of it using checkered pattern as guide. Now you have perfectly adjusted image, that you can bring into CAD.
New teaching tech video? Don't need to watch, instant thumbs up.
G'day Michael
I've been using Onshape for years, taught myself through trial and error. Only just stumbled on these videos and have learnt things I wish I knew earlier. Thanks!
There is a really easy way to get dimensionally accurate outlines. It's super old school technique which is probably why i guess younger people don't use it. You take a piece of paper or masking tape. Then rub with a graphite or charcoal stick. and voila you have a 100% accurate representation of what you are trying to model. It's also great for transfering scroll work on wood. Then attach to a piece of paper since those tend to be rather dimensionally accurate and scan said piece of paper put it in your modeling software as a reference and scale it properly. It has the added advantage of not having lens distortion. It won't work for the car engine bay but since you don't have any mating surfaces it would probably be fine
I don't fully understand this method, could you explain more clearly?
I use this method for anything planar. If you have post-it notes, it makes a good square/precision reference to scale the scan, or alternatively print your own reference square.
@@noahjones7579 literally you put the paper or tape over the surface and then rub a graphite stick or charcoal stick over it. the edges will come out dark while the flat surfaces will be light. the important part is to have a relatively large surface area of where the graphite or charcoal comes in contact since you are relying on the underneat surface to give the local pressure for the image to come out
@@hecubus311 you can use it with cylinders or any developable surface. If the surface can be transformed into lying flat without compresssion or stretching you can use this technique so planes, cones, cylinders, etc.,
Dirty greasy hands work as well as graphite!
I print engineering prototypes, useful mechanical parts I create to solve daily problems as shown in this video, and products that I sell. This was a GREAT video. It's a very good example of how OnShape is used as a fairly easy and intuitive but full featured 3D CAD tool. I recently bought a 4WD Hijet Japanese mini truck and I'm slowly remaking it in 3D printed parts. Tonight - a rubbery TPU mounting adapter for a universal replacement fuel pump.
Been using Onshape for at least a couple of years and you've already taught me loads of useful tips. It's super useful to see how other people approach problems too. Absolute gold, thanks!
I was blown away (I'm still pretty new) seeing how easy it is to get accurate dimensions from a reference drawing. That will definitely come in handy someday.
amazing! These tutorials are exactly the kinds of frustrating problems I find myself 3d modeling/printing for. This is by far the most applicable tutorial series on 3d modeling I have come across.
Love this series. I’ve been using Fusion for years but really impressed with OnShape because of this.
Hey Michael!
Thanks for this series - it's exactly what I need to help me make the mental shift from years of doing arty CAD for subtractive manufacturing (Vectric Aspire) to thinking in a way that works for additive. I was struggling with the concept as a whole, but you've helped enormously.
You're an absolute rock star!
Thanks again,
Tim
This whole series is immensely valuable for getting my foot into the 3D world - Thanks for your effort!
I wouldn't have thought so much of splitting it the way you did, but the advantage of making that part in TPU is definitely a good one. I'd probably have considered adding a glue or silicone to help join the two parts. My route would probably have been to loft/extreme filet the hose end to the mounting plate, allowing it to be printed hose-end-down without additional supports (and adding a little more strength to the part).
This is why I always paste links to you here when I'm on social media sites, make it easier for fellow printer peeps! You teach in an easy to understand way, guess that's why you are a teacher 😊👍you're good at what you do. Thanks heaps for making these how too vids, got me keen to try and make some ideas I've had.
This series is the missing link to making 3D printers useful tools and not just something for printing trinkets. Don't get me wrong, I have a shelf full of fun trinkets but I'd rather use my printers as tools. Knowing how to make your own part for your specific application is the key to unlocking the full potential of a 3D printer. Combine this with some nice engineering materials, like carbon fiber filled nylon and the sky's the limit. Thank you Michael for putting this very useful series of videos together.
This series has been the push I needed to venture out beyond tinkercad. I've been wanting to learn a proper cad software for a while head a really hard time following along with freecad tutorials. I've been passively watching/listening in advance while doing other things and sitting down later and following along making my own similar variations of the model in the tutorial. I've made a couple of basic parts that I'm pleased to say came from my own head and am learning a new skill that recently seemed kinda insurmountable. Thanks for the series, you are indeed a great tech "teacher"!
I frequently split parts like this to avoid supports or just to get a cleaner print, then CA the printed parts together. The seam is invisible and stronger than the original. However, I REALLY like your idea of printing the parts from different materials where useful. In your example, the lowere half becomes a useful gasket. It would still be useful in some applications to glue the TPU and PLA parts together leaving a part with an integral "gasket". Incredible versatility.
BTW, I've been a Fusion 360 user for nearly 3 years. Once you know one major program like this, you can usually follow tutorials like yours which use a different program. It's like word processing. Once you understand what one is capable of, it's just a matter of learning how that particular function is done in the new program. I've had no difficulty following your last 4 videos as design exercises instead of software tutorials.
Excellent video as always.
@@peterg3283 Generic name for Super Glue: cyanoacrylate
OUTSTANDING VIDEO!!!! thanks so much. I've been following you for years now, and this is the best series by far. Kudos!
One thing to note when taking and using reference images is to always use the longest edge on the item you can to reduce extrapolation effects. Airways more accurate interpolating. When scaling a reference image use as much of the ruler as visible to reduce camera distortion effects on scales.
These tutorials are so great and succinct.
I really enjoyed this video. It is extremely helpful for me as I’m starting my journey into 3D printing. The funning thing is I’m about to setup a dust collection system in my shop. Thanks again. 😊✌🏼🙌🏼
That was a great tutorial! This use really shows off the power and ease of custom design and manufacturing at home.
This is EXACTLY the kind of bracket that I needed to design for the extendable legs on my drafting table (the ancient plastic ones have cracked and crumbled away). Currently printing my first prototype now. I'm so happy that I'm starting to understand how to make parametric dimensions that allow parts to be updated and modified as needed. Such a huge step in the journey of designing my own parts! Thanks so much for this series.
Nice work. Especially making the integral gasket from the base.
This is exactly what I was looking for. Being new to the 3d printing world this information is vital for my projects, thank you. I am gladly going to watch more
Just getting into 3D printing, and this is exactly what I'm looking for. I am also an instructor, and recognize your well honed teaching skills, you are very good at it. Thank you for this series, and will be referencing them as I move through the many projects I have on my to do list Thank you again!!!😁
Very good tutorial 👍🏻 The only thing I would add is to make sure you keep the camera leveled with the surface you are making the piece for, otherwise it would be skewed. Thanks for sharing 👍🏼
Great video as always. A clearance hole for an m4 bolt is never 4mm. A close hole is 4.3mm and a loose is 4.8mm.
Even when machining parts, this is true. The reason you can get away with using a 4mm drill bit is they wobble and create an oversized hole.
Just look up "clearance hole chart" on your internet browser of choice.
Keep up the great work!
onShape actually has a function that includes sizing holes for capscrews. If you use the hole feature rather than drawing circles in the sketch you choose the can choose the function of the holes. Choices include "threaded" which automatically generates the recommended tap drill size or "clearance" where it generates a slightly oversized hole. I believe that the clearance hole that is automatically generated will be 4.5 mm diamater.
This is one of the best videos ive seen covering these topics in detail, im trying to introduce my father into the field and this is going to help A LOT, thank you again for everything you do I love your work man!
I love this series!! Thanks for such a well-described process with excellent visuals. I always learn something from your videos I can’t wait for the next installment!
You are such a good teacher, thank you for these videos
Cracking vid Michael. I've used Onshape for a good while, but never used the reference photo technique; that's definitely in my toolbox now. I also need to get up to speed on keyboard shortcuts.
Solution number 4: Use polyholes, checkbox underneath the XY compensation, "convert round vertical holes to polyholes" works wonders and i cannot live without it anymore.
Solution #4: Instead of relying on Extruding you hole from the sketch use the Hole tool and target your center mark. Hole has tons of features like setting ISO clearance for specific sized holes i.e. M6 = "Close" 6.4, "Normal" 6.6, "Loose" 7.0 or you can "Tap" which sets the proper hole size to run a tap through. I understand this is aimed at 3D printing and that's where I started but I had to break a ton of bad habits when switching to product design professionally. Supplier would kick back models cause I would fillet my "bottom surface" cause my printers would always elephant foot.
yea if you make professional cad files you deliver correct dimensions you need and the producer will add its lfavor of how to run its tools to come close to them. its the part he explanied in changing the hole sizes in the slicer wo would match that step. your elephant food could also be minimised with a slicer seting specific to your printer and filament.
but this tutorial is fo designing for 3d print and for fdm in first place the tricks to make the 3d model fit the targeted production method is valid and a lot of good fdm cad designs do this also.
you would do the same if you design files for an injection modling process since the cad design have to have specific rules applied to make it work.
the same woul be trugh designing something for a a 3 axis milling prozess or a 1 axis turning process.
it eliminates a lot of guesswork and fiddeling with settings in different slicers for the audiance and make the designs printable as it is. since the models are shared between the communities on websites and so on it avoids a lot of complains and back and forth discussions on how you as the enduser and "customer" can make it happen at the end or have to tweak it.
its not realy a bad habit to use all that tricks its just adapting knowwlege how a fdm print and printer behaive and work and designing parts for this.
@@Total_Egal [please read this lightheartedly - on second and 3rd read it comes off as course. That was not my intention] I totally understand this series is for FDM printing but there are not many people posting quality video tuts about Onshape (not counting their amazing self-paced courses.) My comments are to just further the knowledge of anyone scouring the nosebleeds, like I was 5+ years ago. Maybe there will be someone, like me, that leveraged their more then 20 year hobby of Modding (what is now called a "Maker") to rise above being a production drone working in a warehouse to a salaried career. And the tidbit of experience that they read on my comments will be remembered. A great thing about parametric CAD there are multiple ways to get the desired results. Your comment on injection molding hits me in the feels. My first major project was designing an enclosure for a sensor board that was going to be in plain view of the end user and need to be serviced by techs. It was a huge upgrade to the way the product functioned (Marketing was going to blow it up). Engineering wanted it to be ABS+GF10 and I've never designed anything to pull from a mold before this. So much back and forth with the supplier so many hours on google trying to teach myself. I really thought I was going back to the line or I was going to be stuck in the testing lab. Egal, thank you, I like having conversations with passionate / knowledgeable ppl in the comments section. It's rare.
Love this. I'm new to the 3d printing world. These videos r brilliant.
Awesome work! Very helpful for a newby like me.
And great to see a petrol head doing good, well thought out upgrades like the air filter box.
A lot of my prints are design for fixing things or additional prices that I have designed, and what I do is get the closest I can to replicating the thing just by measuring with a ruler/caliper, I'll print it at 100%, and then I'll go back and cut, drill, and sand the model until it works. I printed butterfly knife a little bit ago but made a major mistake in the opening mechanism, so rather than going back into tinkercad and fixing, reprinting, and retesting it, I took it to the band saw and cut the corner of that I needed to and it works perfectly.
Your vids have been the biggest help in my learning and understanding with 3d printing. I don't think I would be this far without them haha. Thanks for everything you do bro!
keep'em coming I love watching these, learning is the side effect great stuff!
In Freecad you select two points on the image. Then you enter the distace and youre done. Its a built in scaling dialog. Very handy.
Pretty interesting process indeed! 😃
Thanks a bunch, Michael!!!
Stay safe there with your family! 🖖😊
A friendly suggestion, because a bit of this took the hard way 'round: all of those dimensions could have been obtained far faster, more easily, and more accurately.
- Calipers on the arm's outer rectangular wall gets you the overall width.
- The length from the screw ports to the top of the exhaust port can be measured by putting M4 screws in the holes, putting a rigid ruler against the outside of the screws, then measuring the distance from the screws to the flat facet of the exhaust port with another ruler.
- The exhaust port is symmetrical, so use the inside jaws of the calipers to measure the circle's diameter, then the distance from the apex of the arc to the middle of the flat facet.
- While not visually obvious, the different radius toward the corners can be approximated by doing a diagonal measurements with the calipers.
With these dimensions, you have everything you need to faithfully sketch the part, and you can do so quite quickly. Test print and iterate as needed. There are cases where it is necessary to take photos and sketch over those (absent using more advanced tools), but it can be problematic when trying to adjust for the keystoning and distortion inherent to the photos. Plus, it usually makes the process more difficult than it needs to be. Regardless, I do appreciate this video series, and I know the goal was to show people how to measure and design things that have more complex geometries, so this fairly simple design was probably the best example you had at hand.
Here is some tips :
If you can remove the part you want to adapt and is flat you can put it on a scanner, it gonna be super accurate. If you can't and it's square you can print a square on a transparent sheet on a 2d printer ( you don't have one ? Print a square with your 3D printer ) and then take a picture, square + align on photoshop. Then you can export it to SVG the contour to the cad software. If your tolerance is two tight you can expand it with a simple parameter.
If you want something very smooth you can SVG > illustrator or another bezier cad.
It's easy and very fast method.
I had to do something like this awhile back for a camera lens adapter and so what I did was lay a piece of paper on the front of it and rub a crayon sideways on it to get the outline, and I threw it in our scanner and got the perfect piece made for it.
Excellent tutorial on prototyping. Thank you.
Great, I'll have to give onshape a try.
Glad to see I'm not the only adding .4 to my dimensions! :-)
mindblown with the picture as reference.
Great videos, just so befitting for beginners, containing some complexity, but not too much🥰
Thank you Michael..... God Bless You.
These Videos help lot's of people and it saves time and money thanks for these videos michael
These design tutorials are the best! Thanks
The price difference between a cheap metal calipers and a cheap plastic calipers is really worth the price. Also, measuring from the edge of the ruler is much harder than measuring from 10mm to 60mm, and less accurate also. That's why expensive rulers (like architects use) have extra on each end. You can see when he zooms in that the first mm mark is closer to half a mm from the edge.
One reason holes might be too small is the printer is moving the print head around the edge of the hole in a 4mm circle. But the extruded plastic is about 0.4mm wide. Which means the extruded circle is 0.2mm smaller on either side. Which means you have to compensate by the width of the extrusion to get the perfect circle.
slicers will account for the line width (if it doesn't then you need a better slicer), the error is due to a number of factors.
G-code is sliced as a series of straight lines, there is an arc command, but most slicers do not use it.
first layers will have some amount of "elephant's foot" where it spreads slightly more on your first few layers than when you get further up, this can be addressed with some tuning of Z-offset and slicer settings designed to compensate for this phenomenon.
model fidelity, if your model is too low resolution, then your holes will close up more.
This is EXACTLY what I need! Thank you so much!!!!
What a brilliant tutorial. Thank you.
Thank you for your tutorial on Onshape!
Feels like the exact reason why 3D scanning was invented. Alternatively, some polymer clay and a good press seems like it'd work to get dimensions too. Or the old tape/paper and a pencil rubbing trick.
Very nicely done Michael. Cheers, JAYTEE
The best part of this video was the split part. I printed a part with a flange on the underside and the support was a nightmare. I need to split it and print as 2 pieces as you did. But I need to add something for registration so the 2 halves are aligned and don't turn or anything. Also I'll need to screw them together or something. I haven't done it yet though. I think if I draw a plane and on that plane I draw some spheres with one side hollow ant the other side a ball that would make nubs and then likewise make holes for screws. Would be grreat to just thread them together but I haven't figured out how to make 4" threads like a jar though. I haven't tried the photo thing yet but it's good to know that it's an option. I tried it with a map of my building's facility but had trouble with getting a good reference measure. On a map you can't exactly put a ruler on it. If I knew the exact building dimensions that would do it but I don't. I could use Google earth but I don't think that's precise enough to get good results and the inside of the building is smaller than the outside. I war really just experimenting anyway with that.
Another great instructional video, love the importing the photo and sketching ontop of it, genius!😁
Great series! This is exactly what I've been looking for. Looking forward to the next episode. Thanks!😄
Damn! I want to push the like button 100 times. This was great. Thank you for sharing.
Very nice video, thank you. I have to say I'm surprised that OnShape doesn't have an easy calibration option for images like fusion3d does. Would be trivial to implement for them and make it much easier to do something like this
I really love your channel and your videos.
I love the onshape tutorials they are great.
Can't wait for the the tut on 3d printed screw threads, like attaching to a broom handle
Fantastic tutorial! Thank you for continuing to expand on this series!
Another very useful training video - thank you
This was a great project! Thanks for that!
I get what you're saying about splitting but I will always print a single model when I can. Even with supports. It's just way easier.
I believe the reason 4.4mm was the sweet spot for the hole is because when using a 0.4mm nozzle the printer uses the exact centre of the nozzle as its referance and doesnt take into account the 0.2mm of filament on each side. As this is a circle, there is 0.2mm on the radius totaling to 0.4mm on the diameter.
Thank you again, most educational
Try the polyholes option for hole shrinkage, too - I've had good luck with it getting much closer results to the actual hole dimension, though I still do add a little bit of tolerance just to be safe.
Michael, I'm LOVING these tutorials, thanks! What you did with the part split and TPU / PLA was BRILLIANT!
Exceptional video. Thank you so much for your hard work.
Nice tutorial, and it works and adds something to the tutorial, however I don't think I would have made it like that. Having the tube to go into the saws hole has created a possible blockage in the direction of flow. Tapered to a point as it went into the hole, or left that bit off altogether and made the "D" shaped hole slightly bigger than needed, so there is nothing to restrict the flow.
One thing you can do when measuring odd shapes in hard to reach places like that is to use plasticine to create an impression or mold and use it as a base to take the measures. It is not perfect and has to be done delicately due to the softness of the material but it can be handy.
Right - you can do it with a piece of paper and the side of a pencil sometimes too.
Ya know, that plasticene suggestion seems simple and obvious, but thanks for posting it because it had not occurred to me! Yay TH-cam commenters!
Pencil and paper is very effective
I recently made a video about exactly this technique th-cam.com/video/-1TTxH8pj-o/w-d-xo.html
I used Blue Stuff, which is more rigid than plasticine, but the principle is the same.
I always fix the sizes on the design. It's a lot easier make the part printer ready than need to explain each configuration and/or remember it on the slicer.
I thought one of the reasons for the holes being undersized was a result of the tool path chosen by the slicer. I usually increase the diameter of all small holes by the line width and/or nozzle size, and that usually works pretty much spot on.
It's bad design. Trying to fit an M4 screw through a 4mm hole makes no sense.
The nozzle size brings us to the same .4mm.
Clearance holes for an M4:
Close fit = 4.3mm.
Medium fit = 4.5mm
Loose fit = 4.8mm
And this is the a machining handbook and obviously ignores issues can arise with 3D printing.
Awesome. Love your OnShape Tutorials. I have been wanting to switch from Fusion for a long time but just can't seem to.
The only change I would have made would have been from a structural standpoint. The original hose adapter was likely metal so two bolts would have been fine. For the plastic replacement, I personally would have added a tab with a mounting hole at the top of the adapter as well, then drilled and tapped another M4 hole in the saw at the top above the duct collection hole. This would have increased strength considerably for very little added work. Because I know for a fact that things like people not paying attention and walking in to/tripping over hoses, etc, do end up happening. and I think this being plastic secured by only two bolts on one side, has a non-minimal chance of breaking in those circumstances.
Thank you so much! I love this. Keep up with the great work.
These videos are magic
Great video as always 👍
Great work. I wonder what you'd do if you had to move the machines. It seems like it'll be hard to remove the hose and it's just extra work to unscrew the adapter. Maybe do a quick release version?
To get dimensions fast and easy, I use a "paperlike ducttape" or transparent one, stick it to the surface of that metal, than trace needed shapes and holes with a pen and there you go.
I have found that reference image works good only if all the features are close to the plane where the ruler is. Even with telephoto lense, perspective will affect all of of the dimentions even slightly closer or further from the ruler.
Thanks! your videos are great.
i made a pirateship's hull using the loft tool you taught last time :)
Re: using normal screws as self-tapping screws. I try to make all my designs where I thread directly into the plastic 1/2 of the pitch smaller than nominal. Example: M6x1.0 -- this becomes 5.5mm = 6mm - (1.0 / 2). This seems to give a good bite and plenty of strength, without too much strain trying to get the screw in the first time. I also add a small chamfer to the opening of the hole to guide the screw when you start it, usually around 0.4-0.5mm x 45°.
The smaller I get, the more material I leave, though. For instance M2x0.4 I use a 1.6mm hole. The threads are so fine and the cuts made are so small, that a full 100% pitch undersize works well for this. M3x0.5 threads I use a 2.6mm hole, splitting the difference.
I find the exact diameter to use in the model for the hole very much depends on how much the printer ends up reducing the hole. One problem is that as the nozzle circles the hole, the filament is under some tension, and tends to pull toward the center a little bit. So I have some test prints with a range of hole sizes to see how the commanded diameter of the holes correspond to the as-printed holes.
Hey TT, loving your videos, it’s really helping with where i’m at now in the 3D Makerspace. Do you have a write-up at all on your actual workshop extraction system? Exhaust fans, design etc? I’ve built a homemade spray booth and looking for something a bit more useable.
Awesome video - thank you.
i love this, thank you for doing this
Thanks for this! Very nice 👍
Excellent description of the techniques involved, though I use Blender which can import an image as a manipulable background to use as a reference.
Profile gauges are also useful for tracing shapes that can't be photographed properly.
However, it bothers me that the big hole only has screw holes on one side, so it could easily shear - there is space on the other side of the big hole, so I would drill and tap another two M4 holes and modify the adapter so that it screws into all 4 holes and thus be properly supported!
Or add a hook on the model that holds on to the other side.
Really good thanks for this series 😀
Thank you, thats awesome!!!!
Thanks!
awesome tutorials thanks
Massive fan of the channel.
You make the best videos in this space by a huge amount!
Great work dude! Very 😎
I'm familiar with a few different CAD softwares, so I made an account while on my lunch break and learned the basics yesterday. You finally kicked me into having the confidence in making my own parts with this onshape series. Thank you.