Book Image

Simplifying 3D Printing with OpenSCAD

By : Colin Dow
5 (1)
Book Image

Simplifying 3D Printing with OpenSCAD

5 (1)
By: Colin Dow

Overview of this book

Want to bring your 3D designs to life with OpenSCAD, but don’t know where to start? Simplifying 3D Printing with OpenSCAD will teach you the key skills so that you can focus on your ideas, not troubleshooting your 3D printer. With the help of this book, you’ll build a solid foundation in 3D printing technology, the software used for designing your objects, and an analysis of the G-code produced by the 3D printer slicer software. You’ll also get to know your 3D printer and find out how to set up a printing job effortlessly — from configuring the parameters to build well-defined designs. Consider yourself a practical learner? Use real-world examples such as designing and printing a 3D name badge, model rocket, and laptop stand, to dive into the world of 3D printers build your skillset. By the end of this 3D printing book, you'll be ready to start designing and printing your own 3D printed products using OpenSCAD and being your ideas into reality.
Table of Contents (16 chapters)
1
Part 1: Exploring 3D Printing
5
Part 2: Learning OpenSCAD
9
Part 3: Projects
13
Part 4: The Future

Learning OpenSCAD GUI and basic commands

It is time to get some hands-on experience. In this section, we will download and install OpenSCAD, look at the interface, and then create and view a few simple objects.

Let's start by installing OpenSCAD.

Downloading and Installing OpenSCAD

OpenSCAD is available for Windows, macOS, and Linux. To download and install OpenSCAD, perform the following steps:

  1. In a browser, go to http://openscad.org/downloads.html to view the downloads available for OpenSCAD.
  2. Follow the steps to install OpenSCAD for the appropriate operating system. For Windows users, we have a choice to download the installer or a zip package. Choose the installer option as it will put a link to OpenSCAD in our Windows Start menu.

Now that we have OpenSCAD installed, let's look at it in detail.

Getting to know the OpenSCAD environment

Let's now look at the OpenSCAD environment. To do so, open OpenSCAD and click on the New button....