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

Turning 2D shapes into 3D objects

Part of constructing our PVC Hook in Chapter 4, Getting Started with OpenSCAD, involved using the linear_extrude command to turn a 2D shape into a 3D shape. We created the 2D shape in OpenSCAD using the shapes it had available.

Although the result was what we needed, there will be times when we may require a shape that is a little difficult to create in OpenSCAD. For these situations, we must import a .svg file and then extrude it.

In this section, we will do just that. We will create a 3D printable Thumbs Up award, import it as a .svg file, and then extrude it.

Importing SVG files into OpenSCAD

To import a .svg file into OpenSCAD, we can use the import command. To import the Thumbs Up graphic for our design, do the following:

  1. Download the ThumbsUp.svg file from the following GitHub location: https://github.com/PacktPublishing/Simplifying-3D-Printing-with-OpenSCAD/tree/main/Chapter5/images.
  2. Create a new OpenSCAD file called...