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

Exploring the OpenSCAD General libraries

The General libraries in OpenSCAD includes the BOSL, dotSCAD, NopSCADlib, and BOLTS libraries. Implementing these libraries allows us to add things such as threaded rods, modeled parts (parts that are not 3D-printed but are used in designs), and mathematically complex shapes. The following section includes a short breakdown of each of these libraries.

BOSL

The Belfry OpenSCAD Library (BOSL) consists of operations to create shapes such as rounded boxes and threaded rods. Operations to enhance OpenSCAD's translate and rotate operations are also included in the BOSL.

In Figure 6.1, we can see a threaded rod created using the BOSL:

Figure 6.1 – A threaded rod created with the BOSL

We will be exploring the BOSL in more detail in the upcoming Using the BOSL to design a desk drawer section.

dotSCAD

The dotSCAD library aims to reduce mathematical complexity when using OpenSCAD. We can utilize dotSCAD...