Book Image

3D Printing Designs: Fun and Functional Projects

By : Joe Larson
Book Image

3D Printing Designs: Fun and Functional Projects

By: Joe Larson

Overview of this book

3D printing has revolutionized the way that global industries conceptualize and design products for mass consumption. Considered as the next “trillion-dollar” business, every industry is in the race to equip its personnel with techniques to prototype and simplify complex manufacturing process. This book will take you through some simple to complex and effective principles of designing 3D printed objects using Blender. There is a comprehensive coverage of projects such as a 3D print-ready octopus pencil holder, which will teach you how to add basic geometric shapes, and use techniques such as extruding and subdividing to transform these shapes into complex meshes. Furthermore, you’ll learn to use various techniques to derive measurements for an object, model these objects using Blender, organize the parts into layers, and later combine them to create the desired object with the help of a 3D printable SD card holder ring design project. The final project will help you master the techniques of designing simple to complex puzzles models for 3D printing. Through the course of the book, we'll explore various robust sculpting methods supported by Blender to create objects. You’ll move, rotate, and scale the object, and manipulate the view. You’ll edit objects with actions such as bends or curves, similar to drawing or building up a clay structure of different shapes and sizes. By the end of the book, you will have gained thorough practical hands-on experience to be able to create a real-world 3D printable object of your choice.
Table of Contents (14 chapters)
3D Printing Designs: Fun and Functional Projects
Credits
About the Author
About the Reviewer
www.PacktPub.com
Preface
Index

Measuring with calipers


The most common technique for taking accurate measurements is the use of a tool called a caliper, a must-have for anyone who models for 3D printing. Calipers measure distance with a high degree of precision and can measure in three different ways: the outside diameter of an object with the outside jaws, the internal diameter with the inside jaws, or the depth with the depth probe at the far end. There are two common calipers: manual (or Vernier) calipers and digital calipers.

Manual or Vernier calipers

If budget is a concern, then perhaps a Vernier caliper is preferable, since they are generally less expensive than their digital counterparts. These calipers operate purely mechanically, but have a clever trick that allows them to be just as accurate if read properly:

Open the jaws to take a measurement and tighten them over the object to be measured. Then take a close look at the little window:

The leftmost tick is between 4.5 and 4.6, so this object is between 4.5 cm...