Book Image

3D Printing Designs: Design an SD Card Holder

By : Joe Larson
Book Image

3D Printing Designs: Design an SD Card Holder

By: Joe Larson

Overview of this book

Want to model a 3D printed prototype of an object that needs to be replaced or broken? This book will teach you how to accurately measure objects in the real world with a few basic measuring techniques and how to create an object for 3D printing around the objects measured. In this book, you'll learn to identify basic shapes from a given object, use Vernier and Digital calipers and grid paper tracing techniques to derive measurements for the objects. With the help of measurements, you'll see to model these objects using Blender, organize the parts into layers, and later combine them to create the desired object, which in this book is a 3D printable SD card holder ring that fits your finger.
Table of Contents (11 chapters)

Grid paper trace method


There is another trick to measuring complex shapes that involves a common household item. An object with a complex shape can be traced on a piece of grid paper. That grid paper trace can then be scanned or photographed, uploaded to the computer, and imported into modeling software to recreate its shape. By tracing the shape on graph paper, there is a scale reference in the modeling software.

Suitable objects

The ideal object for this method of measuring is an object with a complex and otherwise difficult to measure shape but with at least one flat side so that it's easy to lay flat on a piece of paper. If the object doesn't have a flat side, being able to make one side flat will do the trick.

For example, this piece of plastic attaches to the back of a drawer to guide it along a rail so that it moves smoothly and straight:

The back of this piece is almost flat, except for 2 nubs sticking out, which would be easy enough to remove. Simply note the location of parts that...