3D Printing with Autodesk 123D, Tinkercad, and MakerBot

304 Pages·2014·44.136 MB·English

by  Lydia Cline

3D Printing with
Autodesk 123D®,
Tinkercad®,
and MakerBot®
Lydia Sloan Cline
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To Makers everywhere.
And a big thanks to...
Roger, Amber, and Christie, who indulge my mad scientist projects.
Guillermo Melantoni and Christian Pramuk, program managers of the
Autodesk 123D suite, for their assistance with this book.
The Autodesk company, whose products enable Makers all over the globe
to draw their dreams and earn their livings.
About the Author
Lydia Cline has been using Autodesk products in her work for
architecture fi rms since AutoCAD version 1.0 was released. She judges
competitive technology events, writes textbooks, creates open source
educational materials, and teaches at Johnson County Community
College in Overland Park, Kansas.
Contents
Preface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ix
Resources to Check Out . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . x
1 Hello, Maker! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
What Is Making? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
So What’s This Book About? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Sites to Check Out . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
2 Getting Started with 123D Design . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Open 123D Design Desktop . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
3 Model It! 123D Design Projects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
Studded Bangle Bracelet Project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
Sun Sculpture Wall Decoration Project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
Star Cookie Cutter Project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
Jell-O Mold Tray Project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
Peace Sign Pendant Project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
Personalized Business Card Project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
Pinky Project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
Frog in a Tea Cup Project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
Sites to Check Out . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
4 Generate Construction Documents with LayOut . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
What Is AutoCAD 360? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
Getting Started with LayOut . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
Sites to Check Out . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
5 Capture It! with 123D Catch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
What Is 123D Catch? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
Catch on the iPhone/iPad . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
The Catch Web App . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
The Catch Desktop App . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
Tips on Photographing a Subject . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130
Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133
Sites to Check Out . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133
v
vi 3D Printing with Autodesk 123D, Tinkercad, and MakerBot
6 Mix It Up! with 123D Meshmixer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
The Meshmixer Interface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
Import a Textured Donut Model. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137
Import the Glass Head Capture to Make a Candy Jug . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152
Model a Bead . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161
Modify a 123D Design Pac-Man Model with Volume Brushes . . . . . . . . . . . . 166
Duplicate and Modify Pinky . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170
Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179
Sites to Check Out . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179
7 For the Kids! Tinkercad . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181
The Tinkercad Interface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 182
Tinker Basics: Drag, Delete, Select, Move, and Save . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 184
Tinker a Building Block . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 186
Tinker a Stamp with the Align and Mirror Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 198
Tinker a Ring with an Imported SVG File . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 203
Tinker Other People’s Models . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 206
Tinkercad as an STL File Repairer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 211
Shape Generators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 211
Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 216
Sites to Check Out . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 216
8 Cut It! with 123D Make and the CNC Utility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 217
Getting a Make-Importable File . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 218
The 123D Make Interface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 219
The CNC Utility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 237
Download an STL File of Your CNC Project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 247
Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 249
Sites to Check Out . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 249
9 Print It! with 123D Meshmixer and MakerBot . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 251
General 3D Printing Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 251
Overhangs, Supports, Rafts, and Bridges . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 251
The MakerBot . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 252
MakerBot Software and Firmware . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 254
Filament . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 254
Export an STL File from the 123D Apps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 255
You Need a Printable File . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 256
Design Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 257
Meshmixer’s Two Areas: Modify and Print . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 258
Import the Glass Head . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 259
Analyze the Glass Head . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 259
The Meshmixer Print Area Interface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 266
Contents vii
Regenerate the Lost Supports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 268
Export the File as a THING . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 268
The MakerBot Desktop Interface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 269
The Settings Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 273
Preview and Print from the Computer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 273
Finding Help . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 275
Printing with a Service Bureau . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 275
Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 277
Sites to Check Out . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 277
Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 279
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Preface
THE PAST 10 YEARS have seen an explosion of Websites such as Thingiverse and Instructables,
interest and potential in 3D printing. Novices where designs are freely shared, let the world tinker
and professionals are using it to make their lives with, customize, and improve each other’s work in
and jobs more rewarding and productive. When the spirit of open source. Maker Faires let them
this technology is combined with websites such show off what they’ve done.
as Quirky, Kickstarter, Indiegogo, Prosper, Etsy,
The MakerBot company has crowd-sourced
Shapeways, Ponoko, and Facebook, people are
an effort to get a 3D printer in every classroom.
empowered to turn hobbies into businesses, start
Making may (and should) eventually be part of
side businesses, and leave jobs they no longer like
the curriculum. The nascent Maker Movement
or that have left them. 3D printing is truly a part
might counter cheap overseas labor and bring
of the New Industrial Revolution.
manufacturing back to the U.S. 3D printing is
Thought leaders compare current 3D printers for teachers, students, homeschoolers, dreamers,
to the dot-matrix printers and the Apple entrepreneurs, and the merely curious—and
Macintosh of the early 1980s. Being competitive because you’re holding this book, you’re
will eventually require knowledge of this obviously interested in it! You may already have
technology because it will surely disrupt and some concrete ideas about what you’d like to do.
innovate in diverse fi elds. Electronics, toy, food, So, congratulations in fi nding your way here,
and automotive companies are experimenting because now you’ll learn how to turn those ideas
with it, as is the construction industry and into a physical product.
the military. 3D printing solutions are being
Let’s get started.
considered as answers to substandard housing in
developing countries and in other applications
we can barely imagine right now.
Creating, manufacturing, and advertising is
becoming democratized due to affordable tools
and low start-up costs. No matter what your
age or background is, you can participate; the
barriers are low. The same way that software
and laser printers let anyone publish from their
kitchen table, and WordPress and websites let
anyone open a nice storefront, now anyone
with knowledge of 3D software and printing
technology can put out a product. Although
no one foresees an end to mass manufacturing,
it’s a good bet that micro-manufacturing and Figure 1 At www.makie.me, customers can
select features for dolls, which are
just-in-time manufacturing catering to niche and
then 3D-printed and shipped to them.
customization markets will get bigger (see Figure
These dolls were displayed at Autodesk
1). One size no longer fi ts all. University.
ix