Imagine a 3D printer for a moment. The extruder can move along three axes; (X,Y, and Z). Now, imagine that you are a programmer, and you need to write code that will allow you to control the position of the extruder in 3D space, using only the X & Y position of a mouse cursor (No buttons or scroll wheel, …
Diagonal Tile Planning in SketchUp
If you are installing floor tile, you need to carefully plan the layout so you know where all of your cut pieces are going to land. You don’t want to just randomly start at one wall, only to find that you need to install a 1/2″ sliver of tile once you get to the other side. SketchUp is a great …
Custom Toolbar Button Images in LayOut
I’ve always thought that the default toolbar in LayOut should include a button for inserting a SketchUp model into your LayOut file. It’s such a common thing to do, it feels weird to have to go to File > Insert every single time. In this tutorial, I’m going to show you how to create your own custom buttons for any …
Profile Builder Review
UPDATED: 4/23/2020 Profile Builder is an extension for SketchUp that helps you automate your workflow. This article is a review of Profile Builder, aimed at giving you a general overview of its features, and my personal impressions of its functionality after experimenting with it. Whenever I had a question, I emailed back and forth with the developer, Dale Martens of mind.sight.studios, full-time …
Solid Tools with Components – TUTORIAL
Solid tools in SketchUp allow you to perform various intersections between in your model. Whether you are trying to join multiple objects using Union, or would like to trim one solid from another using Trim, Solid tools are very useful. (Solid tools are a SketchUp Pro only feature. You won’t be able to follow this tutorial if you have SketchUp …
SketchUp Hose and Piping Tutorial
In this tutorial, I’ll show you how to create accurate, bendy hose and pipe using a free plugin called BezierSpline, and the Follow Me tool. I recently modeled a small utility closet in my RV, because I was going to install a water filtration system and wanted to make sure everything was going to fit in place. Modeling it in …
3D printing a replacement handle – PART 2
Watch Part One In this video you’ll see me troubleshoot and export this small section of the handle and print it out on my MendelMax 3. I then make some adjustments to the model, export the full sized handle, and print it out. LINKS MendelMax 3 http://www.makerstoolworks.com CURA slicing and printing software (FREE) https://www.staging.mastersketchup.com/cura STL plugin https://extensions.sketchup.com/en/content/sketchup-stl Solid Inspector https://extensions.sketchup.com/en/content/solid-inspector%C2%B2 …
3D printing a replacement handle – PART 1
In this video, I’ll show you how I designed a replacement handle for a trailer jack wrench using SketchUp. I use the Follow Me tool to extrude a profile around a circle to create the final model. You’ll learn some workflow tips as well to preserve the various stages of your design, and how to extract parts of it for …
SketchUp modeling from plans and elevations
In this tutorial, I’m going to show you how to set up your SketchUp model so you can reference existing floor plans and elevations for reference. You’ll learn how to use layers and scenes to organize your model to help you reference your imported files throughout the modeling process. Let me start out by saying I’m a Harry Potter fan. …
14 tips for designing prototypes for 3D printing
3D printing is an excellent technology for creating prototypes. In this article, I’ll share my tips for creating a 3D printed clip for my audio recorder. These tips will help you design your own objects that interact with your phone, remote, camera, or any other object you’d like to design an accessory for.
When you own a 3D printer, you start thinking about all the awesome things you can design for the various gadgets you own. In my most recent project, I wanted to design a clip that would allow me to mount my audio recorder to my belt, or to a tripod.
As I finished up the model, I thought it would be helpful to share a list of tips I use in my workflow that you can apply to your own 3D printing project. Most of these tips can be used with any 3D modeling software, not just SketchUp. They will help you save time, model more accurately, create a stronger model, and reduce warping. Let me know if you have any additional tips in the comments below.
