123D DESIGN HELP FOR MAC
123D DESIGN HELP INSTALL
123D DESIGN HELP PC

Pull the main part of our switch base up 7/16″, and the other weird flange part up 21/16″. Under the Modify tab on the top toolbar, select Extrude. Adding the other flange, you should have something that looks like the pic to the right. Just like in AutoCAD, we can use the Trim command to clean everything up. Select the Offset tool, click the slots center line, and offset it 3/16″. Under the Sketch menu, there’s an Offset tool. We already have a line going through the center of where the slot on our thing should go. Put a 1/8″ radius fillet on the outer corners of the rectangles we just laid down. The fillet and trim lines work just like they do in AutoCAD.

Using the mirror tool, mirror this rectangle along the 0 degree line. From the bottom of the 0 degree line, sketch a rectangle 1 3/8″ by 5/16″. Draw two lines starting from the centers of the circle, both 1.25″ long, one at 0 degrees, and another at 135 degrees. I find this a little more user friendly than typing in a radius, and if anyone has some insight into that UX decision, I’d love to hear it. Unlike AutoCAD – and just about every other drafting program ever – the number you type in 123D will be the diameter, not the radius. Just as in AutoCAD, you can simply type a number on your keypad and 123D will make the circle that size. Then, draw a 2 3/8″ circle on the same center. From there, select Circle and draw a 1-inch circle. Making A ThingĪt the top toolbar, you’ll see the Sketch tool. Double click on the top of the cube and 123D will orient the window so we can make our thing in two dimensions first, then extrude them into the Z dimension. Also, in the top right hand corner is the ‘view cube’, allowing you to rotate the window around and fix it to a top, bottom, front, back, left, or right view. On the right side of the screen, there are buttons for pan, orbit, zoom, and fit, just like in AutoCAD. If you’ve used AutoCAD before, you’ll find the UI for 123D Design is extremely similar. Do that by clicking on the Units button in the bottom right hand corner. Since our ‘thing’ was designed in fractional inches, we’ll need to change 123D’s units to inches.

123D DESIGN HELP INSTALL

Install it, and you’ll end up with the screen below:įirst things first.

123D DESIGN HELP PC

I’m using the PC version, so if you’re following along, go here and download your copy.

123D DESIGN HELP FOR MAC

It’s a full-featured piece of 3D design software that allows you to create objects for your 3D printer.ġ23D Design is available as a web app, an iDevice app, or as a free download for Mac and PC. Sculpt is an iDevice app that’s probably far less useful than it is cool. The Make app is basically a slicer that turns 3D objects into something akin to those die-cut plywood dinosaur models you built as a kid. If you head on over to the Autodesk 123D page, you’ll see a ton of related products in Autodesk’s line of freeware modeling and design softwares. Starting Up, or, Holy Crap, What’s With All These 123D Products? I’m not one to change these tutorials in mid-stream though, and the finished product will be close enough. In the graphic to the right, there’s a slight taper to the vertical flange on this switch base. Thanks to me being an idiot, we’re not making an exact copy of this switch base. Like all of these Making A Thing tutorials, we’re using this switch base, torn from the pages of an 85-year-old textbook on Engineering Drawing.

See that ‘Read more…’ link below? You might want to click that. Previously, we’ve built a ‘thing’ in a few different 3D modeling programs, including: If you’ve ever wanted to make one single object in multiple 3D design softwares, this is for you. In the continuing battle against 3D printers used exclusively for fabricating plastic octopodes and useless trinkets, here’s yet another installment of a Making A Thing tutorial.

123d design help