I've been ignoring this group all along, since I didn't have Solidworks or any real reason for a CAD tool.
Then Santa gave me a 3-D printer for Christmas.
Just wanted to say the download and installation were both flawless, and the built-in tutorials were a big help. Didn't take long to produce my first part generated from a Solidworks drawings.
Well done, folks. And thanks to EAA for setting this up as a member benefit.
Ron Wanttaja
You're welcome, Ron! The spectators on this forum love pics (e.g., SW drawings and printed parts). So if you find the time and care to share, please do! Thanks in advance!
Be careful what you wish for. :-)Originally Posted by Cory Puuri
My first non-practice part. 3/4 scale RAF Mark II reflecting gunsight, as used on the Spitfire, Hurricane. 3/4 scale to match the Fly Babies and Pietenpols of the world.
A piece of thick plexiglass will be attached to the angle brackets to simulate the combining glass of the original sight; small pieces of angle will be bolted to the brackets to hold the glass just like in the original. I'll probably use plastic. Will see how the PLA material from the 3D printer handles a tap.
The area is the middle has a stepped shelf for another piece of plexiglass to simulate the lens. I'm contemplating putting a black disk with a white aiming reticle under it; it may actually reflect a bit in the angled lens. In any case, it'll sit too low to actually be in the line of sight. It's designed to sit on a separate base to match the curve of the top of the Fly Baby's panel.
The base was built per the tutorials included in the Solidworks package. The angle brackets were tougher; I could not come up with a way to do these in Solidworks (mind you, I'm a raw beginner...just downloaded the tool three days ago). Instead, I drew the shape in a standard 2D program (Canvas) and imported it into Solidworks as a DXF file. Did the normal extrusion just fine.
Probably could have done this in a quarter of the time using a lathe and bandsaw, but was looking for a good excuse to play with Solidworks.
Ron "What did you expect from me, spar fittings?" Wanttaja
Last edited by rwanttaja; 01-04-2019 at 09:56 PM.
Ron,
Looks good. Extra credit of re-doing the angle brackets using the SWx tools only. Or post the model files and let us take a crack at it and we'll post our versions so you can see different approaches.......
<Hangs head in shame> Yes, I cheated. The first problem was the tilted nature of the top part of the brackets. I'm presuming I need to create a new plane (or a pair of planes) for these. In addition, they're not simple geometrics; my first thought was to string together a group of lines but the DXF import was a heck of a lot easier.
Finally, the *actual* brackets aren't simple extrusions...they taper at the bottom, where they attach to the base (kind of scalloped, in fact). So I need to create shape that's not symmetrical nor a standard extrusion.
Two years ago, I worked with several bright-eyed engineers using ProEngineer on a daily basis, and would have been able to ask for help. Now that I'm retired, it'll cost me beer.
As it sits, the model wasn't too compatible with the 3D printer (Dremel Ideabuilder); the slicer added a lot of supports to the angle brackets and they'd be a bit tedious to cut away. I've basically cut off the angle brackets just at the top of the base, and will print the brackets separately and see how well superglue works to put them in place. It'll make it easier to drill and tap for the glass-holding angles, too. Printer's singing happily away as I write.
What's the best way...a zip file with the .SLDASM and the .SLDPRT of the parts?
Ron Wanttaja
There's a function called "Pack and Go" which creates a full file set from an assembly.You can either put the file set on your local computer or have the function create a zip file containing all the necessary files. You'll want to check the file size to make sure it can be uploaded here. If the model is a single file you might be able the just upload it as an .SLDPRT file or have Pack and Go put the part file into a ZIP file for uploading.
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