3D Modeling

[ted johnson]

I believe that at least one of our members has access to a 3D printer. My pal, Charlie Craibe, who some of you know from Fremont, needs a model printed. I had figured on making a Pro/E model and converting it to a .STL file, or whatever format is needed. Any thoughts? Thanks. Ted Johnson

[Brian Santee]

How large of a part is needed to be printed, I have one that I can use, and yes a .STL file is what mine requires.

[ted johnson]

Thanks, Brian. The piece looks from Charlie's photo to be maybe 7" or 8" X 3" X 1" thick/ It's a wedge shape with a rounded tip and script lettering. I will have to wait till Charlie sends me the piece to see if I have a prayer of matching that script! I will be in touch! Ted

[stan wauthier]

Ted,

If Brian is unable to help, shoot the .stl file to me.  Joel has two 3D printers and one has a hot plate 11" dia. and can print up to about 14" high. Of course a part that size would take nearly forever!  also, any idea what material he would need it in?

[ted johnson]

Hi, Stan. Hope you and Joel are well! I'm not sure what material Charlie needs. The original is a part of a Bosch beer sign! I will find out more later from CW. Thanks. Ted

[Brian Santee]

My printer is on the smaller side, at 8x8 and 7 tall. So it may not cut it for what it being made.

[ted johnson]

Here's a pic of Charlie holding the piece. It's smaller than I thought. Pro/Engineer has a limited repertoire of fonts, so I may not be able to match it, especially that "B". Once the characters are added to the Pro/E model file, I can "tweak" them using standard modeling techniques, but though I may be a good designer, I'm not an artiste! Ted

[doug tenney]

As I understand it, reverse-engineering was taken to a new level several years ago with the advent of laser scanners.  They create the 3D CAD data without actually touching the part.  Very slick (unless your product is the one being cloned, usually somewhere on the other side of the planet!).  Charlie's sign would be a piece of cake.

Sooo... anybody have access to one of these??

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q3SVTBrKyZk

If not... then back to the real world... compared to Pro/E, AutoCad has a lot more fonts available.  You could create the artwork in AutoCad and then bring it into Pro/E as a DXF file.  Use that for your Sketch.

[ted johnson]

Sorry, Doug. I don't have or use AutoCAD. I gave away my copy years ago. I'm just luck to have a copy of Wildfire 4, and the 8000+ hours of use so that I have a pretty good handle on it. My pal, Ken, at Kennedy Space Center has been doing Laser Scanning since before the 2003 Shuttle disaster. He was the main guy who scanned all the debris to reconstruct what happened. He is one of the best in the world at it. After he'd retired from the Space Center, they lured him back for his expertise. Laser scanning is a bit outside Charlie's budget for the Bosch sign! He just thought that since he's into beer mementos, he'd see about recreating the sign. We have a lot of good ideas, like 3D sintered metal printing, but when you look at the cost, $4K is a bit much to get a West Bend manifold printed! TJ

[stan wauthier]

Ted,
I'm pretty sure the cost will come down some time after you and I (and Charlie) are long gone!!