2. Designing 3D parts

This week I made the part that would connect the handle to the top steadicam at the front and the back.

The software that I decided to use was Sketchup 2017 which was originally Google Sketchup. the advantages of this software is that it is very simple to use if the model has simple geometry and its free to use.

I started by selecting a template and using millimetres as the unit of measurement. I started modelling by making the triangle with the exact same spacing as in the drawing done on the graph paper last week. That way each corner of the triangle was a midpoint. I then created circles with from the corner points with the same inner and outer diameters as the pipe and sockets.

I then drew lines coming out perpendicular to the triangle sides as pictured above to create the outline for the parts that join the cylindrical sockets to get the result pictured below.

From here I could have just extruded the joining shapes but this would a lot more money when it comes to 3D printing so I decided to create a 5mm offset inside the joining rectangular shapes. Once I done that I extruded the outer shape.

Lastly I got rid of any right-angles to prevent snapping points for when the model was printed.

The next task for me now is to figure out out how to 3D print these things...