Hyperspeed Modeling-to-Printing Workflow with Tinkercad
Hydrant Totem by tbuser
Yesterday morning, moments after learning about the Tinkercad beta, MakerBot Operator TBuser dived in head first to test what he might do with the tool. Before necessarily arriving at any specific sense of what his model might be, he sent me the model (simply by passing me a Tinkercad link).
Five minutes later, my bot was printed his object first at 1:1 and then at 2:1 scale without any cleanup or manipulation of the model other than centering it on the build platform. The MakerBot Thing-O-Matic on my desk (with a Stepstruder MK6 and 0.4mm nozzle) had no difficulty printing the model despite a number of challenges (like the cylinder cut through the middle) at either scale — and I was able to hand over the models to Tony before he had had much time to notice that I was printing it out.
Take a look at Tony’s Thingiverse release of the item (now a “Hydrant Totem”) and consider the implications of this workflow model. Not only is he able to generate a printable STL with a one-button click (which can be easily revised and adjusted in a host of STL scripts and tools) but he can also share a link to the model in Tinkercad so that another user might duplicate the project, make revisions, and then print a new model.
This is game changing, folks. Imagine how much easier this route is than jumping through hoops to share SketchUp files.1 Share a Tinkercad link and others can work on your model in its original design environment right in your browser.
TinkerCAD is still in beta, so I suggest you jump in to push this tool hard as well — and send constructive feedback to the developer. This tool is shaping into something I have been waiting for since exploring the charming 3dtin.com.
- The past benefit of Sketchup being the wide adoption and lower learning curve for modeling. [↩]
| Tagged with | 0.4mm nozzle, 3dtin, makerbot, sketchup, stepstruder mk6, thing-o-matic, Thingiverse, tinkercad | Leave a comment |
