@CO and I are working on an exciting project to get digital design and fabrication tools into the hands of new makers. We'll tell you more about that effort in the coming months, but for now, I thought we'd share this one example of a fun project that's easy to design, easy to 3D Print, and is totally customizable.
This is a great project for a new maker, because modeling a die starts out with a simple sketch that's easy to fully define. Just draw a rectangle centered about the origin and add a simple equal relation and a single dimension to fully define everything.
Simple, it's true... yet amazingly, this little sketch covers some critical building blocks for all of parametric design. Namely:
- Fully defining a sketch
- Locating your geometry
- Considering symmetry
- Adding sketch relations
- Adding dimensions
The features needed to create the dots on each face are fairly simple too, and because the actions are repetitive...
- Select a face
- Insert Sketch
- Sketch circles
- Fully define the sketch
- Cut Extrude
...the new maker will quickly build proficiency with these core skills. What's even better, though, is that as the maker tackles each face of the die, the different number of dots requires them to think about a slightly different strategy for the sketch.
The final embellishments are equally easy to add. Whether they choose to break the edges with a fillet or a chamfer, the inputs are the same: select some edges, and input a value!
I added a bit more 'smarts' to the model I've shared below, taking care with my sketch constraints and adding a few parameters so a new maker can first adjust a few values and create the die they prefer.
I just love how parametric models can be easily changed to produce a wide range of results!
Feel free to download the model I shared below, and experiment with its parameters and features. Be sure to try activating the last feature in the Design Manager to get the fully rounded result!
