15Apr Getting ready for the Makerbot.
I haven’t done any CAD designs in awhile and I’m still waiting on my Makerbot. So I thought now might be a good time to freshen up on my CAD skills. I picked up a Digital Caliper and sat down this morning with a plan to make something close to a Manfrotto 501pl quick release plate. Two hours of fumbling around and the concept quick release plate is done.
I wont know if this knock off plate will print out properly until I have the Makerbot setup, but it does give you an idea of what kind of cool designs can be made with a little bit of effort. If I get some time this weekend I might try and design a concept quick release mount to go along with it.
If the design works out, this could end up being a made with about 50 cents worth of plastic. That’s a lot better then the $20 from Manfrotto. I’m also working on a Zoom h1
April 15th, 2011 at 5:42 pm
cool… sketchup works wonders. cant wait for the rubberband shock-mount…!
April 15th, 2011 at 6:39 pm
The first hour I was having problems with sketchup because it’s missing some of the controls that other CAD programs use, but once I figured out how the tape measure and push functions worked things got a lot easier. I’ll try to post new idea’s as I finish them up.
April 15th, 2011 at 7:48 pm
I’m a huge SketchUp geek and I use it for virtual prototypes of my video projects among other things. Projects like these: http://sketchup.google.com/3dwarehouse/details?mid=de9aa3ed7eacbe369520a706e83b949 , http://sketchup.google.com/3dwarehouse/details?mid=31caa134c9d8309969520a706e83b949 , http://sketchup.google.com/3dwarehouse/details?mid=44b727af2460ba38b3e66de312c33b12 etc
Keep up the good work – Martin